Third-round rookie quarterbacks don’t typically get opportunities to begin the season as starters. No third-round rookie quarterback has been an opening-day starter since 1973, when the Bills gave Joe Ferguson the nod.
But the Seahawks saw enough of third-round pick Russell Wilson at rookie minicamp to include him in their training camp battle at quarterback. Wilson will compete with incumbent Tarvaris Jackson and free-agent pickup Matt Flynn.
“He showed us enough,” coach Pete Carroll announced Sunday, per Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times. “He’s in the competition.” Carroll credited Wilson for a “terrific arm,” and praised the rookie quarterback’s preparation before rookie camp.
“He did an excellent job of demonstrating that he prepared for this,” Carroll insisted.
Wilson’s “promotion” may be an ominous sign for Jackson, who is owed a $4 million non-guaranteed base salary. Flynn is the front-runner to start in Week One, and Jackson’s salary is unwieldy for a quarterback not even assured the No. 2 spot on the depth chart.
Carroll indicated that he entered rookie minicamp hoping Wilson would emerge as a viable competitor for Flynn and Jackson, and Wilson apparently did exactly that.
“I’d hoped that, and we confirmed it in these three days,” Carroll said. “He left really no question about he needs to be involved in the competition.”