Seahawks deal QB Wilson to Broncos, receive massive haul

Did you feel the earth move underneath you?

A seismic event with an epicenter in Seattle registered a 10.0 on the Richter scale could be felt all across the United States and up into Canada occurred at 10:45 am PST Tuesday morning. The cause? The Seattle Seahawks pulled the trigger on a deal which will send starting quarterback and nine-time Pro Bowl selection Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.

Pending physicals still to take place, Wilson and a 2022 fourth-round draft choice will be headed to Denver in return for an unprecedented haul of starting players and draft choices when the 2022 league year commences on March 16 at 4 pm ET.

The aforementioned haul is headlined by Denver’s 2022 9th overall selection and their 2023 first-round selection. However, the Seahawks also obtained Denver’s 2022 second-round selection (40 overall), their 2022 fifth-round selection (145 overall) and their 2023 second-round selection along with former starting quarterback Drew Lock, starting tight end Noah Fant and starting defensive end Shelby Harris.

It’s a prodigious haul any way you slice it for a 33-year-old quarterback with two years remaining on his current contract which pays him $24 million in 2022 (identical $24 million cap hit) and $27 million in 2023 (identical $27 million cap hit). Wilson missed three starts in 2021, the first season he missed a single game, after breaking the thumb on his throwing hand in week 5. He finished the season with 14 starts, a 64.8 completion percentage, 3,113 passing yards (four games over 250 yards), 25 touchdowns and six interceptions, 183 rushing yards and one touchdown, 33 sacks and a 54 QBR.

Teams all around the league were circling the Seahawks ever since Wilson proclaimed he was, “tired of being hit,” and put out a list of teams through his agent Mark Rodgers in 2021 that he would be willing to accept a trade to. The Seahawks held onto their franchise quarterback through the 2021 offseason and 17-game NFL slate. However, the offer from Denver was too good to pass up for a franchise that knew it would soon have to pay Wilson a sum equal to or north of the $50 million per season that Aaron Rodgers reportedly agreed to with Green Bay only an hour earlier Tuesday.

Who are the players the Seahawks are receiving in return?

Lock, a former second-round draft choice from the University of Missouri in 2019, has started 21 games over three seasons, posting a 59 percent completion rate, 4,740 passing yards, 25 touchdowns (five more on the ground) and 20 interceptions. He lost out to veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for the week 1 starting quarterback position in 2021. Lock comes to Seattle with one year remaining on his rookie contract which will pay him $1.35 million in 2022 with a cap hit of $1.45 million.

Noah Fant (87) runs with the football in a game against the Raiders. Fant, 24, joins the Seahawks as part of the deal sending Russell Wilson to Denver with one year remaining on his contract which will pay him $2.21 million in 2022. His fifth-year option must be exercised by May 2.

Fant, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick himself (meaning the Seahawks acquired three first-round picks in this trade), having been chosen 20th overall in the 2019 draft. Like Lock, Fant has one year remaining on his rookie contract which pays him $2.21 million in 2022, though an option for a fifth year must be decided to be exercised by Seattle prior to May 2 at a projected rate of $6.85 million.

The 6-foot-4 250-pound tight end comes at an opportune time given the Seahawks’ two most prolific players at the position in 2021 — Gerald Everett and Will Dissly — are set to become free agents on March 16 when the league year opens. Fant is a quality receiver who posted 68 receptions, 670 yards and four touchdowns in 2021 despite inconsistent quarterback play.

Finally, there is Harris, 30, who leaves Denver after seven solid seasons. The ultra-consistent 6-foot-2, 290-pound defensive end has played every game of the season in four of his last five seasons. He contributed 49 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and six sacks in 16 starts in 2021. Harris is set to join a cadre of defensive ends including Carlos Dunlap, Darrell Taylor, Rasheem Green, L.J. Collier and Kerry Hyder Jr. which should be boosted by his addition.

ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter reported Harris to be a “locker-room leader” in Denver. He is set to earn $7.97 million in 2022 after signing a three-year, $27 million contract in 2021.