RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said Thursday that he did not request a trade this offseason and he believes conversations with coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have strengthened his relationship with the team.
Wilson spoke for the first time since February, when a series of comments he made led to trade speculation and a growing furor surrounding his future in Seattle.
Wilson repeated numerous times that winning is the ultimate cure for any dissatisfaction and that any rifts with the franchise have been mended for now.
“We’re on the same page. We’re here to do what we’re meant to do and that’s to win it at all,” Wilson said. “I’m excited. I’m excited about who we have, the guys we have, excited where we are. Coach Carroll and I’s relationship couldn’t be stronger on it. Like I said earlier, my focus is to win. Winning means everything to me.”
But clearly frustration had been building over the team’s performance and that led to the offseason firestorm that started after Wilson watched Tom Brady win another Super Bowl title in February.
“When I’m sitting at the Super Bowl and watching the Super Bowl, I should be (angry), right?” Wilson said. “At the end of the day you shouldn’t be wanting to sit there and watch the game. You want to be there and play, especially when you’ve played in it twice.”
Seattle won its only Super Bowl title eight years ago and it’s been seven years since the Seahawks last won the NFC. The Seahawks haven’t advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs in any season since, and last year they were ousted in the wild-card round at home by division rival Los Angeles — the first home playoff loss of Wilson’s career.
Wilson’s previous comments came after questions about whether the Seahawks were doing enough to put a winning product around him. He specifically mentioned his offensive line and being tired of constantly getting hit.
The conjecture reached a boil when Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, commented to ESPN that Wilson had not requested a trade but listed the four teams — Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago and New Orleans — for which he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause.
“There was a whole thing saying that I requested a trade and that’s just not true. I didn’t request a trade, so I think everything kind of started from there,” Wilson said. “And then, obviously, tons of teams were calling, and I think that the reality was that I didn’t really want to go anywhere else. I wanted to play in Seattle. But if I had to go somewhere these are the teams I would go to, or consider.”
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