Jim Moore: Either you like the Russell Wilson trade or you don’t — I absolutely love it

There’s probably no in between — now that Russell Wilson has been dealt to Denver, you like the trade or you don’t. Or maybe you’re like me and absolutely love it.

You’ve heard the details with the Seahawks getting two first-round draft picks and two second rounders, along with quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant and defensive end Shelby Harris.

Lock is a backup who has wowed no one, but Fant had 68 catches for 670 yards last year while Harris should help the pass rush, recording six sacks in 2021.

I never saw the sense in returning the same basic cast of characters and thinking the outcome would be different than it’s been the past seven years, falling well short of the Super Bowl.

In spite of what they said publicly, Wilson and coach Pete Carroll never seemed to agree on an offensive philosophy. It looked like a good marriage when they talked to reporters, but I wondered how that was possible when Wilson wanted to cook and Carroll wanted to be more conservative.

Did Wilson’s unhappiness prompt the trade? Perhaps. I heard some comments Tuesday suggesting as much. But I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. Maybe the Seahawks simply saw a decline in his play and figured they should sell while he still has peak value.

I don’t know if they felt that way, but I certainly did. It’s been a year and half since we’ve seen a consistently elite Russell Wilson. Yes, the thumb injury last season contributed to a few subpar outings, but he wasn’t great in the last eight games of the 2020 season and the first part of the 2021 season before he got hurt.

After carving out a well-deserved reputation for engineering fourth-quarter comebacks, Wilson did not direct a late rally in 2021. And at the age of 33, Wilson is not as mobile as he used to be. Those spectacular long-distance improvisational connections with Tyler Lockett are not going to happen as often. I suspect in the coming years he will go from sensational to sacked again.

But if you’re in the hate-the-deal camp, you’d still take Wilson playing at, say, 75 percent of what he was over a Drew Lock or whomever else will take the first snap for the Seahawks this year. You feel like a lesser QB reduces the team’s chances to have a successful season.

Stands to reason for sure. But here are two things to think about:

* In this scenario, Wilson would want to be paid more than the $50 million a year that Aaron Rodgers received in his four-year contract extension from the Packers on Tuesday. Trading him suggests the Seahawks clearly don’t think he will be worth that much and if they held on to him for one more year, they wouldn’t get the haul they got from Denver if they tried to deal him next year.

* Just because Wilson isn’t here anymore, I don’t think it guarantees that we’re in for two or three rebuilding seasons of dismal football. I’ll bet that Carroll, in his heart of hearts, feels like he can have a good offense — and maybe even a more productive one — with a lesser-named game manager at quarterback who’s in lock-step with the head coach’s philosophy.

Granted, you might think that’s crazy, and I will admit that I made a $100 wager with a Sixers fan, betting that the Sixers would be worse with James Harden than they were without him. That was a laughably bad bet.

But think about it: What if the Seahawks have a balanced offense with a quarterback who’s perfectly fine with handing it off and throwing occasionally, moving the chains, winning time of possession while reducing the defense’s time on the field? What if they’re less splashy but more effective?

Since they’re in full-on look-to-the-future mode, the Seahawks, as first reported by ESPN, cut Bobby Wagner and his $18 million salary Tuesday night. Between taking Wilson and Wagner off the payroll, they’ll have an additional $27 million to spend on free agents who can fill the holes that have prevented them from making Super Bowl runs when they had Wilson.

This will make it easier for them to re-sign Quandre Diggs, their own marquee free agent, and might allow them to go after Chandler Jones, the premier free agent pass-rusher on the market.

This will make it easier for them to re-sign Quandre Diggs, their own marquee free agent, and might allow them to go after Chandler Jones, the premier free agent pass-rusher on the market.

Everyone’s curious to see who replaces Wilson, whether it’s a free agent such as Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Cam Newton, Andy Dalton or Mitch Trubisky. Maybe it will be someone via trade such as Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo or hopefully not DeShaun Watson in light of 22 lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Even though it’s a weak QB draft, maybe the Seahawks see a future star in Kenny Pickett of Pitt, Malik Willis of Liberty or Matt Corral of Ole Miss. Now with Denver’s ninth pick overall, they could no doubt trade down and still get one of these rookie quarterbacks and another potential starter, maybe a left tackle to replace Duane Brown in the next year or two.

I like the idea of picking up a stopgap solution such as Trubisky or Garoppolo while grooming one of the rookies. And before you trash me for suggesting Trubisky and Garoppolo, Trubisky is 25-13 in his last 38 starts, and Garoppolo took the 49ers to one Super Bowl and was half a quarter from leading them to another.

Then again, maybe Lock will be that classic case of a guy benefiting from a change of scenery and become the player the Broncos thought he’d be when they selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft.

This whole thing could blow up in the Seahawks’ faces with John Schneider being fired as general manager and Carroll “retiring” while we all whisper that he was actually fired too.

But I love what they did and think it will pay off in the long run and maybe even the short term. They blew on the dice and let ‘em fly, knowing the status quo wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. You can find him on Twitter @cougsgo, and on 950 KJR-AM, where he co-hosts a sports talk show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.

This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 4:20 PM.