Why did Russell Wilson leave the Seattle Seahawks?

Russell Wilson is playing his 11th season in the NFL. For the first time, he's wearing a different team jersey. He had a decade-long career with the Seattle Seahawks, and one might wonder about the great bond he might share with his former team.

But his plans to move from Seattle to Denver came as a shocker and revealed the sour relationship between the Seahawks and Wilson. The Seahawks wanted to trade Wilson for quite some time, but what made them wait until the 2022 season?

The 2022 season was quite entertaining right before it began. To add more to it, the Broncos played their first game against the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson traveled to his former stomping grounds only to taste his first defeat of the season against his former team. It was a close game, and the Seahawks won it over the Broncos by a single point.

Why Russell Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos?

As mentioned before, the Seahawks had been planning to trade Wilson for some time, but they couldn't get their hands on the quarterback they wanted. They stayed with Wilson and even extended his contract in 2019. But why did they do so?

The Seahawks wanted a younger quarterback to replace Russell Wilson, and in 2017, they had their eyes on Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Baker Mayfield. There were reports that the Seahawks tried to contact these players. Reportedly, Russell Wilson's agent, Mark Rodgers, found out about it, and thus began an uneasy relationship between the quarterback and the team.

Wilson led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl twice. Interestingly, the Seahawks defeated the Broncos 43-8 to lift the Lombardi trophy in 2014. In 2019, the Seahawks offered him a four-year contract extension, and he took his team to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020.

Even though he got a contract extension, things still weren't the same as before. Wilson wasn't happy with the team's offensive line performance. In 2021, he publicly talked about it in an interview.

In his 10-year tenure, he threw for 37,059 yards with 292 touchdowns and 87 interceptions. His last season with the Seahawks wasn't very productive, and they made the decision to trade Wilson to the Broncos in return for two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Locke, defensive tackle Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant.

Russell Wilson's contract with the Denver Broncos

Wilson's deal with the Broncos was extended in September, and he will play for them until the 2028 season, earning almost $296 million. He will receive a $49 million annual compensation on average. He still has two years left on his old contract, which will pay him $24 million and $27 million over the following two years, respectively.

His signing was motivated by the desire to bring home a Super Bowl soon. Denver is a really talented team that may compete this year. In the coming months, we'll see if Russell Wilson can take them to victory.