What’s Going On in Seattle? Is Russell Wilson Really ‘Not Black Enough?’

From a 3-3 start with back-to-back losses, to rumors of quarterback Russell Wilson “not being black enough,” what is going on in Seattle?

If there’s anything we’ve learned in football in the past decade or so it’s this: don’t mess with the franchise quarterback.

Friday morning started off with an unusual bang of a story and possible situation that will probably never seem to go away: a player not “being black enough.” To put that statement in perspective, more than 68 percent of African-Americans make up the NFL rosters, with 27.7 percent of NFL players are white.

Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman reported that one of the reasons that wide receiver Percy Harvin was traded to the New York Jets last week was, among many reasons, due to his animosity toward quarterback Russell Wilson.

Wilson reportedly wanted to help Harvin through his anger issues who one player said was becoming an accelerant in a locker room that was quickly dividing between pro-Wilson and anti-Wilson.

It’s not that Wilson has played bad this year — he’s thrown for 1,291 yards with 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions, completing just over 65 percent of his passes and ran for over 100 yards in two of the last three games — however it’s being said that Wilson doesn’t always take the blame with his teammates for his mistakes.

Seattle has lost two of their last three and the Seahawks defense has allowed about 30 points in the last two games, both of which were losses. Neither of which were really Russell Wilson’s fault, considering he doesn’t play defense.

But the two issues between the Seahawks locker room and Wilson are more off the field than on. The main issue, as Freeman points out, is that they think he’s too close to the front office. In a way, Wilson is seen as a teacher’s pet in a sense, that he’s too corporate in the way he does things. While we all know someone who does that in whatever job or career you have, a lot of the best quarterbacks in the NFL do have a close relationship with the front office. Nobody really complains about the way Peyton does things in Denver, or, for the most part, in Indianapolis before he was released, or, for a more recent example, how Andrew Luck does things in Indy now; it’s almost a mirror image to how Wilson operates.

But the kicker here is that according to several interviews with Seahawks players, they don’t believe that Wilson “is black enough.”

For starters, did anyone else get the memo of criteria for black athletes, especially quarterbacks, of being “black enough?”

Maybe it’s a jealousy thing, considering that Wilson didn’t necessarily come from the inner-cities like a majority of NFL players have, however Wilson does project this wholesome, first-class image that other high-valued successful quarterbacks in the NFL (mainly the top-20 in the league) do. Why shouldn’t a franchise quarterback hold himself up to a higher standard anyway? It’s not like he’s the “face of the franchise” and, in Wilson’s case, on the verge of signing an extension that’s expected to be worth over $100 million next year.

“I think that’s a lot of it,” Freeman said. “It’s jealousy. I don’t thin there’s any question about that. The thing about Russell Wilson is he’s doing all this stuff. He’s winning Super Bowls. He’s doing great things, and he’s being underpaid and you don’t hear him complain about it. He doesn’t say a word about it. All he does is present a very professional air.”

“From talking to these guys, they think he’s just too close to management. They want him to be more like them.”

“I don’t know if there’s any bad guys here. Percy Harvin’s had problems with every team he’s played, so perhaps he’s a bad guy and perhaps he went about this the wrong way,” Jason Whitlock said on ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “There does need to be room for Russell Wilson to be who he wants to be, but he has to be smart enough to realize, ‘Hey, I’m leading a football team that’s 60% African American. Guys on my team like Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman are from a different background than me.’”

Maybe this will be a thing that will pass in Seattle, and maybe this is all just a thing because the Seahawks are 3-3 and losers to two straight, the last of which to a rebuilding St. Louis Rams team playing with a third-string quarterback.  It’s funny to remember that Seattle, for a quick moment two years ago seemed to be just like that Rams team, with a third-string quarterback who was given the keys to the offense.

You know, the one that helped lead them to a Super Bowl title last year.  The one that “isn’t black enough.”

More from FanSided

• MLB Trade Grades: Dodgers land Amed Rosario from Guardians
• Colorado gives Pac-12 a possible death knell with move to Big 12
• NFL rumors: Dalvin Cook suitor maintaining very ‘real’ interest
• Braves get dose of bad news on Max Fried as ace nears return
• LA Galaxy vs. Club Leon Leagues Cup match rescheduled for July 26