Washington offered three 1sts and more for Russell Wilson, but he chose to go to Denver

On Saturday night news broke that the Washington Commanders had offered multiple 1st round picks to Seattle for QB Russell Wilson. That was rejected, and there weren’t many details about the actual offer that was made. Wilson wasn’t coming to Washington, and it didn’t look like he would be moving at all.

Then came the news that Wilson was getting traded, and he would be going to the Denver Broncos. They were sending their 1st and 2nd round picks for the next two years, and a 2022 5th round pick to get Wilson and Seattle’s 4th this year. Denver also sent QB Drew Lock, TE Noah Fant, and DL Shelby Harris. That’s a pretty big deal, and looked like it was better than Washington’s.

Details of Washington’s offer to the Seahawks started coming out after the Broncos news broke. Washington had actually offered their 1st round picks for the next 3 years, and possibly a later round pick. They were also willing to add players, but the talks with Seattle never got past the initial offer.

That’s a massive deal that would have affected Washington’s drafts for the next 3 years and beyond. They would also need to make some cap moves to get more flexibility in free agency after adding Wilson’s contract.

Reports started to come out saying that the Seahawks didn’t want to trade Wilson to an NFC team. That eliminated teams that had reportedly made offers like Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles. Russell Wilson had a no trade clause in his contract, giving him final say on whether he got traded to any team at all.

Wilson reportedly only wanted to go to the Denver Broncos if he was traded this year. Would Seattle have negotiated with Washington if they were on his trade destination list and were willing to increase their initial offer? Probably, but we’ll obviously never get that answer since Wilson wasn’t down with going to the NFC East.

“My understanding was this was the only team Russell Wilson wanted to go to,” Rapoport said Tuesday on NFL Total Access. “A couple teams had talked to Seattle about trading for Russell Wilson. Washington Commanders were among the teams that made an offer. It was a big offer, as good or even better than this. Russell Wilson wanted to go to the Denver Broncos. It’s a place he likes, it’s near his family, it’s on the West Coast and they have a roster that is essentially stacked at receiver, on defense, at running back. All they needed was a quarterback, and they got one.”

One report says that the Washington Commanders were very hesitant to include Chase Young in any trade package. The negotiations never got past the first offer, and players were never discussed. If this report is accurate, Young would be one of the very few “safe” players who wouldn’t be offered in a trade for someone like Deshaun Watson if he was cleared.

Washington got rejected by Russell Wilson, and watched as another player(Aaron Rodgers) who didn’t want to play here re-signed with his team on a mega deal. They are not a premier destination, and are still dealing with scandals involving ownership. Washington also hasn’t had a winning record under Head Coach Ron Rivera. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2005. And as much as Rivera wants to hype the team up by bringing up their 1,000 yard WR(Terry McLaurin), 1,000 yard RB(Antonio Gibson), OL, and defense; there are a lot of holes on this team, and the offense needs help behind their #1’s.

Washington will brush this one off and move on to Plan C as they continue to look at trade candidates like Jimmy Garoppolo and Carson Wentz, but this was their big swing and they thought they had a legit shot at landing Wilson. If the trade option doesn’t work out they will hit free agency hard next week to get a veteran that Rivera craves. Jameis Winston’s name continues to heat up in connection to Washington, while Mitch Trubisky might be out of reach due to big interest from QB-needy teams.

If all else fails, Washington will have to go into the draft with Taylor Heinicke under contract and a big need for another option at QB. Kyle Allen is a Restricted Free Agent and could be brought back, but there hasn’t been much reported on the team’s interest in retaining him. Washington seems determined to upgrade on Taylor Heinicke, but could they get “stuck” with him at starter while a young QB develops this year?