Russell Wilson’s departure from Seattle keeps echoing in ways nobody in the Pacific Northwest could have fully scripted.
Back in February 2022, Wilson went to the Seahawks’ then-ownership group and asked for head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider to be fired. That never happened.
Instead, Wilson was traded, and Seattle came out of it with a haul that helped reshape the roster. The deal brought back draft capital that eventually became Charles Cross, Devon Witherspoon, and Derick Hall, and it also sent Drew Lock to Seattle as one of three veterans in the package.
That part of the trade looked secondary at the time. It does not look secondary now.
With Sam Darnold leaving Week 1 after suffering a hip injury, Lock stepped in and helped the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 13-10. He finished 16 of 22 for 187 yards and a touchdown, and he added 13 yards on two carries. Darnold has no timeline for his return, which leaves Lock positioned to keep handling the job in Week 1 and possibly beyond.
If Seattle had ended up with a weaker backup, the story could have gone the other way in a hurry. Instead, Lock has been steady enough to keep the Seahawks moving, and that keeps the pressure off a team that may need him again in Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals.
What makes this twist even stranger is how Lock ended up back in Seattle in the first place. He was traded there in the Wilson deal, then left after the 2023 season to sign with the New York Giants.
He spent a season there competing for the QB1 job, but never really got the chance to win it outright. Then, after the 2024 season, he returned to the Pacific Northwest in free agency even though he knew he was signing on as a backup.
That two-year deal said plenty. Lock could have chased a one-year contract and tried to put himself back on the market in 2026.
Instead, he chose Seattle, a place he clearly liked enough to make home with his family for at least two years. The Seahawks weren’t just a convenient stop for him anymore.
And that is the weird little circle here: Wilson’s push for sweeping organizational change helped lead to his own exit, and Seattle used the pieces from that move to build a stronger team. Lock was once the throw-in. Now, in Week 2, he may be one of the most important players on the field for Seattle.
In Other News...
Seahawks Already Have A Dante Fowler Problem They Didnt Need
Dante Fowler Jr. arrived in Seattle on a one-year deal as a veteran pass-rush add, but his first game in a Seahawks uniform offered only a small sample of what the team might actually have in mind for him. In Week 1 against the New England Patriots, he saw limited snaps and did not record an official statistic, though he did help create a pressure that ended in an interception. For a defense looking to keep its rush lively, that kind of cameo at least showed a flash of why the signing made sense.
The broader question is whether that flash turns into anything more significant, because the Seahawks do not appear eager to overhaul their approach just to squeeze more out of Fowler. The defensive staff seems comfortable sticking with its current pass-rushing formula, which leaves Fowler in an uncertain spot if his role stays this narrow. For now, the veteran edge presence looks more like insurance than a featured piece, and that is not usually where a player wants to be this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Fans Have An Ugly Lumen Field Debate After Wild Opener Brawl
The Seahawks got the kind of opening night result that can energize a stadium, rallying past the Patriots after Drew Lock helped spark a comeback at Lumen Field. But alongside the football, there was an ugly scene in the stands when a seating dispute between a New England fan and Seattle supporters boiled over into a larger fight that pulled in multiple people and forced police intervention.
What happened next in the crowd is now part of the conversation around the opener, with the Patriots fan arrested and no further details on the charges released. For a fan base that came to watch a stirring finish on the field, the incident left a sour aftertaste and another reminder of how quickly a routine game-day argument can turn into something far messier. [Read more 🡒]
DreMont Jones Just Turned A Painful Patriots Hit Into Drama
The Seahawks got a jolt in their season opener against the Patriots when Sam Darnold went down with a hip injury after taking a sack from DreMont Jones early in the game. What followed off the field only added to the conversation, as Jones posted a video of the play on social media and immediately set off a mixed reaction from fans watching the aftermath as much as the hit itself.
Mike Macdonald later said there is no fracture, which at least cleared away the worst-case concern, but it did not answer the bigger question for Seattles season. Darnolds recovery timeline is still uncertain, and for a team trying to settle in early, the status of its quarterback now looms over everything that came out of an otherwise routine defensive play. [Read more 🡒]