It’s now been over a year-and-a-half since the Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. The trade intended to give Denver their first franchise quarterback since Peyton Manning retired while Seattle would get some draft picks as they transitioned into a new era.
However, things have gone much completely different than expected. Wilson’s tenure with the Broncos has completely flopped as he’s had the two worst seasons of his career. Meanwhile, The Seahawks have surprisingly become a playoff contender behind Wilson’s former backup, Geno Smith.
With this in mind, let’s take a closer look and re-grade the blockbuster deal.
Denver Broncos: F
Russell Wilson has been a complete disaster in Denver. The former Super Bowl champion was expected to come in and lead the team to the playoffs, if not challenge for the Super Bowl. He was supposed to help the Broncos rival Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers and Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead, the Broncos just lost their 16th consecutive game to the Chiefs.
In 2022, Wilson went 4-11 in 15 games while completing a career low 60.5% of his passes for 3,524 yards and 16 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He was also the tied for the most sacked quarterback in the league, getting taken down 55 times. Former coach Nathaniel Hackett took the brunt of the blame and was fired in favor of Sean Payton. Payton was expected to turn around the offense and while the statistics look better, Denver’s offense is far from consistent or competitive. They are just 1-5 with their only win coming against the Chicago Bears.
In addition to Wilson not making this team competitive, the Broncos lost several draft picks in the trade. They got back a fourth-round pick which they used on Eyioma Uwazurike, who has yet to make a significant impact.
Seattle Seahawks: B
The Seattle Seahawks are the clear winners of this trade. However, they did not earn an A because they did n0t ace all their picks. While they’ve had some hits, they also had some misses.
In the trade, Seattle got a first, second and fifth-round pick in 2022 along with another first and second-round pick in 2023. They also got quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant and defensive end Shelby Harris. In terms of the players they received, Lock has been a solid backup quarterback, but hasn’t really had to play since Geno Smith has been healthy. Fant has put up respectable stat-lines through a season and a half with the Seahawks while Harris is now on the Browns. The Seahawks didn’t lose much in this part of the trade, but they didn’t gain a ton either.
The Seahawks have had more success with the players they’ve drafted from this trade. They selected offensive tackle Charles Cross ninth overall in 2022 and also picked outside linebackers Boye Mafe and Tyreke Smith in the second and fifth rounds. In 2023, they hit big acquiring cornerback Devon Witherspoon fifth overall and edge rusher Derick Hall in the second round.
