The Seattle Seahawks are five games into their new life without Russell Wilson, and the returns haven’t been bad, but let’s pump the brakes a bit. Social media has had a field day with the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. Since trading away Russell Wilson, Seattle has seen Geno Smith turn into quite the passer.
After five weeks, both the Seahawks and Broncos are 2-3. Russell Wilson has thrown four touchdown passes against three interceptions for a passer rating of 82.8, and Geno Smith has thrown for nine touchdowns against two interceptions for a passer rating of 113.2.
Seahawks aren’t winners of the Russell Wilson trade just yet
The Seahawks offense has been very good under Smith, while the Broncos’ offense has been the complete opposite. Especially with the Denver Broncos inking Russell Wilson to a mega contract extension, a large swath of the NFL world is crowning the Seahawks as winners of the big trade.
For a few reasons, that’s incredibly premature.
Firstly, Geno Smith is in his third season in Seattle. He’s been studying and playing in this offense for all this time, and the Seahawks have two very good receivers, an underrated offensive line, two solid tight ends, and talent at the running back position.
Smith got to watch Russell Wilson operate in this offense for three years, so it’s no surprise that he has had a smooth transition. Pete Carroll is also a Hall of Fame coach in the NFL, so he’s clearly benefitting from that.
On the flip side, Russell Wilson is in his first year as a Bronco. He has had to develop chemistry with an entirely new personnel grouping on offense. On top of that, Denver hired a new head coach for this season in Nathaniel Hackett. To make matters even more difficult, Hackett appears to be in over his head.
There are a ton more moving parts in Denver than there has been in Seattle since the trade was made. People who think that after just five weeks, the Seahawks have won the trade, should re-examine it after a year or so. Russell Wilson has also been called washed and appears to be viewed much lower than he was for the past ten seasons.
It’s weird to me because people are completely disregarding the past 10 seasons of Wilson’s career where he won over 100 regular season games, made nine Pro Bowls, and won a Super Bowl. I think crowing the Seahawks winners after just five weeks is very premature.