The Seattle Seahawks' selection of Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson in the third round of the NFL draft caught a lot people off-guard. It shouldn't have.
Pete Carroll's Seahawks have shown a propensity for thinking differently than the rest of the league. And while they brought in Matt Flynn at quarterback this offseason, they don't know who their franchise quarterback is quite yet.
"We don't exactly have our quarterback position set in stone for the long run," Seahawks general manager John Schneider told Peter King of SI.com this week.
Wilson might not be 6 feet tall, but he's a legitimate threat to be a starting quarterback by 2013. The Seahawks didn't draft Wilson to be a Wildcat quarterback; they drafted him because they think he's a special talent. Just look at the excitement in the room above when they drafted him.
"We did what we thought we had to do to get the guy that we thought was an extraordinary player," Carroll said after the draft. (Mrs. Wilson agrees.)
Schneider noted that Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Ryan Tannehill all had more passes batted down at the line of scrimmage last season than Wilson. The kid finds throwing lanes. He has overcome his height for his whole career. The team doesn't see having four quarterbacks on the roster as a bad thing.
"That's what we want," Schneider said. "That's an ideal situation."
We agree. The Seahawks have Flynn, Tarvaris Jackson and Wilson under contract in 2012 for less than the amount Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel made last year. It's good to have options until you know what will stick.
It's worth noting that Wilson is the only quarterback on the roster the Seahawks drafted. That's why we wouldn't bet against Wilson sticking around for a while.
