K.J. Wright wants to eventually join legendary Seahawks pals staying in Seattle for life
Not yet—he’s too busy excelling in his switch on Seattle’s defense.
But someday K.J. Wright wants to be like Cliff Avril.
He wants to be like Kam Chancellor, Doug Baldwin and other Seahawks who grew up far from Seattle yet have stayed here, made it home and given back to the Pacific Northwest in retirement.
“This place—I don’t know—this place is amazing. I’m gonna be one of those guys that stays put,” Wright, the longest-tenured Seahawk said, before he and his team played at Arizona Sunday night in their first NFC West game this season.
“You’ve just got so much, too. You’ve got the lakes. You’ve got the mountains. You’ve got a football team, (now) a hockey team. You just have so much. ...
“Just a super-cool city.”
Wright, 31, grew up in northern Mississippi. He went to college and played for Mississippi State. When he arrived in Seattle in the spring of 2011 after Seattle drafted him, he was in a very foreign land.
No more. Ten seasons, two Super Bowls, a Pro Bowl and a career as a mainstay linebacker during the Seahawks’ greatest sustained run in franchise history, Wright has become almost as much Seattle as Boeing.
Heck, he proposed to his wife Natalie in a Boeing factory in 2015 while on a tour their with her father. They were married in Seattle in 2017.
Wright intends to grow those Seattle roots after he’s done playing. He says team captains Bobby Wagner (a native of California) and Russell Wilson (who grew up in Virginia) will be joining him here well past retirement.
“To be, you know, a young man coming in, got your family. A lot of guys have family here. So establish your roots here,” Wright said, after he’s done just that with his wife and their two sons.
“So I’m gonna be here. And Bobby’s gonna be here. Russ is going to be here.”
Wright sees Avril, Chancellor and Baldwin, his teammates on the Seahawks’ Super Bowl teams of the 2013 and ‘14 seasons who all won a title together, doing more today that just retiring in Seattle. Avril, Chancellor and Baldwin are active in the community in charitable causes.
So is Wright. The Seahawks’ nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2018 has helped build houses in less-advantaged areas such as South Seattle. This summer Wright’s wife and Chancellor’s wife organized and led a rally and march across Lake Washington on the I-90 bridge to amplify the Black Lives Matter movement in Seattle.
Baldwin, a Florida native, has worked with Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson and others in law enforcement in our state to change police training in deescalation and the use of deadly force. The retired wide receiver is seeking to change what he and many feel is a bond system in jailing that is unfair to minorities and those unable to pay bails for relatively minor offenses. Baldwin is also building a community center for health and well-being in Renton, the city where the Seahawks’ team facility is located.
Chancellor has been starting fitness programs around the Puget Sound region. The legendary strong safety known as “The Enforcer” when he was thumping for the Seahawks, co-owns Form by Force, a women’s fitness “boot-camp” program.
The team last week honored Avril as its 2020 legend of the year. Last year’s winner, Jacob Green, helped present Avril with the honor online.
Avril started The Cliff Avril Family Foundation. Its mission is to raise awareness for Type 2 diabetes in children and promote nutrition and healthy living. He and his foundation work with organizations in Seattle, in Jacksonville. Florida, where the retired defensive end grew up and in Haiti, where he’s had family. He and former Seahawks teammate Marshawn Lynch have helped build schools and infrastructure in Haiti.
Wright has remained close with all of them. He’s in the final year of his contract, and he’s talked openly about how fortunate he is to have been on the same team establishing lasting roots in the same city he loves for his entire NFL career.
Same went for Chancellor and Baldwin. Avril arrived in Seattle from the Detroit Lions in 2012. He’s not leaving, either.
Wright says he enjoys “just hanging out” regularly with Avril, remotely in this pandemic time. He was chopping it up with his good friend again this past week before Wright flew with the Seahawks to Arizona on Saturday.
“So chill,” Wright said.
“To see the guys that you came in the league with, in 2011, ‘12, whatever, still be here, raising kids and doing everything that’s kind of coming in here, it’s cool. And it’s like we did it all together. Like we all got married around the same time, had kids around the same time. And for those relationships to stay, it’s even more fun. ...
“We are friends, man. We got a special bond and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us,” Wright said. “You know, you see guys like Cliff still being in a community, stuff like that inspires me. For him to be the legend of the year, that’s really cool.
“I can’t wait to—I can wait—but when I do retire, you know, don’t be ‘that person’ (who disappears from the city and his past).
“They’re still involved in community. come around to the football games and just enjoying life.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 1:02 PM with the headline "K.J. Wright wants to eventually join legendary Seahawks pals staying in Seattle for life."
