Don’t hold your breath hoping that Russell Wilson will leave the Seattle Seahawks to play quarterback for the New York Giants anytime soon.
Just when you thought those rumors regarding the New York Giants potentially trading superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. this offseason would be the silliest part of the silly season, FOX Sports personality and hot take specialist Colin Cowherd dared to hypothesize that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson may want to exchange life in the Northwest for the Big Apple and a Big Blue jersey.
As both Ben Arthur of Seattle PI and Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times explained, there is currently no real indication from anybody Wilson, who is only 30 years old, desperately wants to move on from the Seahawks. While he is set to enter the final year of his current contract, that means little as it pertains to his future.
Seattle is capable of retaining his rights past 2019 via the franchise tag. It’s difficult to imagine Wilson pulling a Le’Veon Bell and refusing to feature under the tag instead of earning over $30 million for the 2020 season.
Those realities are only the beginning. Wilson wouldn’t just be an upgrade over Eli Manning, the two-time Super Bowl MVP in the twilight of his career who may not be starting for the Giants in Week 17 of the 2019 campaign if head coach Pat Shurmur elects to start a rookie or somebody else at that time. Per Pro-Football-Reference, Wilson is second to only Aaron Rodgers in passer rating among active players.
NFL signal-callers are more protected, per in-game rules, and more valuable than at any point in league history, and that trend isn’t disappearing before Wilson retires. He’s worth his weight in gold to the Seahawks. Truth be told, Seattle entertaining trading him should send off alarms that people within the franchise might know something about his long-term health or availability that should, at the very least, concern any suitors.
Could Russell Wilson replace Eli Manning in New York?@ColinCowherd is hearing things... 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/r8rZY0Qbqr
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 20, 2019
If you watch the video (and you couldn’t be blamed for passing), Cowherd didn’t break concrete news. He more connected dots while also outright saying he wasn’t actually predicting any trade between the Seahawks and Giants will occur. Meanwhile, Seattle allowing Wilson to leave the club via free agency after the 2019 campaign would be cause for an investigation. It’s not happening.
So what would a trade that involved Wilson joining the Giants even look like? Your first thought may be for the Giants to offer Beckham and the sixth overall draft pick for Wilson. Remove salary cap implications from the conversation. Those matters work themselves out more often than not.
Would Beckham and selection No. 6 be enough to get Wilson? Logic suggests the quarterback is worth far more. The Oakland Raiders could send Derek Carr and multiple first-round picks to Seattle for Wilson if the Seahawks are serious about listening to offers.
Trading for Wilson would drastically change New York’s plans for building for the future. Instead of having a young quarterback on an inexpensive rookie contract through the next four-to-five seasons, Wilson would probably be the highest-paid quarterback in the league at the moment the ink on his next contract dried. The Giants keeping Wilson, Beckham, Saquon Barkley, and Evan Engram while also filling gaps on the roster is a difficult, if not impossible, task.
This latest rumor offers yet another reminder that the Giants replacing Manning won’t be as easy as simply trading for a different Super Bowl quarterback. Review the 2018 draft class and the quarterbacks who entered the league via first-round picks last year. None outside of Baker Mayfield look like sure things as of February 2019, and the Cleveland Browns would be foolish to not trade Mayfield for Wilson today if given the chance.
The risk of drafting Barkley instead of a quarterback last year was always that the Giants would still be in search of Manning’s successor in the spring of 2019. That’s going to be the case. There is no simple solution or guaranteed option. If only it was as easy as the Giants trading for Wilson. Maybe you could make that work in Madden.