Analyzing Twitter During the Seahawks-Broncos Trade

Twitter has quickly become a platform in which celebrities, politicians, famous athletes, and regular civilians like me can interact. Twitter brands itself as being “an open service that’s home to a world of diverse people, perspectives, ideas, and information.” Many would agree that Twitter has upheld this standard of diversification, while others believe their ideas, opinions, and values have been shunned off the face of the site.

When analyzing the mobile platform, you’ll come across a variety of people utilizing Twitter’s user-friendly interface to share their own opinions or share others’ opinions that they want to emphasize in the form of a re-tweet. On my own twitter platform, I focus on sports news and related topics. I often find news of trades, injuries, new management, etc. through Twitter as it’s a one-stop-shop for sports news.

For my rhetorical analysis, I’m choosing to analyze the Russell Wilson trade that occurred early this spring ahead of the ’22-’23 NFL season. The news of this trade was shocking to Seattle Seahawks fans as a lot of people thought Wilson would retire in the city. As you can imagine, many fans were outraged and expressed feelings of betrayal at the news of this trade… which further escalated when news was released that Wilson had requested the trade. I have analyzed 50 Tweets from the Seattle Seahawks official Twitter account, as well as 50 Tweets from Russell Wilson himself during the time of the trade that occurred on March 16th, 2022. I also focused mostly on the comments of these tweets as the official Seahawks Twitter account isn’t going to fully express the opinions of the staff at news of this trade.

The news of this trade was broken on March 16th, 2022. The Seahawks posted an official statement to their twitter account around 1 p.m. that day. Their post highlighted his career highs in Seattle and seemed to express appreciation for the work Russell was able to put in with the team in getting the Seahawks to the Superbowl twice in a row. The Seahawks also posted trade details to eliminate confusion on the trade between Seattle and Denver. After all, this was a monumental trade that shook the internet.

On the flip side, Russell Wilson also posted an emotional video that serves as an ode to his time in Seattle and followed it up with his famous catchphrase, “let’s ride,” which has become the new motto of the Denver Broncos. Under the tweets in response to Wilson’s video, fans responded with sad expressions and posted crying emojis and things like “the Seahawks will never be the same, thank you Russ.”

In the days following this QB trade, the Seahawks made a multitude of trade negotiations which were highlighted on their Twitter page. It seemed to fans that the team was trying to sweep this news under the rug as quickly as possible, which many fans agreed with. They admitted to being sad about the trade and what it meant to the fans, but the game doesn’t pause with this news. Seattle began Tweeting about new signees and re-directing the attention of fans to all of the positive outcomes of this trade. This is a productive rhetorical strategy from a marketing perspective. No brand wants their fans to think negatively of their organization.

Russell Wilson has been vocal about his religious beliefs throughout his career as a QB in the NFL. Many people admire him for this, while others find it strange that he will thank God in moments that fans don’t understand. He Tweeted in the days following the trade about being thankful to God for the opportunity to play for the Seahawks and expressed gratitude for the fans who have supported him in the past and for those who will continue to do so. He often Tweeted during this transition, “I play for an audience of one.” Expressing that no matter what fans are feeling, his only concern is honoring God.

This is an interesting rhetorical strategy as the NFL has no ties to religion but players are becoming more and more expressive of their beliefs in recent years. Russell Wilson is using his belief in God’s sovereignty to say that this trade isn’t on the forefront of his mind and that he wants to move forward in continuing what he has been doing for over a decade… and that is playing the game he loves.

Recently fans have expressed that the Seahawks won this trade due to the contrast in performance of Geno Smith, the new starting QB for Seattle, and Russell Wilson.