The Seattle Seahawks rolled the dice when they went against general manager John Schneider's gut feeling to pull the trigger on quarterback Russell Wilson in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
It worked out in the long run, as the Seahawks snatched up middle linebacker Bobby Wagner with the 47th pick while Wilson dropped into their laps at No. 75 overall.
But the gamble nearly backfired. NFL.com draft analyst and former scout for the Eagles, Daniel Jeremiah, revealed on Tuesday's "Inside Training Camp" that Philadelphia was all set to draft Wilson at No. 88 overall, only to watch the Seahawks steal the quarterback out from under them.
"Andy Reid loved (Wilson)," Jeremiah explained on NFL Network.
It's a story tailor-made for Dave Dameshek's "N'if'L" series. Wilson's high football IQ, improvisational skills, running ability and accuracy are ideally suited for Chip Kelly's uptempo offense.
Philadelphia wasn't the only team nosing around Wilson, either. Then New York Jets senior personnel executive Terry Bradway was so high on Wilson that he earned the moniker "Russell Bradway" inside the building. And John Dorsey, the new general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, who was with the Green Bay Packers at the time, said that Wilson's interview in 2012 was the best he had seen in 25 years.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported last December that the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins were both prepared to draft Wilson in the late-third and early-fourth rounds, respectively, to back up their rookie franchise quarterbacks.
As is often the case in the NFL, the line between franchise savior and "the one that got away" is perilously thin. It's no coincidence that Reid and Bradway are no longer with the organizations that failed to pull the trigger on Wilson before the middle of the third round.
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