In February 2023, The Athletic claimed that Russell Wilson asked the Seahawks management to fire coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider for the 2022 season. The quarterback supposedly felt like Carroll and Schneider didn’t do enough to help the team gain wins, for the team and for Wilson, personally. This purportedly led the Seattle-based team to trade Wilson to the Denver Broncos. Interestingly, the report also noted Wilson wanted to replace Carroll with Sean Payton, who ended up being Wilson’s coach anyway in Denver.
After this report came out, Wilson fought back on Twitter, writing, “I love Pete and he was a father figure to me and John believed in me and drafted me as well. I never wanted them fired. All any of us wanted was to win. I’ll always have respect for them and love for Seattle.” Wilson’s attorney also refuted the claims by The Athletic.
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According to Sports Illustrated, it’s normal and expected for owner and coach relations to switch up at a popular player’s request (or just because). “Basically: This is one of the most cutthroat businesses in the world, and almost everyone is willing to get someone else fired to save their job, their legacy, their creature comforts or some combination of the three,” Conor Orr wrote. Basically, there isn’t trust between franchise components, and that’s the case with a lot of major leagues; it’s all very political.
