The 2012 NFL Draft saw four quarterbacks selected in the first round. The Philadelphia Eagles elected to wait to fill their quarterback need, selecting Nick Foles in the third round.
Foles has had one of the most interesting careers of anyone in NFL history, from starting to getting cut and not having a roster spot, only to re-sign with the Eagles and beat legendary quarterback Tom Brady in a Super Bowl before leaving the team again.
Despite Foles’ role in helping the Eagles win a Super Bowl, franchise owner Jeffrey Lurie recently discussed his one regret as an owner…not moving up in the 2012 NFL Draft to select another quarterback instead of Foles.
“(Russell) Wilson is a player that we didn’t get, and I’ll always regret it, Lurie said via DelewareOnline.com. “It was someone I really wish we had drafted in the second round and didn’t wait. But we didn’t really think that anyone would jump us and take Russell, so that was that.”
Then Eagles head coach Andy Reid reportedly saw Wilson as someone he could develop into a franchise quarterback, and the team was planning on taking him before the Seahawks traded up into the second round to select him.
It is certainly interesting to think about how things could be drastically different in the NFL if Wilson was not selected by the Seahawks. Would Andy Reid have been fired by the Eagles and gone on to become coach of the Kansas City Chiefs? Would Wilson have developed into the quarterback he has become without help from the vaunted “Legion of Boom” in Seattle? Would the Eagles have still won a Super Bowl with Wilson? Would they have won more?
These are all questions that we will obviously never know the answer to, but the history of the NFL would have been very different if the Eagles had drafted Russell Wilson in 2012.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.