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Just less than three years after signing a four-year, $140 million contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks in April 2019, Russell Wilson has been traded to the team that he demolished in Super Bowl XLVIII - the Denver Broncos.

It's certainly going to be strange not to see him as the QB for the Seahawks anymore after 10 years.

Current details:

To Denver:
QB Russell Wilson
1 Fourth-round pick

To Seattle:
QB Drew Lock
TE Noah Fant
DE Shelby Harris
2 First-round picks
2 Second-round picks
1 Fifth-round pick

Millions of #3 Wilson Seahawks jerseys have suddenly become outdated.

That's a steep price for a 34 year old.

Ahh shucks, really like Russell Wilson but I have to think that perhaps the Hawks got the better of this deal in the long term. Don't know if they have a QB waiting in the wings or if they are planning on going with Lock but they got a lot of trade leverage with the picks/players so if they want to try an pick up another QB prospect....

Even if Wilson has a renaissance it is likely only to be for a season or two and then what is he worth to the Bronco's? Seems like they are mortgaging a lot of the future for a chance to be average today.

I can see the logic for Denver. Outside of the brief Peyton Manning era they've been unable to fill the QB position since Elway retired after the 1998 season. As for how long Wilson might do that may lay in the hands of Denver's FOPs staff. If they opt for the Seattle model of frugality when it comes to OL talent then Wilson will continue to be treated like a piniata making this trade a shirt term investment.

If they build an OL that can actually protect him then he could give Denver solid QB play for 5 or 6 more years. Brady just hung them up at 44. Brees was close to top form until 40. Roethlesburger, 40 this week, maybe waited a year to long but was still fairly effective despite being far more banged up than Wilson. Rodgers, now 38, obviously figures on being around into his 40s if today's rumours of a 4 year $200M extension are true.

Wilson just turned 33 in November. He is 3 days short of a full 5 years younger than Rodgers. One thing I've noticed when it comes to QBs playing into their late 30s/early 40s it's the ones who are relatively injury free throughout the careers who pull it off. Wilson has done that. The 2 games he missed in 2021 were the only ones he ever missed in his 10 year career and that was for a broken finger. He's had no issues with things like knees, back, shoulders or concussions.

In all due respect to Bryan Burnham, Wilson is the most popular pro athlete in Vancouver not in the Canucks organization and it’s been that way for years.
Started with his trips to Vancouver early in his career for his QB camps and of course the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl not long after. Also doesn’t hurt how charismatic he is.

I’m sure the Lions don’t mind seeing the Wilson era end and the Seahawks seemingly heading towards a rebuilding mode.

I've just become a Broncos fan. Last time I was a Broncos fan was when Payton Manning was their QB....I'm kinda fickle with my NFL loyalties and it often depends more on favourite players vs loyalty to a fav team.

Seahawks in recent years have drafted poorly and failed to adequately upgrade the Oline or install the kind of O that Wilson wants to run, which is less reliance on the run.

I'm kinda shocked that Seahawks released future HoFer Bobby Wagner, signalling a rebuild on D as well.

Less than two years later after the trade and officially speaking less than 1.5 years later if you start evaluating the beginning of the 2022 NFL season, then there's no doubt which team won the trade. On the poll, most people predicted that Denver would benefit more from the trade but that was certainly not the case. Summarizing the trade:

Robbie wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 11:41 am

To Denver:
QB Russell Wilson
1 Fourth-round pick

To Seattle:
QB Drew Lock
TE Noah Fant
DE Shelby Harris
2 First-round picks
2 Second-round picks
1 Fifth-round pick

I don' t know what the draft picks turned out to be, so I won't evaluate the draft picks but no doubt that as far as how the immediate players turned out to be, Seattle clearly won the trade.

DE Shelby Harris didn't turned out to be long-time benefit in that he only played one season with the team before he was released from the Seahawks. TE Noah Fant has been decent although he has had minimal impact this season given the fact that he has not started every game and has not scored any TD's. But the most important aspect of the trade for the Seahawks is that Drew Lock has proved to be a good backup (when he's good) when he's required to replace Geno Smith in his recent injury. And just as importantly, the Seahawks are not in a serious financial mess unlike the Broncos.

On the other hand, less than two full seasons the Denver Broncos have now benched Russell Wilson who will likely not return next season and all the while owing him tens of millions of dollars.

Suppose Russell Wilson stayed with the Seahawks, then it's likely that the team would have been in a financial mess with him right now the way the Broncos are with him. So GM John Schneider quickly and wisely dumped the mess to another NFL team and the victim was the team that his Seahawks convincingly defeated before - talk about adding insult to injury . Repeating my comment on the other thread, I'd say this off-field, devastating defeat for the Denver Broncos at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks falls in the same magnitude as that of Super Bowl XLVIII.

The amount of $ that Wilson gets paid and what Denver gave up to get him is for a Russell Wilson in his prime, not the current 35y.o. version who is adequate or even more than adequate, but not top tier.

This is probably going to be quoted as one of the most lopsided bad trades ever in the NFL. I actually thought he was going through a bit of a renaissance this season but it appears to be short lived. His benching now is more about him not getting injured before the end of the season. Apparently, there is some kind of 37 million lump sum payout in the event of that.

Sir Purrcival wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 30, 2023 3:33 pm

This is probably going to be quoted as one of the most lopsided bad trades ever in the NFL. Apparently, there is some kind of 37 million lump sum payout in the event of that.

Interesting and unique perspective, Sir Purrcival. What makes it unique and different is that whenever there's a discussion about lopsided trades in the sports world, it's almost always an apples to apples comparison, i.e. player vs. player comparison in which the impact the traded players make in their new teams are evaluated and compared. And if one player had a much bigger positive impact with his new team compared to the other, then it's obvious which team won the trade.

But in this particular case, it's not so much a player vs. player comparison.

Was the Seahawks starting QB Geno Smith obtained from the Russell Wilson trade? No.
Did Drew Lock become a huge superstar for the Seahawks after the trade? No.

So in this particular case, the trade was compared entirely from a financial perspective.

The Denver Broncos lost a lot of money by signing Russell Wilson to a lucrative contract after the trade and now have to give him at least a $37 million dollar payout now that they want to release him.

The Seattle Seahawks saved millions of dollars by trading him to Denver Broncos which must now deal with his huge salary burden. And as the old sayng goes, a penny saved is a penny earned.

In the professional sports world, what are some other lopsided trades not because of the performance of the traded players but rather, one team lost a lot of money while the other team saved a lot of money?

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As an aside, when a good player leaves a team through unfavourable circumstances, should they still be honoured by the team after the player retires?

The Seahawks have three QB's inducted in the Ring of Honor:

#10 - Jim Zorn (1976–1984)
#17 - Dave Krieg (1980–1991)
#8 - Matt Hasselbeck (2001–2010)

But #3 - Russell Wilson was still overall a heck of a lot better than all three QB's above. So by default, the Seahawks may be obligated to retire his #3.

The Seahawks also have three defensive players inducted:

#22 - Dave Brown (1976–1986)
#79 - Jacob Green (1980–1991)
#96 - Cortez Kennedy (1990–2000)

But then by default the Seahawks would be obligated to retire all the numbers that were part of the Legion of Boom in the 2010's.

Finally, the Seahawks also have retired two RB's:

#28 - Curt Warner (1983–1989)
#37 - Shaun Alexander (2000–2007)

So by default, the Seahawks are obligated to retire #24 - Marshawn Lynch.

The Seahawks will run out of numbers for their active players very soon! I guess they will have to compromise by indicating that despite a number being on the Ring of Honor, it will still be used in circulation for active players.

Here's a little more on the financial ramifications of the Russell Wilson benching and its aftermath:

https://www.nfl.com/news/examining-fact ... -s-potenti