Report: Personnel Misses & Misguided Coaching Led to Russell Wilson Wanting Out of Seattle

While the Denver Broncos are still basking in the afterglow of the tectonic trade that rocked the NFL on Tuesday, with Russell Wilson being dealt to the Mile High City, the Seattle Seahawks seem to be in damage-control mode — even though the team came away with a king's ransom in return.

Seattle took home a pair of first-round draft picks, a pair of seconds, and a fifth, along with QB Drew Lock, TE Noah Fant, and DL Shelby Harris, in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round selection. Still, an NFL team trading away a nine-time Pro Bowler and former Super Bowl champion in his prime comes with a fair amount of scrutiny and PR blowback.

The only way to combat it in the court of public opinion is to leak unflattering things about the quarterback to mitigate the sting and justify what was honestly a very unwise move on Seattle's part. Through some intrepid reporting from The Athletic's Michael-Shawn Dugar, Jayson Jenks, and Mike Sando, the Seahawks are promulgating their side of this divorce story in hopes of controlling the damage.

Along the way, it's coming off a tad petty and reeks of sour grapes. The Athletic:

Sources said the Seahawks had become frustrated with the stream of leaks that consistently popped up hinting at Wilson’s displeasure or questioning his future in Seattle, even as Wilson’s production began to decline. Some teammates said they sensed this year that Wilson had checked out.

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As a team, the Seahawks struggled last year finishing 6-8. It was one of only two seasons with Wilson at the helm since 2012 that Seattle failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Wilson dealt with a hand injury but still produced 3,113 passing yards and 25 touchdowns with just six interceptions and a QB rating of 103.1. Explosive? No and Wilson's production was a far cry from his whopping 40 passing touchdowns the year prior.

But the Seahawks were in shambles. Wilson still earned a Pro Bowl nod, the ninth of his career, and his fifth straight. We weren't in the Seahawks locker room but saying he checked out feels like revisionist history based on the production and what we know of Wilson's character.

The Athletic:

Several sources described the end of the relationship between Wilson and the Seahawks as a divorce in which both sides contributed to the dissolution. Wilson felt the team’s personnel misses and devotion to Carroll’s old-school offensive philosophy were holding him back and damaging his legacy. Carroll wasn’t going to abandon the formula Wilson and the Seahawks had used to claim the only Super Bowl championship in franchise history.

The Seahawks' decision basically came down to an ultimatum of sorts. Pete Carroll or Wilson: pick one.

Seattle GM John Schneider picked Carroll, even though NFL history has proven that it's much easier to replace a head coach — even a former Super Bowl-winning one — than a bonafide, perennial Pro Bowl franchise quarterback.

History will judge this trade. While some in the national media have criticized Broncos GM George Paton for the haul he relinquished to land Wilson, the reality is, Seattle lost this trade.

If you lose a franchise QB in his prime via trade, it doesn't matter what the compensation package looks like... you lost. Seattle backed the wrong horse in a 70-year-old Carroll and will soon reap the whirlwind of wandering the QB desert just like Denver did for six long years.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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