Russell Wilson says Seahawks would not have played if they had a game this week

Russell Wilson says the Seahawks would have sat out this week too.

When the Milwaukee Bucks decided to sit out Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series on Wednesday in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, little did they know the widespread effects that decision would have on the rest of the sports world.

The four NBA teams scheduled to play after the Bucks decided to participate in the developing solidarity strike, while the WNBA and MLS players refused to play as well. Several MLB teams joined in, and on Thursday so did the NHL.

While the NBA will return to action on Saturday with new, concrete plans in place to prompt real social change, that decision to skip actual games in order to make their voices heard extended far and wide across the sports landscape. It’s no surprise, then, to hear quarterback Russell Wilson say his Seattle Seahawks would not have played this weekend either if there had been a game on their schedule.

Russell Wilson believes the Seahawks would’ve sat out too

On 710 ESPN Seattle, Wilson was asked if he and the Seahawks would have joined other athletes in not playing if Seattle had had a game this weekend, and he said the following:

"“Yeah, for sure. I think just witnessing what happened to Jacob [Blake] and everything else and all the things that have added up to this, it’s devastating. It’s truly devastating just to watch that. This isn’t like this hasn’t been going on for years. That’s the scary part and sad part.The difference now is we get to see it every day because of social media and phones and everything else. I think the world is truly seeing the ugliness of society at times, and I think what’s really disappointing is just knowing that we as athletes try to make a difference, and sometimes people don’t want to listen and don’t want to recognize that that could’ve been us, that could be us.”"

As for what comes next for Wilson and the Seahawks with the NFL season fast approaching and the discussion in sports pointing more and more toward athletes using their platforms to push for social change, the star quarterback said they’re still working on a plan of action.

"“I think for us as a team, for the Seahawks, we’re definitely discussing what do we do next, how do we make a change, how do we cause movement and how do we make a difference. We’re in the midst of all that right now. We don’t have weeks and we don’t have months, we don’t have years to change it. We have to all do it together and we’ve got to do it now and we need change now and we need people to make a difference now.”"