The Broncos aren’t playing in this Super Bowl on Sunday, but there’s a definite Denver angle for Mile High City fans to follow.
Remember the Russell Wilson trade?
Four of the five draft choices that were part of Seattle’s ridiculous haul are among the reasons the Seahawks are favored to beat the New England Patriots in SB LX. (The fifth, linebacker Tyreke Smith, a fifth-round choice in 2022, is now a member of Kansas City Chiefs.)
A valid way to look at the Wilson trade is to put names to those numerical draft choices.
Charles Cross, a 6-foot-5, 317-pound left tackle from Mississippi State, was the ninth player chosen in the 2022 National Football League draft.
Boye Mafe is a 6-4, 261-pound linebacker from the University of Minnesota. He was Seattle’s second-round draft choice in 2022, the 40th player chosen.
Devon Witherspoon—the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year in 2022—was the fifth player selected in the 2023 draft. Seattle used the second No. 1 it got from Denver to take him.
Derick Hall, a 6-3, 245-pound linebacker from Auburn, was pick 37 in 2023—Denver’s second-round draft choice and eighth player the Broncos gave up to land DangeRuss (who finished the 2025 season in a backup role with the Giants).
This is not, in any way, intended to suggest that these specific players would have been chosen by the Broncos if they had retained those draft choices.
But it does document that Seattle put the picks to great use. As evidence: In Seattle’s system of designating captains for each game (by vote of the players), three of the four (Cross, Witherspoon and Hall) were captains for one or more games during the 2025 season.
Cross is considered one of the best young left tackles in the NFL, an anchor on Seattle’s offensive line. The Seahawks thought enough of him that they signed him to a four-year, $104.4 million extension last April—before his rookie contract ran out.
A scouting report on him includes these terms: “long-term franchise left tackle . . . elite pass protector . . . dominant run blocker . . .exceptional athlete . . . rapidly improving.”
On November 12, 2023, Mafe sacked Washington quarterback Sam Howell to set a Seattle franchise record with a sack in seven consecutive games. He totaled nine that year and has 20 through 2025.
Considered one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks after only three seasons, Witherspoon has been a Pro Bowl selection every year since he entered the NFL and made the all-Rookie Team in 2023, and was a second-team all-Pro in 2025.
In his first three years as a pro (43 games), Witherspoon was in on 249 tackles (170 solo and 79 assisted). For comparison, Denver’s Patrick Surtain II, winner of the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2024, participated in 187 tackles in his first three seasons (50 games), 150 solo and 37 assisted.
Now known for his frenetic style of play, Hall was born prematurely. He weighed barely more than two pounds and did not have a heartbeat (requiring resuscitation) when he entered this world 23 weeks into his mother’s pregnancy.
Doctors told her that her baby probably would never walk or talk and offered her a form that, if she had signed it, would have authorized letting her baby die. She refused.
Hospitalized with a feeding tube and relying on a ventilator for five months, the infant survived. Hall suffered asthma and a variety of other illnesses as a child but overcame them to become a four-star college recruit (of a possible five) coming out of high school.
And now he’s playing in the Super Bowl.
Two of the three veterans Denver sent to Seattle won’t be in uniform at Levi’s Stadium. Defensive lineman Shelby Harris was released after one season and found a home in Cleveland. Tight end Noah Fant caught 130 passes for 1,400 yards in three seasons with Seattle before he was released. He played for Cincinnati in 2025.
Drew Lock, a backup to now-star quarterback, Sam Darnold, is in his second stint in the Pacific Northwest, after leaving as a free agent for a year to join the New York Giants then returning, again via free agency.
So, if you’re looking for reasons to root for (or against) the Seahawks, here are four good ones.
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Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.