The ascension of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was a surprise to many last year. Including the Eagles.
After the 2021 season, the Eagles had a wandering eye. And it landed at one point on Russell Wilson.
Via Doug Farrar of USA Today, Greg Bishop of SI.com recently claimed during a Seattle radio appearance that the Eagles wanted to trade for Wilson, but that Wilson declined to waive his no-trade clause.
As Farrar notes, quarterbacks coach Jake Heaps (who has worked with Wilson) said last year that both the Eagles and Commanders wanted Wilson, who was interested in playing for neither team.
After Wilson was traded to the Broncos, Eagles coach Jeffrey Lurie said he’ll “always regret” not drafting Wilson in 2012. They had hoped to get him in round three that year, but Seattle beat them to it. The Eagles instead picked quarterback Nick Foles.
There has been some chatter in league circles that the Eagles also wanted to trade for Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
Ultimately, Hurts had a far better year than either Wilson or Murray. And Hurts now has a better contract than either of them, too.
Bottom line? This is another example of the best trades often being the ones that aren’t made.