End of an Era in Seattle: Russell Wilson & Pete Carroll
Its almost a foregone conclusion that 2021 will be the last season that Russell Wilson is the starting Quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. It’s an overdone cliché, but this is certainly the end of an era. Wilson had ushered in the first super bowl title in its franchise’s history and is easily its most well known and popular player.
It’s hard to overstate Wilson’s career. Originally drafted in the 3rd round in 2012, no one expected Wilson to quickly rise to the top of the NFL’s elite. The Seahawks had signed Matt Flynn, formerly Aaron Rodgers’ understudy in Green Bay, to a 3 year deal worth $20 million. An investment like this pointed to Flynn being the overwhelming favorite to be the organization’s new starting quarterback. However, Wilson impressed head coach Pete Carroll enough in training camp that he was named the Week 1 starter in surprising move. Wilson rewarded Carroll by leading the Seahawks to an 11-5 record powered by Wilson’s 30 combined rushing and passing touchdowns and a passer rating of 100.0. By the end of the following season, Wilson and the Seahawks were Super Bowl Champions.
Wilson’s success continued from there. He carried the Seahawks to 9 straight winning seasons from 2013-2020, including 8 playoff births. He led the league in passer rating in 2015 and passing touchdowns in 2017. His aggregate performance when compared against contemporaries details his greatness:
Passer Rating: 4th in NFL History, ahead of contemporaries such as Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr, Matt Stafford & Kirk Cousins
Yards Per Pass Attempt: 10th in NFL History, tied with Aaron Rodgers, ahead of Roethlisberger, Ryan, Carr, Cousins, Stafford
Winning Percentage: 10th in NFL History (Super Bowl Era). Slightly behind of Rodgers & Roethlisberger. The next closest contemporary is Matt Ryan, and he is more than 100 points behind.
Rushing Yards by QB: 4th in NFL History (behind Cunningham, Newton, & Vick)
Most of Wilson’s early success can be attributed to the elite defense (the Legion of Boom) Seattle had built along with having additional cap space to solidify the roster while Wilson was on a Rookie contract. Along with an elite defense, Wilson was paired with likely future Hall of Famer Marshawn Lynch at running back and big play receivers such as Doug Baldwin and Ricardo Lockette. As time wore on, the defense got older and its dominance waned. The “Legion of Boom” era officially ended in September 2018 when Safety Earl Thomas broke his leg and notoriously flipped off the entire Seattle sideline as he was carted off the field.
Wilson took full control of the franchise and did not miss a beat, going 31-15 from 2018 to 2020. He accomplished this despite having a below-average to bad offensive line. See rankings below, according to Pro Football Focus:
2018 O-Line Ranking: 18th in NFL
2019 O-Line Ranking: 23rd in NFL
2020 O-Line Ranking: 28th in NFL
It’s virtually impossible to win at QB without a strong offensive line, especially when forced to outscore the opposition due to a rebuilding defense. Where Wilson separated himself further was that he won games with a poor line, rebuilding defense, without having elite weapons at skill positions. From 2016 through 2020 Seattle had a total of 6 non-Wilson Pro Bowlers. The number drops to 1 if you count from 2018 through 2020. That’s one total Pro Bowler on offense outside of the QB position over the course of three seasons. It’s clear that as the cupboard got bare on defense, the Seattle front office struggled to restock on offense to support its star quarterback.
With all of this in mind its bewildering to think that Seattle seems more than willing to part with Wilson. But this is far from the first time rumors had swirled involving Wilson’s departure from the upper Northwest. There were many discussions prior to the 2020 season that Wilson was on his way out of Seattle. Wilson’s representatives (branded “Team 3” by the Media, after Wilsons’ jersey number) reportedly requested that Seattle’s front office shop the quarterback. Seahawk brass reportedly fielded offers by multiple teams, most noticeably Chicago, but no offer was enticing enough to move Wilson.
That decision by the Seahawk organization made sense. Cleary Wilson has carried a declining team to relevancy over the past few seasons. Removing him would have been a 1 way ticket to the bottom of the standings. Seattle had grown accustomed to finding itself in the postseason year after year due to Wilson’s heroics. There was no need to upset the applecart until absolutely necessary. 2021 has proven to be the season where the applecart is ready to be upset. Seattle is experiencing its first double-digit loss season since 2009. Wilson has missed time due to injury, but even when he has played its clear that he is not enough to stop the Seahawk tailspin. If Seattle is going to struggle with Wilson (and would certainly struggle without him) it would make some sense to trade the quarterback to recoup some sort of value. On cue, the Seahawks are reportedly more than willing to deal the quarterback in an attempt to jumpstart a rebuild.
The wild card in this process is Pete Carroll. Carroll, who is 70, is not at the point in his career where a long rebuild is tolerable. He voiced as much recently, declaring that there wasn’t a need to “restart this whole thing”. Moving off of Wilson would be the surest sign that Seattle was going to restart.
This puts Seattle management in a challenging situation. They seem to be preparing to move Russell Wilson in the offseason to jumpstart a rebuild of the roster. However, their current head coach does not appear to be on board with such a decision. Will Seattle make the ultimate era ending move by firing Carroll, it’s finest coach, and trading Wilson, the greatest player in its history? Such a move would have seemed impossible not long ago but may soon be a reality.