Getty The Seahawks turned down a possible trade for Bears QB Justin Fields.
The Seattle Seahawks turned down a trade for a potential franchise quarterback.
As the Seahawks prepare to face their former franchise quarterback, Russell Wilson, and the Denver Broncos in the season opener in Week 1, a new report from ESPN indicates Seattle tried to trade the nine-time Pro Bowler back in 2021. One of the rumored teams of interest for Wilson’s services back in 2021 were none other than the Chicago Bears.
According to Broncos insider Benjamin Albright of KOA Colorado, the Seahawks rebuffed a trade involving Bears quarterback Justin Fields.
@Johnathan_Wood1 @PFF_Brad It was the Bears. The Seahawks didn’t want Fields
Wilson Had Listed Bears as Team of Interest
As Mark Rodgers — Wilson’s agent — told ESPN back in February of 2021, the veteran quarterback was interested in a trade to four teams — the Bears, the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders.
“Seahawks’ QB Russell Wilson has not demanded a trade, his agent Mark Rodgers told ESPN,” reported Adam Schefter. “Wilson has told the Seahawks he wants to play in Seattle but, if a trade were considered, the only teams he would go to are the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, Bears.”
The Bears clearly believed Wilson would be the answer to their problems. While Chicago went through a disastrous 6-11 campaign in 2021 during Matt Nagy’s final season with the Bears, they were in the playoffs the previous season with Mitch Trubisky as the quarterback.
After the Bears allowed Trubisky to walk in free agency, Chicago selected Fields with the 11th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft and signed veteran Andy Dalton as veteran insurance.
Patrick: Bears Made Seahawks Trade Offer for Wilson
As Dan Patrick reported back in March of 2021, the Bears were offering three first-round draft picks in exchange for Wilson to headline a bloated trade package. However, the Seahawks obviously did not agree to the offer.
“We’ve been talking about Russell Wilson and that the Bears were all in; they tried,” Patrick said adding:
“They made an offer, and I have an idea of what the Bears have offered, according to a source,” Patrick continued. “I don’t have names attached to this, as far as players, but this is from what I’m being told was the offer that was made to the Seattle Seahawks. It is the following: The Bears offered three first-round picks, a third-round pick and two starters. I don’t know who the starters are. The source close to the Bears doesn’t know who the starters are but that Seattle was interested. But it comes down to Pete Carroll making the decision.”
Fast forward a year later after the Seahawks suffered their worst season in the Wilson/Pete Carroll era — 7-10, missing the postseason for just the second time in the past decade — and Seattle unloaded Wilson to the Broncos in exchange for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris and tight Noah Fant.
The Seahawks obviously received a nice haul for Wilson from the Broncos. However, it’s worth wondering had Seattle pulled off a trade a year prior, they could have acquired Fields, two starters and two first-round draft picks.
While Fields didn’t exactly light it up during his rookie campaign, the 23-year-old showed some promise. The Ohio State product finished with 420 rushing yards in just 12 starts, finishing fifth among all quarterbacks.
As Joe Rivera of Sporting News noted in his assessment of rookie quarterbacks during the 2021 season, he gave Fields a “C” rating, which was actually higher than top draft pick Trevor Lawrence and No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson.
The Seahawks will go with Geno Smith as the starter entering the 2022 season with Lock as the backup in what looks like a rebuilding year. Seattle will likely look to a quarterback-heavy draft class in 2023 to select their next franchise quarterback.
It remains to be seen if Fields will end up becoming a franchise quarterback, but the Seahawks certainly had their opportunity at trading for him last year.