Seattle Seahawks trade Russell Wilson to Denver Broncos, reports say

Russell Wilson traded to Denver Broncos

FOX 13 Sports Director Aaron Levine breaks down what the trade means for the team

12s react to Russell Wilson trade

Seahawks fans have mixed reactions to the news about Russell Wilson being traded to the Denver Broncos.

SEATTLE - A week after saying they had no intention of trading Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks have dealt their star quarterback to the Denver Broncos, according to multiple reports.

The agreement was first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.

Schefter reported Seattle gets quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a fifth-round pick.

Denver would get Wilson and a fourth-round pick, he reported.

According to Schefter, hours after the big announcement, Wilson signed his no-trade provision and passed the Broncos' physical, making it official on Wilson's end.

The Broncos held the No. 9 overall pick in this spring's NFL Draft. That pick, presumably, is headed to Seattle as part of the agreement.

The Seahawks did not have a first-round pick this year. It was sent to the New York Jets in 2020 as part of a trade to acquire safety Jamal Adams.

"We have no intention of making any move there," head coach Pete Carroll said last week when asked about the possibility of parting ways with Wilson.

"What John [Schneider] says is ‘we are not shopping the quarterback.’ That’s what he tells them. He has talked to other teams. Because of all the media (rumors), they (other teams) think that something is going on. He’s fielded a lot of calls. But he’s fielded a lot of calls on everybody. But that one in particular, he’s got a pretty standard response."

Wilson, 33, has a full no-trade clause in his deal and would need to waive it in order to complete the trade. However, discussions wouldn't logically get to this point without knowledge that Wilson would accept the deal. He had two years remaining on his current contract with the team.

Rumblings about the future of Wilson in Seattle had percolated over the last year since Wilson expressed some dissatisfaction with the team and, in particular, the frequency in which he got hit. Wilson's agent, Mark Rodgers, told ESPN that they had not requested a trade from Seattle, but that Wilson would approve a trade to only the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders or New Orleans Saints.

Wilson said multiple times in recent months that his intentions are to win more Super Bowls and to do so in Seattle.

"My goal is to win more Super Bowls, and my plan is to win them here," Wilson said in January. "It’s that simple. There’s nothing really else other than that."

However, Wilson never completely shut the door either.

Neither did the Seahawks.

"At this time of year there's conversations about everybody," Carroll said last week. "We're talking about everybody. And that's commonplace for us to have conversations with teams about all of the players, particularly marquee players, and that's not changed. It's been the same every year we've been here. So it's the same as it's been. We have no intention of making any move there. But the conversation is John has to field those, he always has, but nothing specific to that."

Wilson is coming off one of his most disappointing seasons since joining the Seahawks in 2012. Wilson missed games for the first time in his career as a mallet finger injury required surgery and forced him to miss three games. When he returned to the lineup, he wasn't close to his normal self for at least another month of action as the Seahawks scuffled to their first losing season in the Wilson era.

Wilson completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 3,113 yards in 14 games played. He threw 25 touchdowns with six interceptions.

Seattle Seahawks trade Russell Wilson to Denver Broncos, reports say

The biggest area of struggle for Wilson came on third downs, where he completed a career-worst 51.5 percent of his pass attempts. His third down completion percentage ranked fourth-worst in the NFL this season (among quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts) ahead of only Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns, and rookie quarterbacks Justin Fields (Chicago Bears) and Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars).

It was the worst mark posted by Wilson since he completed just 55.8 percent of his third down attempts in 2017, which was the last season the Seahawks had failed to make the postseason prior to 2021.

Despite the struggles, the fact that a season Wilson tossed 25 touchdowns and had a passer rating of 103.1 was a relative disappointment speaks to the standard Wilson has set through his 10 seasons in Seattle.

The Broncos are scheduled to travel to Seattle next season, which will make Wilson's return to town with his new team.

Wilson has been named to nine Pro Bowls during his 10 seasons in Seattle. He led the NFL in passer rating in 2015 and in touchdowns in 2017. He was a second-team All-Pro selection in 2019 and was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year for 2020. He leaves Seattle as the most decorated quarterback in franchise history.

Per OverTheCap.com, the trade of Wilson will give Seattle an additional $11 million in salary cap space. Per the NFL Players' Association database, the Seahawks were expected to have $36.7 million in cap space prior to Wilson's trade.

The trade cannot become official until all players have had physicals with their new teams and the new league year begins next Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT.

Seattle is left with Lock and former University of Washington quarterback Jacob Eason as the only quarterbacks currently under contract for the 2022 season. Carroll also expressed a desire to re-sign Geno Smith, who has served as the team's backup the last two seasons.

Lock has started 21 games over the last three seasons with Denver. He's completed 59.3 percent of his passes for his career for 4,740 yards with 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. In his lone season as a full-time starter in 2020, Lock made 13 starts as Denver posted a 4-9 record in those games. He completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 2,933 yards with 16 touchdowns and a league-high 15 interceptions.