USA TODAY Sports
Whether it happens this year or next, it seems inevitable that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson will officially ask the Seahawks to change him. When the official order arrives – or when offers from Cowboys, Bears, Raiders or Saints arrive – who with the Seahawks will decide whether it’s time to leave Wilson?
For most teams, the responsibility lies with the owner. In Seattle, he stops with the head coach.
Former Seahawks owner Paul Allen took a back seat. His sister, Jody, has taken on an even lower profile since he inherited the team after his pass. Some in league circles believe that the Seahawks essentially became a corporation, with Vulcan Inc. (founded in 1986 by Paul and Jody Allen to oversee the family’s diverse business activities) and not Jody Allen running the team.
It appears that Vulcan is not actively running the team. Instead, it appears that Vulcan Sports and Entertainment (a division of Vulcan Inc.) prefers to train Pete Carroll as the in fact CEO of the Seahawks subunit. In fact, Carroll is the coach and executive vice president of football operations. Which confirms that he is the ultimate football authority with the Seahawks, a team that has no direct or indirect interference of any kind.
The question is whether the slow boiling of #LetRussCook that went wrong will cause someone from Vulcan to start asking questions or if Jody Allen will start doing it alone. That would be a real break from the precedent, however. Carroll has the power to decide what is best for the team. Carroll is apparently the one who will decide whether to negotiate with Wilson or not.
That is why, as Wilson believes, Carroll does not respond to anyone. As long as he chairs a team that is reasonably successful and ridiculously profitable (it is difficult for an NFL team not to be ridiculously profitable), no one will tell him what to do or how to do it.
And as for the question of whether the Seahawks would be better off choosing Wilson over Carroll given the expected life span of their respective careers, don’t assume that Wilson will play more than Carroll will be training. On the same day, almost four years ago, Patriots owner Robert Kraft expressed hope that Bill Belichick will coach the team until his 80s, Carroll said. PFT Live, “Why stop there?”
Regardless of whether Wilson or anyone else thinks that Carroll has earned the right to manage the Seahawks without significant supervision or scrutiny, Jody Allen and Vulcan Inc. decided that they did. Which means that if / when Wilson is traded, it will only happen if Carroll decides it is the right thing to do.
So the challenge for Wilson, his agent and / or any of the four teams for which Wilson will accept an exchange is to get Carroll to decide that it is the right thing to do and the right time to do so. If Wilson doesn’t want to be there and if his public comments from 19 days ago to Dan Patrick are a sign of open discontent, Carroll may eventually decide that it makes a lot more sense to accept several draft and / or player choices and to move on with another one. person as a defender.
Ultimately, it is a decision that Carroll, and presumably Carroll alone, will make.