Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was in Texas Rangers camp this spring for the second consecutive year. He’s was fourth-round pick of the Colorado Rockies back in 2010.
Needless to say, one of Wilson’s passions is baseball. There has even been talk that one of the reasons Wilson transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin leading up to the 2011 season was because then Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien didn’t believe he was fully committed to playing football.
Wilson had been the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback for three seasons. But Wilson also was playing minor-league baseball, a situation with which O’Brien had issues.
At that point, Wilson was told the team no longer needed him.
Now, two Super Bowl appearances later, it doesn’t appear that Wilson has fully committed to give up his dream of being a two-sport athlete and playing baseball.
You never want to kill the dream of playing two sports,” Wilson said on HBO’s Real Sports, via the Seattle Times. “I would honestly play two sports.”
When pressed further about his comment, Wilson continued:
I don’t know. I may push the envelope a little bit one of these days.”
That’s fine and dandy, but there’s no real reason to believe that Wilson—a career .229 hitter in parts of two Minor League seasons—can just up and play two sports. Unlike other two-sport athletes before him, Wilson plays a position that requires him to be committed year-round. He can’t just miss organized team activities or training camp because his baseball team is playing. He can’t just fly from Seattle to Texas the night after a game to take part in a weekday series for his baseball team. That’s not how it works in the NFL today.
Outside of that, Wilson’s true craft is football. There’s no telling whether he’s even a Major League-caliber baseball player.
Of course, all this could be a PR move to show the Seahawks that he has other options. Set for a lucrative long-term extension after putting up one of the best early-career performances in NFL history, it appears that Seattle is tabling talks until after the upcoming season.
Is this Wilson’s way to show his team that he has other options? That’s the million-dollar question.
If not, let’s just hope there isn’t another Michael Jordan situation on the horizon here. That is to say, a player at the height of his profession giving up one sport to pursue a dream in another sport.
Wilson’s a smart man. He’s probably not about that action, boss.
Photo: USA Today Images