NFL Teams Who Should Be Calling the Seahawks About Russell Wilson

The market for proven veteran quarterbacks in the NFL in 2021 is unprecedented, in that there is actually a market for proven veteran quarterbacks.

We have already seen the Lions ship Matthew Stafford from Detroit to Los Angeles as part of a package that included two first-round picks, a third-rounder and Jared Goff. The Eagles' Carson Wentz is all but certainly on his way out of Philadelphia. Deshaun Watson has made it clear that he wants no part of playing for the reeling Houston Texans this year.

Now things are really getting wild.

While appearing on a video call just after Super Bowl LV, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was remarkably candid about, well, just about everything. He groused about Seattle's struggles along the offensive line of late, via ESPN's Brady Henderson:

"You never want to get hit. That's just, that's the reality of playing this position. Ask any quarterback who wants to play this game, and I think, at the same time, it's part of the job and everything else. I think that the reality is is that I've definitely been hit, been sacked, I don't know, almost 400 times. And so, we've got to get better. I've got to find ways to get better, too."

He then raised more than a few eyebrows when asked on The Dan Patrick Show if he was available in trade.

"I'm not sure if I'm available or not. That's a Seahawks question," Wilson said, per ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio. "I definitely believe they've gotten calls. Any time you're a player that tries to produce every week and has done it consistently, I think people are gonna call for sure. I think that's part of the process."

According to Rob Staton of BBC Sport, Patrick said on his show the day after Wilson's appearance that his media blitz isn't sitting well with the folks at 12 Seahawks Way.

"A source told me that the Seahawks' management is not happy with Russell Wilson and his camp for taking this to the media," Patrick said. "You wonder if they're going to be able to co-exist. ... The current situation is not sustainable. That's what I was told."

All this hullaballoo has apparently got the phones ringing in Renton, too. Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, teams across the league are calling the Seahawks to ask what was once unthinkable…

Is Russell Wilson genuinely available?

Now before we go any further, let's stomp the brakes (quite) a bit. The answer to the Wilson question is all but certainly "no." Wilson is undoubtedly the best quarterback and probably the best player in Seahawks franchise history. In nine seasons, he has thrown for nearly 34,000 yards and 267 touchdowns while leading Seattle to eight playoff appearances and a pair of Super Bowls.

Wilson is only 32 years old and coming off one of the best statistical seasons of his career. He may be older than Watson, but his professional resume is unmatched by just about every veteran signal-caller not named Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers.

The compensation it would take to make a deal workable for the Seahawks (and sellable to their fanbase) would be absolutely staggering—especially when you consider the cap implications for Seattle if Wilson is traded before June 1 (a record dead cap hit of $39 million) and his no-trade clause.

And while Wilson may not especially enjoy all the hits he has taken over the years, he knows what he has in the Pacific Northwest. He's the wildly popular leader of a Super Bowl contender.

But if player and team are disillusioned enough with one another to entertain the idea of a blockbuster trade, there are a few teams that should be racing to get Seattle GM John Schneider on the horn.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders might not be the first team many folks think of as a potential trade partner for Wilson. But per Tommy Stokke of the Action Network, the oddsmakers at PointsBet have installed the Silver and Black as the odds-on-favorite should Wilson wind up playing for a new team in 2021.

It's not just oddsmakers, either. While pondering landing spots for Wilson, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports kept coming back to Raiders owner Mark Davis making the sort of massive deal that would have made his old man proud:

"You can't tell me that Davis wouldn't be willing and able to get very creative in terms of how much draft capital he'd commit to land a quarterback of this pedigree. He knows that the team has yet to come close to the heights it attained under his father's watchful eye. He wants star power for his sparkling new football Taj Mahal, with fans perhaps able to finally pour in during the 2021 season. Doesn't it sound like the quintessential Raiders move? A throwback to Al? Pretty swashbuckling if you ask me."

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

It would take quite a bit of creative accounting. Per Over the Cap, the Raiders are about $19 million in the red for 2021. But in addition to an aggressive owner yearning for the Raiders for return to prominence, the Raiders also have a capable veteran quarterback on a reasonable deal they could ship to Seattle in Derek Carr.

For as famous as Wilson already is, a move to Vegas to take over one of the league's most storied franchises would make him an absolute rock star.

Miami Dolphins

Poor Tua Tagovailoa needs a hug.

Granted, Tagovailoa wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination as a rookie—he completed 64.1 percent of his passes, threw over twice as many touchdowns as interceptions and won six of nine starts. But between Ryan Fitzpatrick coming on in relief of Tagovailoa last season and the Dolphins' repeated inclusion as a potential landing spot for Deshaun Watson, the prevailing sentiment appears to be that head coach Brian Flores and GM Chris Grier aren't sold on Tagovailoa as the long-term answer at quarterback in South Beach.

Well, if the Dolphins are in on the Watson sweepstakes, then they should throw their hat in the ring for Wilson too. If you're going to go for it, go for it.

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

The Dolphins have plenty to offer the Seahawks in trade. Thanks to the Laremy Tunsil fleecing, the Dolphins have Houston's first and second-round picks in addition to their own selections in 2021. Tagovailoa (the fifth overall pick just one year ago) would more than likely head to Seattle as the future at quarterback for the team. And with $26 million in cap space, the Fins are in a relatively good spot to take on Wilson's contract.

For his part, Wilson would get the opportunity to move to a warm-weather team with a rising roster that won just two fewer games than the Seahawks in 2020. And as is the case will all three teams listed in this piece, Florida has no state income tax.

Dallas Cowboys

Like we could do an article like this without including the trade that would break Twitter as the biggest blockbuster of a deal in decades.

The deal that would send Russell Wilson to Dallas for Dak Prescott.

The Cowboys are no stranger to drama under center, whether it's Prescott's contract status or his recovery from the broken ankle that ended his 2020 season. Prescott and the Cowboys have been working on a long-term extension since the season ended, but according to ESPN, those negotiations have gone the same place last year's did: nowhere.

With the franchise tag looking more likely by the day for Prescott and team owner Jerry Jones seemingly unwilling to acquiesce to Prescott's desire for a shorter four-year deal, perhaps Dallas should consider the mother of all Plan Bs.

This prospective deal would probably hinge on two things, the first of which is Prescott's willingness to sign an extension after being tagged and traded. But that might not be much of a sticking point at all; not that long ago, Schneider gave Wilson essentially just the sort of shorter-term deal Prescott wants.

John Froschauer/Associated Press

The second is the deal's particulars, whether it's fitting in under the cap in both Dallas and Seattle, the compensation that Seattle might want on top of Prescott for a quarterback with Wilson's pedigree or trading Wilson inside the NFC. But Jones has never shied away from making a splash in the past, and there isn't a better GM in the league at maneuvering against the cap.

The Seahawks somehow manage to replace one top-10 quarterback with another. Jones gets a quarterback who has accomplished the only goal he cares about at this point. And Wilson gets to begin a new chapter of his career in the highest-profile gig in all of the NFL.

It's about as close to a win-win as deals like this get.