'They Were Fucking Pissed' - The Fascinating Story Of How Mahomes, Josh Allen And The MVP Race Led To The Seahawks Trading Russ

I'm always fascinated by these sort of stories. The ones where a guy who seems to be a franchise guy. A guy who will spend his career with one team and mostly one coach ends up being traded and the fallout. It happens, but Russ seemed like he was a Seahawk forever. But now, with Week 1 approaching and him playing Seattle, we're starting to get the stories. 

It's a longform piece, so here are some of the things that stood out. It started with some scouting

[Source] - IN THE SPRING of 2017, Seahawks general manager John Schneider was a conspicuous attendant at Patrick Mahomes' pro day. The GM had become so enamored with the Texas Tech quarterback that Seattle would have taken him had he been available late in the first round, multiple team sources said. The massive gamble on an unproven quarterback would have carried an obvious benefit: flexibility to build the roster around a cheap rookie contract the way Seattle had done during Wilson's first three seasons when the Seahawks won one Super Bowl and nearly a second.

A year after eyeing Mahomes, Schneider attended Josh Allen's Wyoming pro day, a repeat move that raised eyebrows among observers and ruffled feathers inside Wilson's camp. 

Wilson's camp had a different view.

"They were f---ing pissed," a Seahawks' front-office source said.

Of course Russ and his camp were fucking pissed. Why wouldn't they be? Unless you're completely transparent (no one is in sports) when you find out that you might be replaced you're going to lose your shit. This was 2017 and 2018. Just for the sake of arguing - Russ was coming off years where he threw for 21 touchdowns, 4,219 yards and then 34 touchdowns and 3,983 yards. The Seahawks went 10-5-1, lost in the Divisional round and then went 9-7. You're looking to replace that? I know who Mahomes and Allen turned into but you're taking that gamble on a still relatively young quarterback. 

For the Seahawks it was apparently a money move and a safety move. Sure, okay. But do Mahomes and/or Allen keep you in Super Bowl contention their first year? Again, we know what Mahomes turned into and Allen even, but does that happen with Carroll? 

Then there's the MVP race in 2019: 

LEADING UP TO an October 2019 game at the Atlanta Falcons, Wilson's fast start had made him one of the prime early-season contenders for MVP, an award he badly wanted to win. With the Baltimore Ravens and eventual winner Lamar Jackson on a bye, this was Wilson's chance to pull ahead. He threw two touchdowns as the Seahawks jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead but attempted only five passes in the second half.

Afterward, according to a source who spoke with the quarterback, Wilson was livid at how Carroll had taken his foot off the gas, believing it had cost him a chance to grab hold of the MVP race.

Again, I don't blame Russ for this. If you're winning games and have a chance to win MVP, that's a dream scenario for a player. If you're putting up empty stats and losing games, I get it. But the Seahawks weren't. That Falcons game they were 5-2 and up 24-0 at half. They almost blew that game, ended up winning 27-20. That's why you don't your foot off the gas. Like I said, they were winning! If they are 2-5, sure, you maybe switch shit up and try to pound a game out with the running game. 

Hey, it's easy to make fun of Russ. He does some corny shit and can be an easy target. But there's also no doubt he's a damn good quarterback. I mean he's been a top-10 quarterback in the league basically his entire career. It's the most important position in sports. You don't just move on - especially when you think Drew Lock is the answer. Now the Seahawks are stuck in a weird spot. They don't have a quarterback for the present or future. They have to rebuild and hope to hit. They have an aging coach who might not be around for the entire rebuild. 

The Broncos know what they have now too. Hence why they give him a new deal and also have a perfectly timed tweet

This won't be the last time we see someone like Russ on a different team. But it's week 1. It's him playing Seattle again. That's what makes all of this so intriguing.