Russell Wilson had a full no-trade clause in his contract with the Seattle Seahawks, and there was talk last year that he refused to trade waive it for multiple teams. One of those teams was the Philadelphia Eagles.
During Friday’s edition of the “Brock and Salk” show on 710 ESPN Seattle, host Mike Salk and Sports Illustrated senior writer Greg Bishop discussed how close Wilson was to being traded to the Eagles last offseason. Salk said he was told the “deal was basically done and Russ killed it.” Bishop said he heard similar information at the time.
Russell Wilson was almost an Eagle pic.twitter.com/IeLlnr176N
— Average Eagles Fans (@AVGEaglesFans) June 2, 2023
“Yeah, I think what I’d say is the Eagles really wanted him,” Bishop said. “I think they liked his style of play and I think that makes sense because he’s similar to Jalen Hurts, especially when (Wilson) was in his prime and a little bit faster than now. My understanding is at that point in time Russ wanted to stay (in Seattle).”
Before Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos, there was a report that he refused to waive his no-trade clause for the Eagles and one other team. It seemed like he was determined to play for the Broncos at the time, though Bishop said Wilson wanted to remain in Seattle. Perhaps the timeline is a bit fuzzy.
Either way, Eagles fans are probably thrilled that Wilson chose not to play for their team. Philly has found a franchise quarterback in Jalen Hurts, who led the team to the Super Bowl last year. It’s hard to say if they would have had similar success with Wilson, but they now have a young star quarterback and did not have to give up multople first-round picks to get him.
