This could be the most interesting offseason in NFL history in terms of quarterback movement. The latest unhappy superstar is the Seahawks' Russell Wilson as the former Super Bowl champion says he is tired of being battered behind a porous Seattle offensive line and that he'd like to have more input on player personnel. Wilson has not requested a trade and there's simply no way Seattle will deal him before the 2021 season. However, if Wilson takes another beating, he could force the matter in 2022 and the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys have been mentioned as two top potential landing spots.
Since Wilson arrived in Seattle as the No. 75 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft – an utter steal and after other QBs chosen such as Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler (both LOL) – the Seahawks have finished with a winning record every year and missed the playoffs just once. They were 12-4 this past season and won the NFC West but upset at home in the wild-card round at home by the Rams, 30-20. Wilson was sacked five times and Seattle managed just 278 yards.
Wilson led the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl title following the 2013 season and they should have won it again the next year in SB XLIX if not for the worst play-call in NFL playoff history in the final seconds against New England. Since then, Seattle has not gotten past the divisional round.
Reportedly, a few teams recently reached out to Seattle GM John Schneider about a possible trade but were completely rebuffed. The NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said there is "no chance" the Seahawks would deal away their franchise player, and Wilson had said he's like to play in Seattle his entire career but "I'm frustrated with getting hit too much."
Wilson's 47 sacks in 2020 were the third most in the NFL, behind Philadelphia's Carson Wentz (50) and Houston's Deshaun Watson (49) – ironically, both of those guys might be traded; Wentz is all but a lock to be. Wilson has been sacked 394 times in 144 regular-season games the most in a player's first nine seasons since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Randall Cunningham is next at 366. Wilson has been sacked at least 47 times each of the past three seasons and at least 41 times every season but his rookie year.
"Like any player, you never want to get hit," Wilson said this week. "That's the reality of playing this position. Ask any quarterback who wants to play this game. But at the same time, it's part of the job and everything else. I think that the reality is I've definitely been hit. I've been sacked almost 400 times, so we've got to get better. I've got to find ways to get better, too."
Wilson was named to his eighth Pro Bowl this season and also won the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for his off-field work. Wilson was the MVP favorite for the first several weeks of the 2020 season at William Hill Sportsbook but faded a bit late and didn't get a single MVP vote – amazingly, the 32-year-old has never gotten a vote. William Hill lists Wilson at +1500 to win the 2021 MVP.
In the final four games last season, including the playoff loss, Wilson had fewer than 200 yards passing in three of the four and was below a 100 passer rating in each game.
This writer has looked at various sportsbooks and some are offering odds on "Russell Wilson next team" or "Where will Russell Wilson play in 2021"? SportsLine is not going to offer odds because Wilson simply is NOT going to be traded this season. If the Seahawks don't improve their offensive line play – trade for Baltimore's Orlando Brown? – then 2022 is an entirely different story.
The two teams the various books agree on as favorites as Wilson's next team if he leaves Seattle is Las Vegas and Dallas. In theory, the Cowboys could let QB Dak Prescott play on the franchise tag again this season, sign him long term and flip him for Wilson, who has three years left on the four-year, $140 million extension he signed in April 2019. That contract also includes a no-trade clause.
CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora wrote about Wilson to the Raiders in part because the QB and Coach Jon Gruden "really hit it off during the pre-draft process, when the coach was doing his QB specials for ESPN." Gruden is an offensive-minded coach, while Seattle's Pete Carroll is a defensive-minded guy.
Seattle and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer did part ways this offseason, with the new OC being Shane Waldron. He was with the Rams since 2017 and was the passing-game coordinator in 2020. Waldron has never called plays in a regular-season game. Carroll is on record saying he actually wants the Seahawks to run the ball more in 2021.
"I think he's got everything you'd want in terms of his knowledge of the game and his experience, especially being with Sean McVay and Sean having so much experience in that (coaching) tree," Wilson said this week of Waldron.
William Hill lists Seattle at +2000 to win Super Bowl 56. The SportsLine Projection Model forecasts the Seahawks for 8.8 wins and just a 3.1 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl.
William Hill 2021 NFL MVP favorites
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, and it returned over $5,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks last season. The model is also up more than $8,300 on top-rated NBA picks over the past two-plus seasons. Dating back to last season, it enters Week 8 of the 2020-21 NBA schedule on a stunning 79-46 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.
