NFL Tickets
Every year there are players in the NFL Draft that teams just aren’t sure about. The talent might be there, but a red flag is also attached. It could be an arrest, it could be arm strength, but in the case of Russell Wilson, it was height.
Nobody would touch Wilson through the first two rounds, simply because he was short. Well that didn’t scare off the Seattle Seahawks. While they didn’t ‘roll the dice until’ the 75th overall selection, they did ultimately disregard the ‘height’ red flag attached to Wilson.
Head coach Pete Carroll recently talked about the team’s decision to go after the vertically challenged quarterback:
“He’s 5’11”, you know, and guys didn’t think he could play for that reason alone. They weren’t willing to take the chance on a guy and we were very, very fortunate to get him.”
“We wanted him on our team, even at the second pick. 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.”
There’s no question that Wilson was the steal of last year’s draft. Just think of how many teams with a need at QB passed on him. At the time, Seattle already had their man with Matt Flynn, but apparently they just saw something they liked about Wilson, and couldn’t pass on him.
It goes to show that intangibles are huge part of playing QB in the NFL. When it really comes down to it, who cares if Wilson is short? Can he ball? Then sign him up. That’s exactly what the Seahawks did, and it’s a decision that could pay off for the franchise over the next decade.
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