Trade for QB Russell Wilson? What Falcons Must Say to Seahawks 'Outrageous' Asking Price

The chances of the Atlanta Falcons trading for Russell Wilson never seemed very high.

The chances of the Atlanta Falcons settling on a package with the Seattle Seahawks to facilitate a trade for Russell Wilson never seemed very high, even as oddsmakers included the Falcons on their big betting board.

But whatever chance there was just got a bit slimmer.

Per ESPN’s Brady Henderson, it’ll take “at least three first-round picks” to get the Seahawks to agree to deal the Pro Bowl quarterback, who has been rather passive-aggressive regarding his desire to stay or leave Seattle.

Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan

Matt Ryan

Three first-round picks? One NFL exec, speaking to Falcons SI, used the word "outrageous,'' mostly because that's essentially the same asking price that the Houston Texans have for Deshaun Watson, a similarly gifted (though legally-entangled) QB who at 26 is seven years younger than Wilson.

Wilson remains a force when healthy. He threw 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions with 3,113 total passing yards, all despite missing a month with a injured finger - and then playing with the injury.

But he is also 33. And he is scheduled to be on the books for $37 million. And he has a trade-veto clause in his contract, which means he has control over which team he gets traded to ... and he would almost certainly want to get traded to a team that is Super Bowl-ready, something first-year GM Terry Fontenot and first-year coach Arthur Smith cannot pretend the Falcons are.

One sidebar regarding that no-trade clause, by the way: Wilson keeps saying in public that he "hopes to stay in Seattle.'' But he doesn't have to "hope''; he has control. He can literally tell the Seahawks that they cannot trade him.

Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson

But he hasn't told them that. He is obviously open to move.

The Falcons, though? Oddsmakers aside, their financial ties with Matt Ryan almost certainly mean that he will be Atlanta's expensive QB in 2022. ... and that somebody else - Washington ($30 mil under the cap)? Pittsburgh? ($29.5 mil under)? Tampa Bay ($6.8 mil under)? - will be the team considering giving up the high price, in two ways, to acquire Russell Wilson.