Seahawks coach Pete Carroll says his team got lucky when in last year’s NFL draft, too many teams looked at Russell Wilson’s height instead of his game tape.
Mike Florio asked Carroll on Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network why Wilson was available for the Seahawks to pick 75th overall in last year’s NFL draft, and Carroll said it was all about the standard NFL view of short quarterbacks.
“He’s 5-foot-11, you know, and guys didn’t think he could play for that reason alone,” Carroll said. “They weren’t willing to take the chance on a guy and we were very, very fortunate to get him. I think that will bear itself out in the years to come, what a great pick it was. We’re thrilled to have him on our team.”
Carroll said the Seahawks had such a high grade on Wilson that they would have taken him with their second-round pick, No. 47 overall, but they were counting on him still being available with their third-round pick, No. 75 overall. As it turned out, Seattle got linebacker Bobby Wagner, who was one of the best defensive rookies in the league last year, at No. 47, and then waited through a nerve-wracking round while they hoped no one would take Wilson.
“We wanted him on our team, even at the second pick,” Carroll said. “To get to 75, every one of those picks along the way we were fighting through it and as it got down to the last couple it was pretty tense. But it was exciting too and as it turned out it was a great accomplishment for us.”
No team had a better draft than the Seahawks last year. But the Seahawks also got a little lucky that no other team could see past Wilson’s height and realize he was worth a Top 75 pick.