As large portions of the country bake in the sweltering heat of the longest day of the year, the NFL offseason has reached its dead zone. Organized Team Practice activities have concluded for the Seattle Seahawks, and more than a month remains until the team reports for training camp in late July. So, just as a void in the news cycle arrives, potentially allowing fans to sit back and imagine with hope and anticipation a successful 2022 season, Corbin Smith of SI.com dropped a bomb Tuesday afternoon.
Smith did so by reporting that former Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson had grown tired of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer during the 2020 season, and that Wilson and his camp wanted a change in coordinators as Schotty’s playcalling and style had grown stale.
Brian Schottenheimer helped elevate Russell Wilson’s game to another level with the #Seahawks and the two formed a close bond.
But contrary to statements made by the QB, he desired a change in play callers, another step towards his eventual exit.
Story:https://t.co/B3QRHgcf69
— Corbin K. Smith (@CorbinSmithNFL) June 21, 2022
Those who want the full story can click over to SI.com to read up on it, but at its heart it is exactly as Michael-Shawn Dugar reported it early in 2021 regarding behind the scenes drama and infighting over how to best run the offense. In particular,
How did the quarterback/coordinator dynamic erode to this point? As previously reported by The Athletic, following two dismal offensive showings in losses to the Bills and Rams, the situation started to boil over when Wilson met with coaches prior to a Thursday Night Football matchup against the Cardinals in Week 11.
On a short week with limited preparation time, Wilson felt he had viable solutions for helping get the Seahawks once-unstoppable offense back on track. He pitched those ideas to the coaching staff, only for them to be dismissed completely by [Pete] Carroll, Schottenheimer, and others involved in the game planning process, leading to the quarterback storming out of the meeting room in frustration.
No matter how many times fans return to the conversation of what happened to lead to the breakdown between Pete Carroll and Wilson, at the end of the day, it simply comes back to the fact that Wilson appears to have felt like he was not given equal respect at the table. While quarterbacks like Brett Favre and Tom Brady get their own office or the ability to help construct the roster, Wilson was laughed out of the room when he came with suggestions for helping address the issues plaguing the offense he was asked to quarterback.
In short, he was not empowered, he was micromanaged, which is one of the absolute best ways to alienate a once loyal employee. Certainly Wilson could have handled it better from his end, but this kind of disconnect between the two sides is exactly what led to the split, and what could very well lead to consecutive losing seasons for the Seahawks for the first time in a decade.