Philadelphia Eagles: Russell Wilson is Howie Roseman’s white whale
Even after eight seasons, Howie Roseman has let missing out on Russell Wilson in the 2012 NFL Draft cloud the Philadelphia Eagles’ thought process.
The 2012 NFL Draft was very, very good to the Philadelphia Eagles.
After suffering through an underwhelming 8-8 season – hardly what you’d expect from a “Dream Team” – the Eagles needed impact players across their roster to move past the waning memories of the Donovan McNabb-era and usher in a new generation of playoff football in South Philly.
And for their parts, the Eagles should be lauded for putting together such a successful class.
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Of the nine players selected, seven started at least five games for the Eagles over the course of their rookie contracts, five are still kicking it in the league, and one – Fletcher Cox – even earned All-Pro considerations – and a $100 million extension for his trouble.
The Eagles even got some solid play out of their seventh-round pick, Kansas State running back Bryce Brown, who recorded 1,249 all-purpose yards as the team’s short-yardage back/occasional kick returner from 2012-13.
But one player the Eagles didn’t select in 2012 that has consistently haunted Howie Roseman ever since: Russell Wilson.
In his post-draft comments, Roseman took a trip down memory lane and heavily implied (without tampering) that the Eagles initially intended on drafting Wilson with the 88th overall pick – the pick eventually used to select Nick Foles – and then circle back to actually select Nick Foles one round later. This plan would have given the team two chances to find their long-term franchise quarterback behind Michael Vick, and move into a new era of Eagles football a la Andy Reid‘s current renaissance with Patrick Mahomes under center.
Only here’s the thing, by Roseman’s own admission, the Eagles got too cute with it and missed out on a seven-time Pro Bowler in the process.
Now would it have been a bit weird to select two quarterbacks with subsequent picks in the very same draft? For sure, but it’s not unprecedented. The Washington Redskins had the very same idea in the very same draft when they came back to select Kirk Cousins 100 spots after trading up to select Robert Griffin III second overall and somehow both of those players are still in the league after all of these years.
It’s hard to argue with drafting Cox in the first round, Mychal Kendricks 46th overall, or even Vinny Curry 59th overall, as all three are still playing in the NFL at varying degrees of competency, but adding a starting quarterback is so much more valuable that even an All-Pro defensive tackle impacts the game less.
Heck, Brock Osweiler went off the board two picks before the Eagles selected Curry at the end of the second round. Shouldn’t that have been a sign that Wilson may not make it to 88? At one time, Curry was my favorite player on the Eagles roster, but even I would trade his best season for a decade-plus of Wilson under center.
*sigh* isn’t that just how it goes?
Now to be fair, it’s anyone’s guess if a 24-year-old Wilson would have made much of an impact on the 2012 iteration of the Eagles, as the tragic passing of Reid’s son Garrett effectively ended the season before it started, but you never know. Reid may have held up the Lombardi Trophy, ate a massive cheeseburger and ‘slept with his wife’ in a massive midnight green windbreaker if he had a few seasons to develop Wilson.
Oh gosh, would Doug Pederson have been the Eagles’ offensive coordinator? Where do Eric Bieniemy and Matt Nagy end up in this scenario?
These sorts of hypotheticals can get crazy in a hurry.
Mind you, this isn’t some new line Roseman is peddling to justify drafting Jalen Hurts 53rd overall, there have been rumors that Wilson was the apple of the Eagles’ eye all the way back in 2014 when Philly Mag reported that the team was texting with the then-Wisconsin quarterback on draft day.
Alternatively, Roseman also reportedly liked Cousins in the 2012 draft, so maybe he just had quarterback blinders on.
dark. Next. Did the Philadelphia Eagles draft Jalen Hurts to keep him from Dallas?
In 2012, the Philadelphia Eagles wanted to build a quarterback factory behind Michael Vick. In 2020, Howie Roseman actually accomplished that goal by effectively over drafting a backup quarterback to keep him in South Philly and away from another team later on Day 2. Will it work? Only time will tell, but I think most people would have rather had Russell Wilson and Nick Foles competing for snaps on the same roster than watch enviously as Pete Carroll built a flash in the pan Super Bowl contender around a talented mobile quarterback with a poor supporting cast. Oh snap, who does that sound like?