National Football League

Pete Carroll gave Russell Wilson special treatment, Richard Sherman says

Updated Sep. 22, 2022 4:30 p.m. ET

Broncos country was hoping for the ride of its life when it landed its new leading sheriff, quarterback Russell Wilson.

However, thus far, the ride has been the opposite of pleasant. And though it's early into the new captain's tenure, his command over the offensive reins has been shaky at best.

For many, Denver's ineptitude has them questioning whether Wilson is the ideal man to steer the Broncos back to relevance.

Some of those doubts have stemmed from his former teammates.

One such naysayer is former Seahawks All-Pro corner Richard Sherman, a longtime Wilson critic who recently said Wilson got too much credit for Seattle's success in the early 2010s. He also said that Wilson was treated differently from the rest of teammates by head coach Pete Carroll.

"There wasn’t enough years difference for the accountability thing to be like that," Sherman said in reference to Wilson's preferential treatment on "The Richard Sherman Podcast" presented by Volume Sports. "'Well, he was young.' It’s like, ‘Well, he’s like a year younger than us. He ain’t that young.’ When you got 52 guys being held to a certain standard, and you got one guy not being held to the standard, then it’s gonna cause some friction.

"After a while, it had to get to a point where [Carroll] chose Russ or the defense. And after the Super Bowl loss, he kinda made it pretty clear who he was choosing."

Wilson and Sherman's former teammate K.J. Wright agreed with Sherman, stating that Wilson "was not held to the same accountability as the rest of us."

There is truth to both men's statements according to "The Carton Show" host Craig Carton. But in his mind, both Sherman and Wright's comments are entirely unnecessary.

"Are we upset? Does it seem like we've been holding a grudge for over a decade? The star quarterback got treated differently than the entire defense. … First off, what happened to the sanctity of, ‘What happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room'? For decades, you guys didn't say boo about the special relationship that Russell Wilson has with Pete Carroll. … And now, here we are all these years later, Russell Wilson is now playing for the Denver Broncos, and their offense is off to a slow start, so let's now unleash all the baggage we have about our relationship and time in Seattle? I think it stinks."

"The Herd" host Colin Cowherd opined that Seattle's downfall had less to do with Wilson and Carroll's relationship than it did with Seattle's hierarchal structure and its overabundance of egos.

"My theory has always been they had no hierarchy," Cowherd argued.

"Pete Carroll had been fired twice before Seattle, and had a losing record before Russell got there. So he wanted some credit when they started winning. … The young defensive players — Richard Sherman, other players — a lot of them were lower-round draft picks who made no money during the Legion of Boom years. And Russell Wilson had been replaced in college as a starting quarterback, overlooked, drafted in the third round. … All wanted a piece of the financial pie, and the credit pie.

"So why did the Patriots in New England, the Spurs in San Antonio, and Golden State, why did those last 10, 20 years? … Because you have a clear hierarchy: Brady, Duncan, Steph. [They're] the man, and everybody knows it. … When they win, those guys get a majority of the credit. When Seattle won the Super Bowl, everybody wanted the credit."