NFL Trade Rumors: Insider reveals two surprising teams who were in on Russell Wilson prior to Broncos move

Last offseason, Russell Wilson swapped Seattle for Denver in a blockbuster trade that had the NFL reeling. With Denver thought to be only a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl contender, Wilson was the final piece of the puzzle.

We know it hasn't worked out, but NFL Network's Ian Rapoport has stated something very interesting in a chat with Joey Mulinaro of The 33rd Team. He claimed that prior to Wilson's trade to Denver, he heard that two NFC East teams were interested in trading for the quarterback. These two teams were the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.

Rapoport said:

“There were times when I was pretty convinced at the Combine that either Eagles or Commanders were going to trade for Russell Wilson. That was one where you kind of stop everything, but it turned out that it was not something he was into and he was only going to the Broncos. That was something that shook my brain last year.”

Now, the Commanders wanting Wilson isn't exactly surprising as the team had made no secret of its desire to get a star quarterback through the doors. Instead, it was Carson Wentz the team went with.

However, the Eagles potentially wanting Wilson is rather odd considering Jalen Hurts was on the roster. Now, we know what Hurts did last year as he led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, but the fact that Philadelphia wanted Wilson is odd.

Russell Wilson had a year to forget in Denver

Wilson's first year in Denver was horrible, to say the least. He finished with a record of 4-11 and had career lows in completion percentage (60.5) and touchdowns as the Broncos' offense just couldn't get going.

With Nathaniel Hackett fired due to the Broncos' poor form, Sean Payton has now been brought in to change the situation, with Wilson thought to be top of the to-do list.

After trading away their draft capital for the foreseeable future, Denver and Payton need to make it work with Wilson as they are essentially "stuck" with him right now.

One thing is for sure, perhaps the Eagles and Commanders are happy that Russell Wilson opted against joining them last offseason.