Bumpus: Seahawks should ‘blow the roster up’ if they trade Russell Wilson
Mar 13, 2021, 9:44 AM
Trading Russell Wilson would dramatically change the Seahawks' trajectory. (Getty)
(Getty)
Whether or not the Seahawks move on from star quarterback Russell Wilson this offseason is the talk of the NFL world as he is unhappy with multiple aspects of the team and has given Seattle a list of teams he’d be OK with being traded to.
Do Seahawks or Wilson need to publicly comment on trade rumors?
The Seahawks could trade their franchise quarterback for a large amount of draft picks and players, but doing so would signal a change in the direction of the franchise.
Seattle could try and get a veteran starting quarterback in either a trade or in free agency or even draft one one in the hopes of continuing to be a playoff contender. But if the Seahawks do the seemingly unthinkable and trade Russell Wilson, former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus thinks Seattle needs to flip the switch completely and undergo a rebuild.
“This is how crazy trading Russell Wilson is, right?” Bumpus said Friday morning on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant. “If you are to trade Russell Wilson, blow the roster up. If you trade Russell Wilson, it means you don’t care (about contending right away), you’re starting all over, so blow the roster up and start from the beginning. That’s how important Russell Wilson is.”
Since head coach Pete Carroll and John Schneider took over in 2010, the Seahawks have made the playoffs in all but two seasons. With Wilson as the team’s starting quarterback since 2012, the Seahawks have missed the playoffs just once. Trading Wilson and undergoing a rebuild would be very different than how the Seahawks typically operate.
“If you trade Russell Wilson, that means you are planning for the future,” Bumpus said. “You’re looking three, four or five years ahead. That means you’ve got to switch everything up. That means you’ve got to get new guys on defense, a couple new guys on offense. It becomes a rebuild … If you get rid of Russell Wilson, you might as well start all over and start the rebuild process.”
Danny O’Neil and Bumpus agreed that the Seahawks would need at least one year to determine if the team’s next starting quarterback is a potential long-term answer, unless the team somehow can acquire star Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is also unhappy and wants traded.
“Russell is the foundation of this whole thing. Whether you like the way he’s approached this situation or not, you need him to win ballgames next year,” Bumpus said. “So in my opinion, if you give up Russell Wilson and you’re not getting Deshaun Watson or Dak (Prescott) back … it’s almost like you’re accepting defeat and you’re rebuilding. That’s how important Russell Wilson is. You keep Russell, (but) he isn’t going anywhere anyway, I just wanted to talk about it.”
Listen to the discussion at this link or in the player below.
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