Russell Wilson Reportedly Tried To Get Pete Carroll AND John Schneider Fired In Seattle Before His Trade To The Broncos
Steph Chambers. Getty Images."Before the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Broncos, the quarterback requested the team fire coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider, league sources told The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:
- Wilson was convinced that Carroll and Schneider were inhibiting his quest to win additional Super Bowls and individual awards, according to league sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details.
- The quarterback had a preferred replacement in mind: Sean Payton, who had recently stepped down from the New Orleans Saints.
- Wilson placed his request to fire the coach and GM in February 2022. Within days of his call, top team officials met and decided to pursue trading the nine-time Pro Bowler, per sources.
- Payton and Wilson are now united in Denver after the Broncos hired the coach this offseason."
WOW. What a scumbag move!!! Russell Wilson, say it ain't so!!! A superstar quarterback of Russ' squeaky-clean self-image attempted to stage a full-blown coup before getting embarrassed, shipped out of town and sent to a disastrous season while his exes made the playoffs.
And get this, Russ is denying all of it:
This has to be one of the biggest, "I told you so" moments for anyone who started to feel like something was fishy about Mr. Unlimited after a while. I was heavily invested in the Legion of Boom era of the Seattle Seahawks. Saw their run of contending for multiple Super Bowls coming from a mile away once Russ landed with the team.
Unfortunately, once Russ started throwing in a few too many cliches in press conferences and just in general acted disingenuous about pretty much everything in public, it became harder and harder to root for him.
Not gonna lie, though, as prescient as I was about the Legion of Boom heyday, I couldn't have been more wrong as one of the many folks who believed the Seahawks ran an antiquated football operation in terms of scheme and scouting. It felt like Pete Carroll had too much power and that Seattle was stupid for not succumbing to the "Let Russ Cook" movement. General manager John Schneider seemed like a Carroll yes man as the Seahawks cycled through awful draft classes for years.
We all know what happened next. Russ forced his way out of Seattle, the Seahawks had a historically good rookie draft class, beat their traitor traded quarterback in Week 1, got his new coach Nathaniel Hackett fired after less than a season, and, well, I guess he finally got what he wanted! Sean Payton, come on down!
Fresh off a TV gap year, Payton goes from the Saints' perpetual salary cap purgatory and post-Drew Brees quarterback hellscape to dealing with Russ for at least one full season. As prohibitive as Wilson's contract seems to be, it's actually possible for Denver to move off him as soon as 2024.
Payton has raved about Caleb Williams publicly and although it's not in his DNA to "tank" per se, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the route Denver goes. Russ is the perfect fall guy. They obviously paid Payton to be there for the long haul.
Maybe Payton and Russ hit it off like gangbusters and the former revives the latter's career. But hold on…there's more.
The Athletic woke up today and chose violence. Their headline to their deeper exposé is a doozy:
"Russell Wilson’s first year with Broncos: 'Too much influence,' too few wins in disorganized disaster"
We got more juicy details on that infamous office Wilson had, which isolated and alienated him from his new teammates perhaps even more than was first realized:
"The Broncos gave Wilson an office at the team facility, a rare perk (Wilson did not have an office in Seattle and Heaps had only limited access to the Seahawks’ facility). Several Broncos veterans said they didn’t mind Wilson having his own office, especially because the quarterback spent so much time at the facility.
"[…] From the outside, the existence of the office worked against Wilson when his on-field play failed to measure up. And the location of the office — on the facility’s second floor, where Broncos coaches and executives also worked — created an unusual team dynamic.
"'The players were always on the first floor; they never really came up to the second floor,' one coach said. 'If you came up to the second floor as a player, it honestly wasn’t a good thing because you were probably getting released.'
"One offensive player said Wilson told teammates he had an 'open-door policy' with his office, which to another coach seemed problematic. 'So, are you a coach or are you a player?' the coach asked. 'Your open door should be you sitting at your locker.'"
Nathaniel Hackett is portrayed as a human doormat who let all this happen without a second thought. And get this: Among the support staff Wilson would have on-site was his personal quarterback coach, Jake Heaps, participated in meetings every Tuesday.
Can you imagine being ex-Broncos passing game coordinator/QB coach Klint Kubiak in this situation? Serving as a key staff member where your daddy Gary won three Super Bowls (two as an assistant, one as a head coach) and seeing some random fucking guy big boy you during meetings? Can't even begin to fathom how much awkward tension that created between Kubiak, Hackett and Russ. Heaps is only 31 years old and has zero NFL coaching experience. He met Wilson as a Seahawks practice squadder in 2016 and 2017. Then he's all of a sudden his personal yes man.
It would appear as if Payton has A LOT of work to do to, well, undo whatever Russell Wilson-related fuckery was afoot at Broncos HQ last season. Can't wait to see how DangeRuss apologists spin this one. What a clown this guy is.
You'd typically say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Hard to agree with that notion here. Had it been only one or two "sources" from a less reputable publication, perhaps these bombshell reports could've been written off as hearsay or people within divided organizations pushing agendas and leaking info for public perception points.
Then you read that second Athletic report a little more and discover fifteen Broncos players, coaches and staffers spoke out.
Unless Russ plays at an elite level in 2023, look for the Broncos to move off his ass as soon as they possibly can. It's OK though Russ, just smile through it all, deny deny deny and act like none of it ever happened. Let the haters talk all their shit. I'm sure you'll be just fine.
BRONCOS COUNTRY, LET'S RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok