Wilson claims Jets made him an offer
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to Russell Wilson claiming the New York Jets offered him a contract and that he is also considering opportunities in television.
Video Transcript
He went eight years between starting jobs.
Now, he played some in between.
He was the guy for whom the Giants benched Eli Manning, and he took the brunt of that even though that wasn't his call.
Right.
But from 2014 to 2022, he was not a full-time starter.
He started five games total with other teams in that window.
He started all 17 games in 2022.
That was the first year that the Seattle Seahawks did not have Russell Wilson at quarterback since drafting him in round three in 2012.
So Smith was the backup to Wilson for multiple years.
He was in Seattle '20 and '21, and then got that starting job in '22, and then now, now, lo and behold, how the turntables have turned.
Russell Wilson could be Geno Smith's backup with the New York Jets.
We know there was a visit last week to the Jets.
There had not been a report that an offer had been made by the Jets to Russell Wilson.
Russell Wilson tells the New York Post of his visit to the Jets, "It was great.
They offered me, and I'm trying to figure out what the next big, big, best thing is for me to do.
I still know I can play ball at a high level, but I also have an opportunity to do TV, so we'll see what that happens."
Now, now, he's saying he has an offer- Yeah on the table- Yeah to join the Jets.
Mm-hmm.
And he's implying he's got an offer on the table to join CBS.
Yeah.
That's the network he was linked to by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic recently.
They have a spot still at the NFL Today by virtue of Matt Ryan leaving to become the president of football for the Atlanta Falcons.
So I was on KJR Radio in Seattle last night.
They lived the whole Russell Wilson experience for a decade.
Their first question to me was, "Do you believe he has an offer from the Jets, and do you believe he has an offer from CBS?"
And I'm not here to question the guy.
I mean, the Jets could leak to someone that they haven't made him an offer yet.
Yeah.
CBS could leak to someone they haven't made him an offer yet.
I don't think you'd take him on and come out and say it, but there's just some, some skepticism about whether or not he really does have an offer from both.
And if he has an offer from neither, I could see the strategic benefit of suggesting you have an offer from one to get the other one to make you an offer.
Yeah.
Right.
Or just say one to get others in football interested.
I, I mean, again But again, like, we go back to this conversation.
We had this a year ago.
I think he came up here for what we're talking about right now, right?
He's, he's came up here, this was the long play.
"Oh, TV, New York, I'm gonna be in the media, I'm gonna be in the spotlight.
I'm gonna do that all the time."
So I'll be interested to see.
Now, you're playing a dicey game if you're talking about, "Oh, they offered me a contract," especially in the NFL.
Th- that's where I'd go, "I'm gonna take him at his word.
I haven't heard anything behind the scenes."
But saying that type of stuff and you don't have an offer will be a very quick way for the team to go, "Damn, he's fake as hell.
we can't build He's a politician, and we don't want him here."
So that, that to me, if you're doing that, you're taking risk within that type of comment and how the team is gonna view you right off the bat.
And so that to me would be very interesting to know, you know, the reality of the situation there.
Or you already know you're not gonna go there, and you are just using it to leverage CBS- Maybe that too.
Exactly or to get another team interested.
That's right.
That's right, Mike.
And look, making him an offer, like, "They offered me," I've never heard it put that way before, "They offered me."
And I'm not saying it's wrong, it just was something that struck me as unusual.
It is unusual.
And the offer could be one year minimum for 1.3 million.
Mm-hmm.
That's an offer.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Totally.
It's an offer.
It's technically accurate.
Yes.
"Yeah, hey, we'd love to have you.
We'd love to have you for 1.3, but you know, we start getting a little bit higher than that, and we've got other options, and we've got some guys under rookie contracts," whatever the case may be.
I, I just think at the end of the day, you talk about being in New York, Joe Flacco's the only guy who was the highest paid player in football at some point who gladly will hang around and take whatever job he can get at any spot on the depth chart.
I don't think Russell Wilson is wired to accept that, and if there's a seat at CBS, I don't know why he wouldn't take it, 'cause that seat may not be there next year.
No, that's right.
If you squeeze one last drop out of the football- Yeah cow.
Yeah.
I, I, I mean, th- that's, that is it.
You're right.
CBS next year, who knows what they do.
Travis Kelce might retire after the next year.
We know every network wants him on TV.
Damn, they wanted him on TV this year if he didn't play.
So, you- you're right.
Not guaranteed that spot.
There's only a few of them.
He is Russell Wilson.
I'm sure he'll consider to have options, but if, I think if I was advising him I mean, again, I'm not trying to advise anybody where their heart is, and if his heart is all about playing football, then go play football.
But if you're having doubts, and you know it's coming to the end, and just where it looks like for me and for us sitting on the outside here, I'd go, "Go to TV.
It's time.
You had an incredible career.
You're only gonna be a low-level backup for right now.
That's all you're viewed as in the NFL.
Start the new chapter in your life."
that's what I would advise him to do.
And you know, I've seen the question raised as to, you know, whether he's gonna make it to the Hall of Fame, and that's a debate for a different day.
And I don't even care about the Hall of Fame anymore after the Bill Belichick stuff.
I was already kind of on the fence about- Yeah what I really thought of the Hall of Fame, glorified museum to justify its own existence with the addition of multiple busts every year so people go to Canton.
The Bill Belichick thing has really soured me on the Hall of Fame.
It's a lot of people.
To the extent that there's gonna be a debate, I don't know-I don't, I mean, hanging around and being a backup is not gonna help your case.
No.
No.
Hanging around and not playing is not gonna help your case.
It may not hurt it, but it's not gonna help it.
And I think the, the way we've seen his career just kind of do this the past few years- Yeah that's not gonna help him.
No.
It's not gonna, it's not gonna help make his accomplishments look better.
I, I agree.
It, this a tough one.
You know me, I'm usually one that'll stand on, on one table or another and go, "Nah, he's in.
He's not."
No, I think he's fence.
He's on the fence.
It, it, it is.
I, I, I lean towards, I would probably say no, I don't think he's a Hall of Famer.
I think he's an NFL legend, but would I be mad if he got in one day?
Absolutely not.
I mean, again, there's, he, he was certainly one of the best quarterbacks in football for a four to five-year period there.
Did it a little different, it wasn't always gonna be surgical in that way, but you get to, you know, 2014 to 2017, '18, Russell Wilson was a force of nature there.
he certainly was.
So it's, it's gonna be a close one.
And, and again, we know with the numbers and the quarterbacks and the way they are and so many on there on the waiting list, that's what makes the, the conversation very confusing and tough as well.
Well, and that's the thing.
He may get in someday.
Yeah.
Not first ballot.
Exactly.
He's gonna have to wait.
Yeah.
He's gonna have to wait behind Eli Manning, and we don't know how much longer Eli Manning is going to wait.
I thought Eli would've gotten in by now.
He's gonna be stuck behind him.
He's gonna be stuck behind others that would fall into that same category, although I don't know how many there are right now, where it's just, you know, you had a couple of really great years and then it just kind of gradually and I don't, and I don't want to minimize how long he played well.
I mean, he played well for most of his time in Seattle.
Yes.
I mean, the, the, the, the Broncos gave up multiple first-round picks to get Russell Wilson.
No question.
And then gave him a market level contract.
Yep.
The, the decline didn't begin until he left the Seahawks.
He had 10 very good years in Seattle, and at times, great years.
Is that enough?
Maybe.
Does what's happened since 2022 take away from that?
If you're gonna look at the whole career, how can it, how can it not impact how you view the first 10 years?
