Dianna Russini: Potential Russell Wilson Trade is 'Picking Up Steam'

The relationship between Russell Wilson and the franchise that drafted him appears to be mighty strained in the early days of the 2021 NFL offseason. Wilson reportedly aggravated the Seattle Seahawks management by openly grousing about the team's inability to protect him during a brief media tour last month. Things got to a point where Wilson's team gave Seattle destinations that he would approve a trade to.

Given the size of his contract and the fact that he is a top-three quarterback in the midst of his prime, a trade still seems supremely unlikely. Players like Wilson do not get traded. There is no return that justifies sending out a quarterback of his caliber. Deshaun Watson reportedly might sit out the 2021 season entirely and the Houston Texans are still refusing to take trade calls for the star QB. Wilson is better than Watson with a championship pedigree. The relationship between Wilson and his bosses would have to be destroyed and utterly beyond repair, not just strained, before a trade could even become a possibility.

Dianna Russini thinks things might be getting to that point, though. She went on Get Up this morning to report that the idea of a Wilson trade is "picking up steam." An unthinkable occurrence as recently as six weeks ago and one that still feels hard to comprehend.

It is an interesting use of the word "desperate." Is a team really desperate if they want to give up the farm for an MVP-caliber quarterback? There are at least 25 teams who would trade just about anything for a player like Wilson. It's a reflection of how valuable the quarterback position is and how having a great one can make all the difference in the world.

But I suppose that giving up a handful of first-round picks and good players (which is the bare minimum for what it would take to acquire Wilson) is objectively desperate. The Chicago Bears seem the most likely landing spot if GM John Schneider did decide to send Wilson on his merry way, and a trade package would almost definitely have to include Khalil Mack and three to five high draft picks. That's a lot for anybody, even a top-tier signal-caller.

It still feels that nothing will really happen. It's difficult to truly believe a trade of this magnitude would go down in the NFL. It isn't the NBA, where trades like this happen every other offseason. Similar to the Aaron Rodgers rumors, there are a lot of teams with incentive to stir up some trouble around the situation via anonymous leaks, but Russini is plugged-in. If she says the situation is picking up some steam, it most likely is. Maybe the unthinkable will happen.