INDIANAPOLIS — When asked about a recent report that former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson wanted him fired, head coach Pete Carroll gave a diplomatic response.
“There’s nothing I’m commenting about that but to say that stuff is said, it’s always been said for years, and guys come and go with their thoughts and their emotions and all that, and I ain’t worried about it,” Carroll told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday.
The Athletic reported last week that Wilson went to Seahawks ownership and requested that both Carroll and general manager John Schneider be fired in February 2022. Shortly thereafter, Wilson instead was traded to the Denver Broncos in a blockbuster deal.
Schneider also addressed the media Tuesday regarding the report and called it "water under the bridge."
Wilson himself took to Twitter shortly after the report was released and strongly denied ever making such a request.
"I love Pete and he was a father figure to me and John believed in me and drafted me as well. I never wanted them fired. All any of us wanted was to win," Wilson wrote on Feb. 24. "I’ll always have respect for them and love for Seattle."
Carroll went on to emphasize how much he values his relationships with all of his former players.
“My response to that is a similar response that it’s always been with, with the guys that I’ve coached, that I’m always going to hang with them. I’m never going to leave ’em, and I’m going to be there at the end of all of the good stuff and all of the bad stuff. I’m going to still be there. And so that’s it, you know? I’m hanging," Carroll said. "And it doesn’t matter who the guy is — if you look at all of the guys that have come to our program, just not going back to the college days, but just here in Seattle, regardless of what has happened, has taken place or the things that have been said and all, if you hang with them it all comes back around, and I’d like to demonstrate that faith in the relationship and the depth of what we did together and hang through whatever the growth challenges bring to us along the way.”
Wilson has been the subject of significant criticism after his first season in Denver, which resulted in a 5-12 record and the Broncos' first-year head coach, Nathaniel Hackett, being fired.
Carroll and Schneider, meanwhile, got the Seahawks back to the playoffs and now possess the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, courtesy of Denver's poor performance in 2022.