Dave Dameshek's imaginative "N'if'L" series has already envisioned a scenario in which Russell Wilson was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles rather than the Seattle Seahawks.
Dameshek didn't know how close he came to nailing that hypothetical scenario.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll revealed Monday that general manager John Schneider had to talk him into drafting the under-sized quarterback.
"John convinced me on Russell," Carroll told TheMMQB.com's Peter King . "He was on him early, then he came back from seeing him late in his season at Wisconsin, I think against Michigan State, and he was so enthused about him. I watched a lot of tape on him, and John was right on. Then he got here, and he was everything John said he was."
Football observers are reluctant to acknowledge the role that luck plays in turning franchises around, but this is one of many indications that the Seahawks were fortunate to wind up with Wilson.
Schneider thought highly enough of Wilson that he wanted to pull the trigger in Round 2 of the 2012 NFL Draft. The Seahawks ended up waiting a round, picking up star middle linebacker Bobby Wagner along with Wilson.
In fact, NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah confirmed that then-Eagles coach Andy Reid"loved" Wilson and was set to draft him at No. 88 overall -- 13 spots after he went off the board to Seattle.
Wilson ultimately ended up playing for Carroll and Schneider because fortune favors the bold.
*The latest "Around The League Podcast" broke down all four Divisional Round games and looked ahead to a monster Conference Championship weekend. *
