At first, it seemed like a cute little entitlement. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson won the Super Bowl and decided to take a few grounders after the 2013 season with the Texas Rangers, who earn his baseball rights. Hey, he had earned it, right?
After losing the Super Bowl this past season, Wilson went back. He took more grounders. Hmm. Hey, if Tom Brady is cliff diving and playing hoops and golf with Michael Jordan, Wilson can have his fun on the diamond, right?
Well, sure, but what if this baseball thing is more than mere folly?
Wilson sat down with HBO’s Real Sports, telling Bryant Gumbel in a piece that will run April 21 that his passion for baseball goes beyond a few cuts in the batting cage in March.
“You never want to kill the dream of playing two sports,” Wilson said, via the Seattle Times. “I would honestly play two sports.”
Asked by Gumbel what is stopping him from attempting to be the next Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, Wilson didn’t exactly make Seahawks fans comfy with his answer.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I may push the envelope a little bit one of these days.”
Another metaphorical envelope that could be pushed soon is the one across the bargaining table that holds a lot of cash. See, Wilson and his camp have been negotiating a new deal with the Seahawks, one the team has said for months is closer to happening than not happening. So perhaps this fondness for baseball is a convenient ploy — a reminder that the Seahawks can’t play too much hardball and that Wilson has more options out there than it would appear.
But any extension with the Seahawks almost certainly would contain clauses that prevent (or make it difficult) for Wilson to entertain a baseball side career, unless he’s willing to take far less money than the rumored top-of-the-market deal he could receive.
Here’s another thing, too: Wilson went to spring training, albeit mostly for show, last year as well. So it’s not like he hasn’t thought of it as a potential career before, right? Interesting to note that the Rangers continue to keep his rights, even if it doesn’t really cost them anything to do so.
The idea of an NFL quarterback trying to find time to play both sports feels near impossible. At this point, there’s no real indication that it’s anything likely. But the fact that Wilson seems smitten with a sport that incurs far less damage to his body has to be of slight concern to the Seahawks right now.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
- Sports & Recreation
- Russell Wilson
- Seattle Seahawks
