Former Seahawks LB K.J. Wright Told Pete Carroll He Didn't 'Want to Leave' Seattle Before Signing With Raiders
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Longtime Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright has completed his 11th year in the NFL and his first outside of Seattle. But despite putting together one of his best seasons the year prior, the one-time Pro Bowl selection had to wait 173 days from the start of free agency to find out where his future in the league would take him.
Finally, Wright signed a one-year, $3.2 million contract with the Raiders on September 6, 2021. Seven days later, he played in the team's season opener—a 33-27 overtime win over the Ravens on Monday Night Football in which he played 37 snaps and recorded three tackles, including a tackle for loss to force a key turnover on downs.
Wright went on to finish his year in Las Vegas with 51 tackles and a trip to the playoffs as a rotational defender, proving he can still contribute and then some at the age of 32. But when reflecting on his offseason experience in a two-hour discussion with current free agent linebacker Will Compton on the Bussin' With the Boys podcast, the Mississippi State alum expressed confusion as to why he needed to prove anything in the first place.
"I put together a very, very—in my eyes, a Ring of Honor career," Wright explained. "Got the Super Bowls, got the Pro Bowls, almost got 1,000 tackles in Seattle—I'm, like, seven, eight away. Anyway, yeah, I just had a stellar career. Cracked the NFL Top 100 for the first time, No. 67. But if you look at that list, I'm the only guy that was a free agent. I'm like, 'How the hell? I put together this really good career, first of all. I put together this really good year 10 and don't nobody want me.'"
As weeks turned into months, Wright's phone remained silent. Initially expecting to land a new contract in the early stages of free agency, he instead watched minicamp, OTAs and training camp go by with little-to-no interest shown his way.
"I got zero phone calls," Wright stated. "Zero! Seattle didn't call me. Cowboys, Rams, Niners—nobody called me."
Meanwhile, over the course of the offseason, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was often asked about a potential reunion with the former fourth-round draft choice during his occasional media appearances. He was ultimately non-committal in his responses, though he never shut down the possibility outright.
"The door is still open for players. We're still working at figuring out the roster and how it's going to go," Carroll said on May 28. "Until we get on the field and can see how things are starting to come together, there won't be major changes in what's going on, because we're pretty committed at this point. That doesn't mean that we're not tuned into all of the options and the opportunities that are out there—because we are—but K.J. is okay at this point. He's doing fine; and if we get a chance to call on him, we'll go after it and see if we can put something together."
Wright maintained contact with Carroll throughout the offseason, though the team never made a formal offer to re-sign him. Yet staying in Seattle remained the linebacker's primary desire, and he continued to train at the Ford Sports Performance Center in Bellevue, Washington alongside former teammate Richard Sherman and other fellow free agents.
Wright attributes those sessions—along with his faith and the support of his wife and three children—as being crucial to his process coping with his free agency limbo and the stress and anxiety that stemmed from it.
"I was in my word, I was praying and meditating daily," Wright illustrated. "'Cause if I didn't have that, I would've lost my freaking mind."
One day, Wright's phone finally rang. On the other side of the line was the general manager of a team he had long rivaled.
"[49ers general manager] John Lynch called me," Wright revealed. "He's like, 'K.J., what's up, man? I see you're still a free agent.' I was like, 'Yeah, you noticed?' He was like, 'Man, we would love to get you out here, would love to get you out here, man. You know, we've always watched you. We thought it was a no-brainer that you would sign with Seattle.' That's what he said and I was like, 'Yeah, you know, that didn't happen.' And so, 'Yeah, man, wanna come out here and get a visit in?'"
Wright never went on that visit, but the 49ers still extended him a contract offer. It was a one-year deal worth the league's minimum salary for veteran players. With his 10 years of service time in the NFL, that number would have come in at $1.075 million.
Given his accomplished track record, Wright understandably scoffed at the notion of signing for such a low dollar figure and continued to await other opportunities. Eventually, then-Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who helmed the Seahawks' defense from 2009 to 2012, decided to check in.
Following his conversation with Bradley, Wright went down to Las Vegas and met with the Raiders' brass. The visit went well and he was given an offer. But before he put pen to paper, he called up Carroll—his only head coach at the professional level—and pleaded to make something work, even if it meant he had to take on a reduced role.
"I said, 'Pete, I got this offer on the table. I really don't want to leave. I don't want to leave,'" Wright recalled. "'I want to stay in Seattle. Is there anything we can do? I'll take a lesser role. I understand you want to play Jordyn [Brooks]. I'll come off the field. What can we do so I can stay in Seattle?' He's like, 'Ah, I hate this. Let me talk to John [Schneider] and let's see if we can get something done.'"
In the end, nothing came of that conversation and Wright wound up accepting Las Vegas' offer. With a change in scheme and an emphasis placed on pairing Brooks—Seattle's first-round draft choice in 2020—with future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner, Wright claims that the Seahawks essentially viewed a reunion with him as a last resort in the event of an emergency.
Wagner and Brooks went on to swap single-season franchise records in tackles, with the latter coming out on top with 184. However, the defense as a whole struggled mightily at various points throughout the year, and a glaring part of that was its inability to consistently defend screen plays—a staple of Wright's repertoire, so much so that his teammates in Seattle referred to him as "the screen master."
Prior to the finalization of his departure, some of Wright's former teammates, including Wagner and even Brooks, campaigned for his return but to no avail. Needless to say, he bears no hard feelings toward those he shared the gridiron with over the span of a decade, nor the fanbase that cheered him on during that time. As for the organization itself, Wright indicates he's still in the process of sorting through his feelings and making sense of the situation.
"Some stuff just doesn't make sense, organization-wise," Wright conveyed. "Like, how and why do you let me leave the building when I'm willing to take a lesser role, when I'm willing to still give you all that I got? Like, why? It don't make sense to me, especially when I extend the olive branch in saying: 'Can we work something out?'"
