Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson reportedly face uncertain future with Seahawks

The future could be murky in Seattle as reports indicate the marriage between Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll could end in the offseason for the Seahawks.

A disappointing season in Seattle could lead to some massive changes for the Seahawks. A model of organizational stability built around the pairing of head coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Russell Wilson is in jeopardy of being split up as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports there is significant speculation around the league that the pair will break up after this season.

Carroll has been Seattle’s head coach since 2010 and enters Sunday’s action with a record of 117-73-1 as Seahawks’ head coach, a run that includes nine playoff appearances, five NFC West titles, two NFC championships and a Super Bowl title. Wilson has been with Carroll since 2013 and has become one of the league’s elite quarterbacks in the process, but reports have been swirling since last year that he wants out of Seattle.

How will the Seahawks handle this situation?

It is worth noting that Carroll is 70 years old and is under contract through 2025 while Wilson is 33 but has just two years remaining on his contract. The decisions are expected to be made by Jody Allen, the team’s chairperson who has run the team since 2018 after her brother Paul died.

There is certainly a case to be made to keep Wilson since finding elite quarterbacks is extremely difficult but his play has slipped a bit in the past two years. There are also multiple teams expected to be looking for a new quarterback in the offseason, including the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers, which could lead to a robust trade market for the star quarterback.

Seattle also has to face the fact that they don’t control their own first-round pick, which should fall in the Top 10, as a result of the Jamal Adams trade with the New York Jets. Shipping Wilson off for a package that contains at least two first-round picks could give the Seahawks the ammunition to begin a proper rebuild of a franchise that has shown signs of decay in the past year and a half.

The other option would be parting ways with Carroll, a franchise icon, by ushering him into retirement and hiring a younger coach who could form a new partnership with Wilson. If Allen believes that Seattle isn’t that far away from getting back to playoff contention and that Wilson can still play at a top-tier level for another 6-7 years this would be a prudent option to consider as well.

Either way, the decision facing the Seahawks isn’t an easy one. Given the fact that Wilson would need to renegotiate his contract to facilitate a trade to several teams, this decision may need to be made well before the official start of the new league year in March.