Eagles Russell Wilson Trade: One of Many Examples of Best Deals That Don't Get Made
News that Russell Wilson vetoed a trade to the Philadelphia Eagles isn’t new, yet it’s back in the cycle again after some recent reporting by SI’s Greg Bishop that said there was a deal in place with the Seattle Seahawks to ship the quarterback to Philly.
This was all reported a year ago when it was also reported that there was a difference of opinion among the Eagles’ decision-makers as to whether quarterback Jalen Hurts could be this team’s face of the future.
He proved to be exactly that this past season, directing an offense that won a franchise-record 14 regular-season games, and was the league’s MVP runner-up.
Wilson, meanwhile, fell flat on his face with the Denver Broncos, getting his head coach Nathaniel Hackett fired with play well below a career arc that saw him make eight Pro Bowls.
That’s the way it goes sometimes in a franchise’s history.
Sometimes the road is littered with deals that never happen.
Every organization has one of these roads, where berms are crowded with crumpled pieces of paper that have trades scrawled on them that never quite had enough oomph to get to the finish line. Many of those deals are the best trade that never happened.
Imagine if Wilson was the Eagles’ quarterback last year and not Hurts.
There’s no Super Bowl appearance, and the Eagles’ draft capital is depleted.
Meanwhile, Wilson’s long-term viability as the quarterback would be getting questioned like it is in Denver. He’ll be 35 this year. Hurts is 24.
Wilson wasn’t the only deal that never happened only a year ago.
Remember Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, Allen Robinson, and Robert Woods? The Eagles were trying to land one of those four receivers before fate intervened and they got none.
So, they traded for A.J. Brown.
That doesn't happen if Ridley didn’t get suspended for gambling, Kirk got a huge payday from the Jacksonville Jaguars, Robinson pulled out of his deep negotiations with the Eagles to sign with the Rams instead, and Woods decided to go to the Tennessee Titans.
Then there’s safety Marcus Williams.
The Eagles really wanted him in free agency but found the price just a tad steep. Enter Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who tied for the league in interceptions.
The Eagles don’t make the Super Bowl without Brown and Gardner-Johnson.
Remember 2020 when the Eagles really wanted Dallas Cowboys free agent cornerback Byron Jones?
They were outbid by the Miami Dolphins, so the Eagles pivoted to defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and traded for cornerback Darius Slay.
The Eagles don’t make the Super Bowl without Hargrave and Slay.
Go even further back, to 2014.
The Eagles really wanted Buffalo Bills safety Jairus Byrd from Buffalo in free agency. He went to the New Orleans Saints and the Eagles pivoted to Saints free agent safety Malcolm Jenkins.
The Eagles don’t win Super Bowl LII without Jenkins.
The deals that don’t get made and turn out to be the best ones extend to the coaching ranks.
Remember 2016 when the Eagles were enamored with Adam Gase to be their next head coach after firing Chip Kelly?
Gase ended up in Miami. Remember the Eagles pivoting to Ben McAdoo? McAdoo went to the New York Giants.
The Eagles then hired Doug Pederson.
Philly doesn't win Super Bowl LII without Pederson on the sidelines.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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