Russell Wilson: ‘I’ll forever have love in my heart for Seattle’

Many football fans were shocked to learn in March that the Seattle Seahawks agreed to trade nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.

Seahawks chair Jody Allen said that “Russell made it clear he wanted this change,” but it was recently reported that Seattle called the Cleveland Browns before the 2018 NFL Draft about possibly sending the signal-caller their way at that time.

What’s done is done, and Wilson will travel with his new teammates to face none other than the Seahawks in Seattle on Monday night. He spoke with reporters on Thursday and had nothing but kind things to say about his former football home.

“People don’t love you, they’re gonna hate you sometimes, whatever it may be,” Wilson explained about the upcoming experience, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “For me, I’ll forever have love in my heart for Seattle. . . My experience in Seattle was one of a kind. Ten years, I couldn’t imagine those years not being in my life. How special they were and how many games we won and how many amazing thrillers — the Super Bowl we won and everything else. I’m going to think about all those memories, the joy of that, the gratitude of that.”

For a piece published Wednesday, ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported that at least one anonymous member of the Seahawks front office viewed Wilson as “a descending player” before the March trade. Logic suggests the one-time Super Bowl champion could use such chatter as bulletin-board material for what he hopes will be a happy homecoming on Monday.