The Seattle Seahawks' notoriously loud fanbase — which has earned themselves the "12th Man" moniker — is almost always mentioned in a positive light within the NFL community. Well, one Seahawks legend made it painfully clear that he doesn't see Seattle fans the same way.
In a series of X posts from Tuesday, former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman wrote that he was, 'tired of ungrateful Seattle fans', in response to another X user calling him 'the biggest traitor in Seahawks history'.
Yep tired of ungrateful Seattle fans
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 31, 2024
After that initial reply, Sherman — who was a three-time First-team All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowler, 2013 NFL interceptions leader, and Super Bowl XLVIII Champion during his seven-year tenure with the Seahawks — elaborated on his ill-sentiment, saying that he got to this point with the Seattle franchise because of, 'Hate from ungrateful fans. Lack of respect from an organization I gave everything to.'
Hate from ungrateful fans. Lack of respect from an organization I gave everything to.
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 31, 2024
While Sherman's gripe would appear to be with Seahawk fans on the surface, some of his follow-up posts make it clear that he's upset with the entire organization; largely because they elected to cut Sherman in 2018, while he was healing from a ruptured Achilles.
'Cutting someone before they are healthy makes it hard to find a job. Few teams are willing to sign a player fresh off of an Achilles that hasn't shown he can come back from it. If I was healthy there would have been a lot more peace. What they did was not how you treat someone who has done what I had for that franchise.' Sherman wrote via X.
It's sad to see how much the relationship has deteriorated between Sherman — who is one of the greatest cornerbacks of all time, and who was integral to the Seahawks winning Super Bowl XLVIII — and the organization that drafted him.
The main reason why Sherman was called a "traitor" by one Seahawk fan was owed to the fact that Sherman signed and played with the San Francisco 49ers — one of the Seahawks' biggest rivals — from 2018-2020.
Yet, how can Sherman be blamed for that? Did Seahawk fans really expect Sherman to remain loyal to the franchise that cut him while injured, then pass up on an opportunity to finish his career with another Super Bowl contender?
49er fans were able to forgive Sherman for his iconic postgame rant about San Francisco "trying me with a sorry receiver like [Michael] Crabtree," then Seahawk fans should be able to get over Sherman playing elsewhere.
