Gee Scott: Michael Bennett got into an altercation with a Seahawks teammate last year in defense of Russell Wilson

Gee Scott’s close relationships with several Seahawks players and staffers helped him provide some context to the recent ESPN article about the strife in Seattle’s locker room. He did that Friday with John Clayton on 710 ESPN Seattle.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit Scott shared was a brief story about an altercation last season involving defensive lineman Michael Bennett and an unspecified teammate. Bennett was defending quarterback Russell Wilson, according to Scott. Wilson was was a central figure in Seth Wickersham’s story, which documented how the offseason drama with cornerback Richard Sherman is rooted in Seattle’s Super Bowl loss to New England and also how some members of the defense harbor resentment toward Wilson.

Clayton: What ESPN story revealed about the Seahawks

Scott said Bennett had some “very, very choice words, not necessarily for Sherman but for another high-profile” Seahawks teammate in defense of Wilson. Scott added that Bennett “loves” the quarterback.

That story, along with Bennett coming to Wilson’s defense on Twitter after the ESPN article was published, suggest that for whatever resentment there may be towards Wilson among some of Seattle’s defensive players – which was detailed by Wickersham – he has at least one big-time ally in Bennett.

Scott added that many teammates have Wilson’s back. He said it impressed them how Wilson didn’t miss a start last season despite a high-ankle sprain and a sprained MCL. Said Scott: “Because they trust him. They trust his preparation, they trust that he’s going to give everything he has on the field. Last year in the beginning of the season when Russell went down with the ankle and the MCL … a lot of his teammates were like, ‘Man, I don’t know how he’s out there doing it. There’s no way that I could do what he’s doing.'”

In his defense of Wilson on Twitter Thursday, Bennett called the ESPN article “trash” and “all gossip” that belongs on TMZ. Center Justin Britt also tweeted that it’s “#fakenews” and Sherman himself told SiriusXM NFL Radio in a text that the story is “nonsense.” Scott, though, said that of the six current or former Seahawks players he’s spoken with about the article, none of them refuted it.

Scott said the story was accurate “for the most part.” He offered a bit of clarification on the anecdote about Sherman squaring off with rookie guard Germain Ifedi in a meeting room when Ifedi was slow to give up his seat. You can watch Scott’s comments on that incident below and hear more of his conversation with Clayton about the ESPN story here.