Will Russell Wilson remain in Seattle?
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson breaks down the likihood of Russeel and the Seattle Seahawks slitting ways.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: Well, the money flying, and NFL free agency has officially begun. But one of the storylines that continues to do a slow burn below the surface is the situation between Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and the franchise that now is fielding phone calls from other teams potentially looking to add Wilson this offseason. Now I've had a chance to talk to a couple of sources that are familiar with what's going on between Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.
And really, this is orbiting around three questions. Number one, is Seattle really willing to trade Russell Wilson? That's what some of these teams that are calling are asking. And we're talking about teams that are not on Russell Wilson's initial list, which was the Dallas Cowboys, the New Orleans Saints, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Chicago Bears. Now that is a slim list, and there are other teams that would be interested in Russell Wilson if indeed, Seattle is willing to field some offers here. Now, are the Seahawks willing to trade him?
The answer to that is yes. If there is a big enough package, I am confident that the Seahawks would be willing to part ways with Russell Wilson. But part of Seattle's factoring here, interestingly enough, is I think the club actually likes the contract that Russell Wilson still has in place the remaining three years. He's still in his prime. Essentially, the team's going to be paying him what amounts to about $36 million on the cap each of the remaining three years of his deal, which runs through 2023. Now that's not exactly a cheap deal versus the quarterback market, but it's definitely a submarket deal when you consider what Dak Prescott just signed with the Dallas Cowboys.
Now the second question that's really important here is, is Russell Wilson willing to be traded? Obviously, he gave up those four teams, his agent gave up those four teams. But if he really wants to be traded, it's going to have to be open beyond just those four teams. And realistically, the two teams that need to be added to that list are the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins, because they have the picks and some of the players that would be necessary to probably him loose from Seattle. Now will Russell Wilson allow that? It remains to be seen. He has a no-trade clause. Neither of those teams was on his initial list. And I think both of those teams could potentially be interested in Russell Wilson moving forward if he's interested in joining those franchises.
And then really, that leads into the third question. What does this look like if a trade can't be consummated? And you can see both sides. When you talk to sources who are on the inside of this thing, you can see them trying to figure out in their mind what has to happen here if a trade does not go down. There has to be some repairing that takes place. Clearly, when you talk to some people in Russell Wilson's camp, there are some trust issues here. I think there's some questions about some of the internal mechanics of what was going on between Russell Wilson and the team that got leaked into the media.
I think that has created a question in the minds of some people close to Russell Wilson whether or not the Seattle Seahawks truly want him around and what they're really interested in letting him affect within the franchise. And then on the part of the Seattle Seahawks, I think there's a feeling that, hey, you know, there's also some things that have appeared in the media about Pete Carroll.
There's some things that have appeared in the media that suggest things about Russell Wilson's teammates on offense, the offensive line. There's a question about maybe some of the players on the offensive line with Russell Wilson. And where did that come from? So there's really trust on both sides that would have to be rebuilt in some way.