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Russell Wilson decided to dominate the NFL news cycle when his agent came out on Thursday and told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that if he’s traded, he would only want to get sent to the Raiders, Bears, Cowboys or Saints. Las Vegas appears to be the outlier out of those three. They haven’t had sustained success in almost two decades, and the defense is a major issue right now.
That said, the Raiders do have plenty of appealing qualities. In fact, former Wilson teammate in Seattle Brandon Marshall revealed that Las Vegas would be the best fit for him out of the four teams that he listed.
“If things implode and continue to implode in Seattle, [the Raiders] is where I think he’ll end up,” Marshall said on First Things First. “Why the Raiders? The Raiders have the best, young talented core group on the offensive side. Coach Gruden’s going to let it be the Russell Wilson show. New stadium, new everything, and I think he’ll really enjoy his time there.”
Marshall also stated that there’s only a 60% chance that he stays with the Seahawks based on a source he spoke to. Obviously, that means it’s most likely he doesn’t go anywhere but a 40% chance of leaving is very big. It’ll be fascinating to see how this saga plays out.
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Why Would Wilson Want to Play for Raiders?
Wilson is a winner. He’s never had a losing record during his NFL career and only missed the playoffs once. That season, the Seahawks went 9-7. The Raiders are the opposite. They’ve only had one winning season since 2002. Why in the world would Wilson want to leave one of the NFL’s winningest franchises for one of the losingest?
The answer is simple: Jon Gruden. As Vic Tafur of The Athletic pointed out, Gruden deserves a ton of credit for Wilson having any interest in Las Vegas. The two men go back several years. Gruden was a big fan of Wilson when he was entering the NFL and had him as a guest on his QB Camp show on ESPN. According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, the two men still have mutual admiration for each other. Add in the fact that the Raiders have Darren Waller and a strong offensive line, and it’s easier to see why Wilson would want to play for them.
Will Raiders Have Interest in Wilson Trade?
It’s 100% true that Wilson would play for the Raiders. Schefter’s report on Thursday came directly from the quarterback’s agent. It wasn’t from some unnamed source. Now that the Raiders know Wilson would play for them, they have a lot of thinking to do.
There’s no guarantee Seattle would even consider trading their quarterback but the fact that Pete Carroll hasn’t come out and addressed all this talk is pretty telling. If Wilson becomes available, the Raiders should at least entertain the idea. Derek Carr is a very good quarterback but Wilson is elite and he’s a superstar. He would immediately turn them into a playoff team. He’s already 32-years-old but quarterbacks are playing at a high level for a long time now. It’s easy to see Wilson being an effective player for at least five to seven more years. The Raiders need to fix their defense but it’s almost impossible to land players like Wilson.
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