Russell Wilson has been one of the hot topics of the NFL offseason after expressing his frustration with some of the issues going on with the Seattle Seahawks. And it looked like one NFL team was ready to give up a lot to add Wilson to the roster. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Chicago Bears made an “aggressive pursuit” to trade for Wilson. The Seahawks told the Bears they are not trading Wilson, which led to the Chicago singing Andy Dalton to a one-year deal.
Trade rumors for Wilson picked up in February when he appeared on The Dan Patrick Show. When asked about having more of a say in the team’s personnel decisions, Wilson said: “I want to be able to be involved because at the end of the day, it’s your legacy, it’s your team’s legacy, it’s the guys you get to go into the huddle with and at the end of the day, those guys you’ve got to trust. When you think about one of the reasons why Tom [Brady] went to Tampa was because he felt like he could trust those guys and [coach Bruce Arians] was going to give him the opportunity. … You think about guys like LeBron [James], he was able to be around great players that he can trust.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Wilson also spoke to reporters about the Seahawk’s offensive line play. He was sacked 47 times this past season, the third-most in the league behind Carson Wentz (50) and Deshaun Watson (49). “Like any player, you never want to get hit,” Wilson told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s the reality of playing this position. Ask any quarterback who wants to play this game. But at the same time, it’s part of the job and everything else. I think that the reality is I’ve definitely been hit. I’ve been sacked almost 400 times, so we’ve got to get better. I’ve got to find ways to get better, too.”
The Bears are looking for a new quarterback as former first-round draft pick Mitchell Trubisky has been inconsistent. Trubisky will battle Dalton for the No. 1 QB position during the summer, but had the Bears picked up Wilson, NFL experts would have looked at them as a team who could reach the Super Bowl as they made the playoffs last year thanks to a solid defensive front.
