Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks. Photo by Football Schedule, via Flickr)
This week we were entreated to yet another episode of the Russell Wilson show. No, not on the field, but off it. Once again, Russ, or someone in his camp, is passive-aggressively letting it be known he’s ok with a trade. Not that he wants one, mind you…just you know, in case the Seattle Seahawks want to trade him. He’s willing to allow it under certain circumstances. What a guy!
If he wants out, I don’t blame him. For the better part of a decade, he’s gone out on the field like an action hero and brought win after win. Playing behind terrible lines, dodging tacklers, and getting driven into the turf time and again.
If the thought of spending the end of his prime doing that for a non-contender isn’t so great, well, I get it. He’s given everything to Seattle and has every right to expect the team and city to have some empathy for him too.
The one thing about Wilson that has always been an issue for him is his carefully cultivated persona. The problem is he won’t just come out and say what he wants. I promise you, if someone in Russ’s World were leaking these rumors without his ok, they’d be fired.
Russell would never sully his image by asking out. Instead, it’s on Seattle to move on from HIM. Russell won’t criticize a teammate until it’s time for him to need an excuse, and suddenly his team hasn’t supported him. C’mon Russ; you can’t have it both ways.
The Legion Of Boom era team saw right through Wilson and never really respected or connected with him. His contract and the tensions played a huge role in accelerating the teardown of that particular iteration of the Seahawks.
The teams since then have been good. And the players looked up to Wilson for his athletic gifts and leadership. At the same time, he hasn’t been able to bring them to those same heights.
Wilson has plateaued and fallen into a rut as the years have passed. He has stretches where he looks like an MVP, followed by long runs of mediocrity. RW3 is still an above-average quarterback at this point in his career, but things seem to have stagnated for him in the Emerald City.
I wrote last week about how Seattle needed to decide who they want to be moving forward. Maybe the real question is where Russ wants to be in the future.
Should Russell Wilson want to move on, it’s time for him to meet with Seattle Seahawks leadership and privately have those conversations. If he wants to continue playing for the Seattle Seahawks, as he recently claimed, it’s on him to shut down the rumors and plug any leaks on Team Russ.
He owes the franchise and the city that much. I, like most 12s, never thought things would reach this point. It’s not because of any inherent morality in Wilson, but because it’s the type of image he’s worked so hard to avoid. Petty and manipulative doesn’t suit the character he’s tried to cultivate.
In some ways, Russ reminds me of another famous ex-Seattle athlete who worked so hard to craft a persona. An athlete who spent years making the world love him by trying to be what he thought we wanted. No, I don’t anticipate a steroid scandal, but there’s a lot of A-Rod in Mr. Wilson off the field. Tremendous talents, wanted to have the celebrity lifestyle but still seem like an everyman, and thought of as phony or plastic by many of their peers and teammates.
At the end of the day, the only way Russell Wilson gets traded is if it’s something he wants to happen. There is no way Seahawks General Manager John Schneider and ownership send him anywhere without it being his call. Should Jody Allen have to decide between Wilson and Pete Carroll; well, it’s been a nice run, Pete, but Russ is the franchise.
So Russ, enough of this garbage. Be an adult and make a decision. Aaron Rodgers is insufferable 95% of the time, but at least he said ‘I want out, and this is why”. We don’t even need an explanation. Given the state of Seattle’s roster, everyone understands.
We may never know the real Russell Wilson, but if this is what we’re missing… I don’t think we’re missing much at all.
Do you think Russell Wilson has come clean on his intentions? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.