The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos each finished the 2025 regular season as the No. 1 seed in their respective conferences. Surprisingly enough, Seattle should be thanking Denver for their newfound dominance in the NFC. Denver needed a quarterback and traded a huge haul for Russell Wilson, and Seattle has made the most of its return.
Take a look at what the Seahawks received and how they’ve been able to turn their franchise back into a contender.
Looking Back on Russell Wilson’s Trade to Denver
The Seahawks received a haul of three players and five picks in the deal to land Wilson. They’ve used these picks to draft players who have made huge impacts on the team.
Seahawks Received:
- QB Drew Lock
- TE Noah Fant
- DL Shelby Harris
- OT Charles Cross (2022 first-round pick)
- OLB Boye Mafe (2022 second-round pick)
- OLB Tyreke Smith (2022 fifth-round pick)
- CB Devon Witherspoon (2023 first-round pick)
- EDGE Derick Hall (2023 second-round pick)
Broncos Received:
- QB Russell Wilson
- DL Eyioma Uwazurike (2022 fourth-round pick)
The Broncos got their guy. Wilson was meant to be the answer, but the experiment turned out to be an absolute disaster. Wilson played two seasons in Denver and didn’t have a winning record in either season when he started. Uwazurike is still on the Broncos and is becoming a regular rotational piece on the Denver defense. He barely produced in his first two seasons, but made a leap in year three.
The Seahawks committed highway robbery. With these draft picks, they were able to find players who are staples on their team. Cross will be their blindside protector for Sam Darnold going forward as he penned a four-year, $104 million extension in the offseason.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Seahawks capitalized on these extra draft picks. Witherspoon is the key piece in the Seattle secondary. He has made the Pro Bowl three times already in his short career. Mafe had a down year in 2025, but racked up at least six sacks in each of the two previous seasons.
The three veterans whom the Seahawks added weren’t anything special, but they are solid role players. Although Harris and Fant are no longer with Seattle, they both played an important role on the squads leading up to their dominant 2025 season. Lock is a serviceable backup QB who looked the part in the few times he’s had to step in. If Darnold’s oblique proves to be problematic in the playoffs, Lock will have to step up.
The Seahawks got plenty of capital and have built one of the best teams in the NFL. They have the third-best defense in PFSN’s Defense Impact score with a grade of 88.4. A large part of their success is due to the defensive players that they were able to select using the Broncos’ picks. (Denver also deserves credit for building a contender despite losing so many picks and taking on a historic dead-money hit when they cut Wilson after just two seasons.)
Players can only take you so far. It’s hard to give them all the credit, especially with head coach Mike Macdonald helping maximize all the talent on Seattle’s squad. The Seahawks took advantage of the Wilson trade to make them into the top contender in the NFC, but there are many reasons that this team has found success beyond the gifts of the Wilson trade.
Home-field advantage in Seattle is something special. The Seahawks have one of the loudest fan bases in the NFL and will be a tough out in the playoffs at home. The 49ers won’t go down easy, but the Seahawks are in a new era and are ready to make it back to the big stage to add another Lombardi to their trophy case.
