49ers news: Seahawks won’t trade Russell Wilson, per report

Sorry, 49ers fans. Your wish of seeing Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson vacate the NFC West doesn’t appear to be coming true.

Late in the 2021 regular season, it seemed all but guaranteed the scuffling Seattle Seahawks were going to blow the whole thing up after missing the playoffs for only the third time since 2010 and suffering a sub-.500 record for the first time since quarterback Russell Wilson joined the fray in 2012.

That would have been music to San Francisco 49ers fans’ ears. Wilson, the Niners’ longtime nemesis and a player who has proverbially “owned” his NFC West division rivals with a 17-4 overall record, including that NFC Championship game we won’t talk about, was among the pieces expected to be moved this offseason.

Apparently, he wanted out, too, stemming from front-office disagreements the previous year. Heck, even us here at Niner Noise thought it inevitable. And we weren’t alone either.

The Hawks did shake things up a bit, including parting ways with defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. But by not firing head coach Pete Carroll, the franchise’s best coach in its history, signs pointed to Wilson potentially staying.

At least initially.

49ers still likely to face Russell Wilson twice a year, per ESPN’s John Clayton

There’s still plenty of national attention speculating whether or not Wilson will want to explore trade options this offseason, thereby pushing Seattle to move him to a preferred destination.

However, ESPN 710’s John Clayton, who has his boots on the ground in the Pacific Northwest, told Sacramento’s 1140 KHTK radio’s Nick Cattles that Wilson simply wasn’t going anywhere.

When asked about the chances of a Wilson trade, Clayton had a quick response, “none.”

"This has been the same thing I’ve been saying since February. First off, if you trade Russell Wilson, now all of a sudden, you lose five possible wins because he’s that good of a quarterback. Secondly, he just got a $5 million roster bonus on Friday, and you’ve got a $31 million cap hit for dead money.Do you want to have $31 million dollars [in dead money], lose your quarterback and have no quarterback? He will not be traded."

“I’ve been covering the league for 50 years, and it’s the most blown-up story I’ve ever seen,” Clayton added. “I’ve never seen one this bad, that the reporting has been this bad.”

If all this is true, it sure doesn’t look as if Wilson will be going anywhere.

Do 49ers care if Seahawks retaining Russell Wilson is the right move?

There’s no doubting how much Wilson carries his team, and San Francisco fans have been awaiting the day when the Seahawks start to fall apart.

Maybe that took place in 2021, largely because Wilson was out three games with a finger injury. But the simple stance is Seattle is exponentially better with him under center.

Read More: Ranking 10 biggest moments from 49ers-Seahawks rivalry

However, Wilson still carries the association of not being able to carry the Hawks any further than the divisional round of the playoffs, at least not since the once-vaunted “Legion of Boom” days from the mid-2010s. While Wilson has a 9-7 postseason record, the Seahawks haven’t been to an NFC Championship game since January of 2015 when they eventually lost to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

All that time, though, Wilson has made it a regular habit of beating the 49ers.

Based on Clayton’s report, it looks as if the Niners will have to face that trend again in 2022.