Seahawks have no reason to trade Russell Wilson yet

Rumors have continued to swirl around whether or not Russell Wilson will be traded this offseason. One of the teams on Wilson’s trade list, the Dallas Cowboys, has just signed Dak Prescott to a four-year $160 million extension with a full no-trade clause. Unless both Wilson and Prescott agree to switch teams, the number of trade partners is down to the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, and the Las Vegas Raiders.

Let’s start with the Saints. From Russell Wilson’s standpoint, it’s easy to see the attraction here. The Saints are a great team, and reloading with Wilson extends their Super Bowl window. Drew Brees hasn’t officially retired yet, but he likely will. He recently agreed to reduce his salary from $25 million to the veteran’s minimum of $1.075 million. This reduces the Saints’ salary cap hit by $24 million, but the Saints are still $48 million over the salary cap. They still have some work getting under that amount. Adding Wilson would only further complicate that process.

The Saints wouldn’t be a great trading partner for the Seahawks since the pieces they would be looking to trade would be veteran players counting too much against their salary cap, and any draft picks wouldn’t be early picks since the Saints are a playoff team.

On to the Chicago Bears. Not sure why Wilson would want to play for the Bears other than the fact they need to improve at quarterback. Granted, they are a storied franchise, and if Wilson did get traded to Chicago and managed to win a Super Bowl in Chicago, his time with the Seahawks would quickly be forgotten across the NFL. Last year the Bears offensive line ranked in the bottom third of the NFL according to the PFF play-by-play grading system. From the Seahawks’ standpoint, they could target some of the Bears’ younger defensive players that are under contract to rebuild their defense. But since the Bears finished last year with an 8-8 record, their first-round pick is the 20th overall, and the Seahawks would need a lot more than that to deal Wilson.

Lastly, let’s take a look at the Las Vegas Raiders. Like the Bears, the Raiders’ offensive line was rated in the bottom third of the NFL measured by the PFF play-by-play grading system. The franchise hasn’t been to the Super Bowl since their 2002 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since then, the Raiders had only made the playoffs once in 2016. The Raiders GM Mike Mayock and head coach Jon Gruden have publicly stated their support for Raiders current quarterback Derek Carr. This also looks like it would be a one-sided trade favoring the Raiders.

It’s very unlikely any trade happens. For starters, $39 million of Russell Wilson’s salary would count against the Seahawks’ salary cap if he was traded now. If they waited until next year, that cap hit would still be $26 million. Unless Wilson takes this to the next level by holding out next season, there is no reason to trade Wilson to any of the teams on his list.