Could Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson Been Teammates in Washington?

Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson are both Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks but how close were they to being teammates in Washington?

Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson are both Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks but how close were they to being teammates in Washington? Washington team reporter Chris Russell details how former coach Mike Shanahan almost landed Manning and Wilson on the same team

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Kaitlin O'Toole: Sports Illustrated is taking a look at Peyton Manning and the two time Super Bowl quarterback was almost signed by NFL head coach Mike Shanahan. Joining me now from the Redskins report is Chris Russell. Chris, you spoke to Shanahan and he said that if things worked out the way he wanted, Peyton Manning would have been Washington's starting QB with Russell Wilson as the draft pick. Instead, the pick became Kirk Cousins. But what difference would Manning have made if he was, in fact, on the Washington roster?

Chris Russell: Kaitlin, it's a tangled web. To be honest with you, because we know what happened in 2012 is the Redskins ultimately made a trade for the number two overall pick, which turned out to be Robert Griffin III. But again, as you mentioned, Shanahan, if he had his way, Peyton Manning would have been the starting quarterback. He was a free agent for the first time in his career after being cut by the Indianapolis Colts. He ultimately went on and signed with the Denver Broncos. But if he would've been the quarterback and the starter and signed with them and then Russell Wilson, who the Redskins had ranked ahead of Kirk Cousins and were planning to take him in 2012 in the fourth round, as they did with Cousins, if they would have done that, of course, to the direction of history would have been completely different for the Redskins, who would have had two great quarterbacks. And the fact that the two quarterbacks that we're talking about, Manning and Russell Wilson, met in the Super Bowl just a year and a half or so later, which is amazing, that you could have two quarterbacks on your same roster if things would have worked out and the stars would have aligned. And yet two years later, again, they were meeting against each other and their teams and the Super Bowl. 

Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated

Kaitlin O'Toole: Pretty incredible to imagine, you know, Wilson and Manning on the same team, Manning went on, like you said, to play for Denver, Sandman was actually a head coach there, and then they just get this relationship. How did that develop? He talked to you a little bit about that.

(Denis Poroy/AP)

Chris Russell: Yeah. So in Mike's final year as a head coach, we went to Denver, the Redskins, and I was, you know, a part of that traveling crew. And that was his return to Denver as a head coach. And Peyton Manning was already in year two as the quarterback. So they were friends with them. But here's how they became friends in the recruitment process. When Mike was trying to convince Peyton, you know, like, hey, maybe something you should consider what happened was Mike said, why don't you stay in my mansion in Denver? Like it's empty. I'm coaching in Washington. So Peyton Manning actually lived in Mike Shanahan's mansion despite not going to the Washington Redskins, because, again, the Redskins had already made the trade for Robert Griffin and the number two pick. And so Peyton, who again had this friendly relationship with Shanahan dating back to Pro Bowls in Hawaii, took Mike Shanahan up on his offer and again stayed in his house until we found obviously suitable housing and a place to live for him and his family. So it really is an interesting relationship with competitors'. CAITLYN, first friends second. 

Kaitlin O'Toole: I love this story. Chris, thank you so much for your insight on it. I really appreciate it. 

Chris Russell:  Thanks for having me.

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