Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks. (Photo by Brook Ward, via Flickr)
Recently, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, through his agent Mark Rodgers, named four teams he prefers a trade to. These teams were the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, and Chicago Bears. To get Seattle to the table, any potential trade partner team would need to pay at least four first-round picks (plus other considerations). Seattle wants to stack talent if they’re going to get rid of their franchise quarterback. Compensation aside, most of Wilson’s preferred destinations won’t work.
New Orleans is over the cap. They are finding ways to cut and restructure players to get under the $182.5M mark before the new league year begins on Wednesday. Drew Brees’ retirement helps, but the Saints are still almost $9M over the cap. Considering the huge contract given to Taysom Hill, the Big Easy isn’t an easy place to send Wilson. Dallas just re-signed Dak Prescott to a four-year extension worth up to $160M, including a whopping $126M guaranteed, which eliminates them from consideration as well.
Chicago is in a worse financial spot than New Orleans. Although they restructured some contracts over the weekend, the Bears is still $19M over the cap. The only way Chicago affords Wilson is if they part ways with a player like Khalil Mack. That leaves the Raiders as the only team from Wilson’s list who could try and make a move for the 32-year-old quarterback. From all indications, Las Vegas will stick with Derek Carr under center. So at this point, the places Wilson would go to aren’t viable. Besides, the Seahawks don’t want to trade him anyway.
On Sunday, reports surfaced from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the Seahawks currently have no active deals or negotiations in place for RW3. Rapoport mentioned that some teams, the Chicago Bears mainly, are calling Seattle about Wilson, but the Seahawks don’t seem as interested as the media portrays them.
The Seahawks incur a $39M cap hit if they move Russell Wilson before June 1. It would be an absolute cap disaster. So for 2021, Russ is set in Seattle.
It’s clear the Seattle Seahawks want to contend with Wilson as their quarterback. That means they must improve their offensive line. The first step is gaining cap space.
That process began last week when Seattle cut defensive end, Carlos Dunlap. Because Dunlap’s 2021 salary wasn’t guaranteed, his departure freed up $14.1M. The Seahawks hope to retain him, but their main goal is to use that money to protect Wilson. Something they haven’t managed to do since he entered the league in 2012.
To make matters more interesting, per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Seahawks have the right to restructure Wilson’s deal without his consent. Seattle has the contractual right to restructure Wilson’s contract in order to create cap space. One of their biggest needs this offseason is more cap space to help protect Wilson.
According to Bell, Seattle could drop Wilson’s cap number by reducing his salary to $1.075 million (the minimum for players with seven or more years of experience) and shifting the remaining $17.925M into a signing bonus, pro-rated over the life of his contract. Wilson still gets his money, but it’s rarely a good idea to restructure without a player’s buy-in. Especially one who wants more say in decisions.
A restructure all but shuts down any trade rumors for the rest of 2021. It wouldn’t make sense for the Seahawks to reduce Wilson’s cap hit just to ship him off. They would need much more trade compensation to deal Wilson with a base salary of only $1.075 million. Translation: A lower salary means no RW3 trade.
Wilson’s future is in Pete Caroll and John Schneider’s hands. They hold all of the cards. Well, most of them. Wilson’s four-year deal, signed in 2019, included a no-trade clause that benefits the Seahawks in any scenario like this. They don’t have to force their hand unless Wilson begins to holdout, which becomes an issue on its own. For Russ’ part, he can choose to stay rather than going to a team he doesn’t like.
By adding key pieces along the offensive line, the Seahawks can prove to Wilson that they want to protect him. Besides, didn’t this whole extravaganza start with Wilson asking to get hit less? After all, RW3 is on pace to be the most sacked quarterback of all time, currently sitting right behind Brett Favre.
Russ wanted to take a stand and let the organization know that he wanted more protection. In the coming weeks, the Seahawks can and will make moves to protect Wilson. As free agency opens, look for Seattle to improve their interior offensive line. Realistically, there is no reason to believe the Seahawks don’t want to protect Wilson.
Making a big splash by signing a big free agent like Corey Linsley or Joe Thuney can heavily impact Wilson’s opinion about the front office. While these two may be financially out of reach, there are plenty of quality linemen on the market who the Seahawks can sign to a reasonable salary. When Seattle invests in their offensive line, Russ will buy back into what they’re trying to build. And that’s a Super Bowl-caliber roster ready to compete.
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