Carroll says Seahawks have had talks about trading Sherman, but 'I don't see anything happening'

SEATTLE – At the very least, the Seattle Seahawks are thinking the unthinkable.

Whether they’ll actually do the unthinkable remains to be seen.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told ESPN on Wednesday that the team is fielding offers for cornerback Richard Sherman.

"You're either competing or you're not,” Carroll reportedly said. “And so we've always had to be open for everything, every suggestion that comes along. There have been some teams that have called, and so we've talked about it. But he's extremely important to our football team.”

Carroll quickly downplayed the idea the Seahawks would move from talk to action on the four-time Pro Bowl cornerback.

"I don't see anything happening at all,” he said. And I don't see anything happening with any other players, just the banter that's out there right now.

"But it has been talked about. He's a great player and can impact another team. I can see why people would be interested in him."

Carroll’s comments came a day after general manager John Schneier said something similar to ESPN.

"I mean, we listen," Schneider said. "We listen to like everything you would think. We're in a lot of stuff. We try to pride ourselves on that. I think I've told you guys before we walk away from 98 percent of the deals that we're involved with or talking about.

"But at least we know that we've knocked down their door, we've gone in there and checked it out. We're not just going to assume. We always just have to constantly be thinking about the organization and how we're going to move it forward."

The revelations – if you can call them that – come after a season in which Sherman found himself at the center of a few controversies. He publicly berated members of the team’s coaching staff during two different games, and threatened to have a reporter’s credentials pulled after a testy exchange during weekly press conference.

Last week, Sherman himself addressed the rumor that he was on the trading block.

"I just laugh it off, man," Sherman said. "It’s funny to me. But sometimes people need to see you gone to realize what you had. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. But I don’t let things like that bother me. The chips will fall how they’re supposed to."