Eagles’ Pederson talks working out Russell Wilson before 2012 NFL Draft

Coming out of the University of Wisconsin, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson was not a highly touted player, which is one of the reasons he fell to the third-round(75th pick) in the 2012 NFL Draft. Fortunately for Seattle, they were able to grab Wilson, and the rest is history.

The eight-year veteran has won one Super Bowl and has been to another and currently is having an MVP caliber season. 

Before selecting Nick Foles, 13 picks after Wilson, former Eagles head coach Andy Reid was said to have had serious interest in Wilson.

Here is a story that Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told about Wilson and Andy Reid back in 2016:

“I know that Andy called us right after the pick, and gave John some trouble about it,”  Pete Carroll said in 2016. “They’re old friends. But we were really sweating it out. We wanted him the whole way, and John had it figured obviously perfectly for us to get it done. There were a couple other teams that called in right after that, too. Andy was the first guy to call, though. He was just giving John a hard time for taking his guy.”

On Friday, as Philadelphia prepares to host Wilson and Seattle on Sunday, current Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, who was the QB coach for Philadelphia back in 2012, talked about the workout he had with Wilson before the draft and the Eagles’ interest in Wilson back then.

“I went to the University of Wisconsin and worked out Russell [when I was the] quarterback coach here, and that was the first time I met him,” Pederson said. “I had a great day with him and spent some time [with him].

“Really, it wasn’t so much the workout and watching him throw and putting him through some of the throws we were doing at the time, but it’s when I got him in the classroom; it’s when I had a chance to go to lunch with him and just talk with him as a person. That’s where you really – for me anyway – where I knew this kid was going to be a special player in this league.

“He’s a great, tremendous leader. He’s not one of these players that, especially back then, where it’s all about him or whatever. He’s not a big ego guy. Just really humble at the time.

“So, I came back, and obviously, that was the report. Felt like if we had an opportunity that he was going to be the guy that we could possibly draft at that time. Obviously, Seattle moved up and grabbed him.

“But, yeah, we liked him. I think we ended up getting Nick Foles, which worked out for us, as well.”

Welp, I guess it did work out for both Seattle and Philadelphia because, after all, both Foles and Wilson were able to win a Super Bowl.

However, it could just go to show how much Reid knows about the quarterback position. This is the same man who drafted Donovan McNabb and Patrick Mahomes. Reid knows quarterbacks, and if Seattle did not get Wilson when they did, Wilson could have very well been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles today.