Pete Carroll, John Schneider respond to report Russell Wilson asked Seahawks to fire them
Did Russell Wilson indeed ask Seahawks owner Jody Allen to fire Pete Carroll and John Schneider before they traded him last year?
The two men who would know whether what The Athletic reported last week was true answered that question Tuesday at the NFL’s annual scouting combine.
“There’s nothing I’m commenting about that,” Carroll said away from the podium where he had just had a press conference at the Indiana Convention Center, “but to say that stuff is said, it’s always been said, for years. And guys come and go with their thoughts, and their emotions, and all that.
“And I ain’t worried about it.’’
About two hours later, from behind a podium in the same room of the convention center, Schneider said: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.
“I’m kidding. That was a joke.
“Honestly, like water under the bridge.”
It was noticeable that given the opportunity, neither of the Seahawks’ top football men denied Wilson went to team owner Jody Allen and asked they be replaced.
The Athletic reported Friday that Wilson “asked Seahawks ownership” to fire Carroll and Schneider before the team traded its franchise quarterback to Denver in March 2022. That was, The Athletic reported citing unnamed sources, after the franchise quarterback who won Seattle’s only Super Bowl title after the 2013 season became “convinced that Carroll and Schneider were inhibiting his quest to win additional Super Bowls and individual awards.”
The Athletic’s story was co-reported and written by Kalyn Kahler, former News Tribune Seahawks beat writer Mike Sando and Jayson Jenks.
Wilson responded online less than an hour after the story came out on the internet early Friday morning.
“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. l’ll always have respect for them and love for Seattle,” Wilson posted on his Twitter account.
Russell Wilson’s requests
The Seahawks traded Wilson to the Broncos at his request March 8, 2022.
Last month he finished the worst season of his 11-year NFL career. His Denver debut season ended with the Broncos 5-12 and with the league’s worst offense in points scored.
A spokesman for the Seahawks told The News Tribune on Friday the team had no comment on The Athletic’s story.
The TNT was told last year before the trade to Denver that Wilson had for a couple years wanted to play for coach Sean Payton. The Athletic reported Friday that Wilson asked “Seahawks ownership” — meaning Allen — to replace Carroll with Payton before the 2022 season.
Payton spent last season out of coaching, as a television analyst for Fox.
Allen is the only authority above Carroll within the Seahawks.
Asked about Payton now as Wilson’s coach, Carroll said Tuesday: “I don’t think you can come up with a better guy to coach a quarterback than Sean. He’s proven that. He’s had such tremendous success.
“We’ve battled against him for years. He’s got a great play-call mentality. The discipline of his teams has always shown up, and that will be a big factor taking over.
“I think they are very fortunate to get him.”
Payton was coaching New Orleans in February 2021 when Wilson’s agent Mark Rodgers told ESPN Wilson would waive his no-trade clause to get traded from Seattle to the Saints among three other teams, should the Seahawks want to trade him.
The Seahawks, specifically and lastly Carroll, did not.
That is, not until after Wilson let Carroll and Schneider know early in the 2022 offseason he wanted out of Seattle and had a team he wanted, Denver.
“We were under the impression,” Wilson wasn’t going to re-sign a third extension with the Seahawks after his then-current deal ended with 2023 season, Schneider said on March 16, 2022.
Eight days earlier, the day of the trade, Allen said in a team statement it happened because Wilson didn’t want to be in Seattle after his first 10 NFL seasons leading the Seahawks.
“While Russell made it clear he wanted this change, he made Seattle proud, and we are grateful for his decade of leadership on and off the field,” Allen said March 8, 2022.
“I trust our leadership to take us into the future, and know we all wish Russell the very best.”
The Broncos fired first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett during last season. Denver replaced him with Payton this month.
Pete Carroll sticks by former players
Carroll said Tuesday that just like Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Earl Thomas and other stars who left after winning Super Bowls with the Seahawks, the 71-year-old coach will always consider them — and Wilson — one of his own.
“I’m always going to hang with them. I’m never going to leave ‘em, and I’m going to be there at the end of all of the good stuff and all of the bad stuff, I’m going to still be there,” Carroll said.
“That’s it. You know, I’m hanging, and it doesn’t matter who the guy is. If you look at all of the guys that have come to our program, just not go back to the college days, but just is here in Seattle, regardless of what has happened, has taken place or the things that have been said, at all, if you hang with them it all comes back around.
“And I’d like to demonstrate that faith in the relationship and the depth of what we did together, and hang through whatever the growth challenges bring to us along the way.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 2:50 PM.
