What If The Eagles Had Drafted Russell Wilson?
When the Birds won the Super Bowl in February of 2018 they exercised all of the demons of the previous 57 years following their last NFL title in 1960. Nearly three years later however the promise of a potential dynasty looks like it’s about to get it’s about to get it’s own Collapse video on Secret Base.
Even with the once-elusive Lombardi trophy finally in the Eagles trophy room, there’s still some demons that remain post-Super Bowl: The Birds can’t draft good receivers, most of their good players get injured, and they can’t beat the Seahawks. The Eagles haven’t beat the Seattle since Mike Holmgren was the head coach, meaning they’ve always lost to them led by both Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson.
Even in 2017 with Carson Wentz at his peak, they still laid an egg to the Seahawks on Sunday Night in what was the only bad loss of that entire season. And twice we had to watch Russell Wilson come to the Linc and beat the Eagles, both by a score of 17-9.
And with Seattle returning to the Linc again this Monday Night with a win probability of 99.999% it raises the question: What if the Eagles had drafted Wilson in 2012? Every team has a fair share of passing up on great player in the draft and the Eagles are no different. Michael Haddix over five Hall of Famers in the 1983 draft, Kevin Allen over Jerry Rice, Fred-Ex over Reggie Wayne, LJ Smith over Witten, and of course JJAW over DK. But as we all learned in recent years that Andy Reid wanted Russell Wilson in the 2012 Draft, the Seahawks snatching him in the third round could have completely altered the course of the Eagles franchise the past decade. Of course 13 picks later the Birds got a pretty good consolation prize in Nikki Six, whose the only player to have a statue outside the Linc (but Chuck Bednarik does have a statue at Franklin Field.)
In hindsight the front office should have listened to Reid’s insistence on getting Wilson and used one of their two 2nd round picks that year to get him. They wound up taking Vinny Curry and Mychal Kendricks with those selections instead and anticipated drafting Wilson before the Seahawks took him with the 75th pick. While both Curry and Kendricks were on the 2017 defense, them combined don’t equal the value of Wilson.
Had they did pick Wilson in the 2nd Round Andy Reid may still be the head coach of the Eagles right now. Quarterbacks Michael Vick and Nick Foles both weren’t impressive enough in 2012 to save the coach’s job as they bottomed out with a 4-12 record and Reid was finally relieved of his duties after 14 years in Philly. Wilson, surrounded by a young and aggressive running game and defense, won the starting job and flourished in Seattle, nearly taking them to the NFC Championship Game. Had he been on the Eagles he may have been good enough to beat out Mike Vick for the starting job and showed off his skills with Shady McCoy, Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin as his weapons. Regardless of what their final record would be, if Wilson looked like the future of the franchise Reid’s job could have survived 2012.
Though it’s hard to imagine Wilson as an Eagle going to two Super Bowls in his second and third year as he did in Seattle, him in Philly with Reid as his coach would gradually build the Birds as a contender. All of those talented players the Eagles had also don’t get kicked off the team in Chip Kelly’s reign of terror and Howie Roseman hopefully pulls off the same masterstrokes he did in 2017. How many Super Bowls the Eagles would have under Reid and Wilson is a mystery, but considering the continued success of both it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t get at least one.
With all that in mind, this reality Eagles fans are living in isn’t quite the worst it could be because the chain reaction that began in the 2012 Draft has seen Wilson, Reid, and the Eagles each get a ring. But if the three had been together, the franchise would be in a far better position than they are at the moment and we’d be spared from having to lose to Wilson every single time.
But to finish off this feature here is a reminder that Carson Wentz has received two more MVP votes in his career than Russell Wilson.