Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Russell Wilson on playing two sports: “Never say never”


When the Rangers selected Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in the Rule 5 draft, Hall of Famer and former two-sport star Deion Sanders said Wilson should consider playing baseball.
49ers CEO Jed York tweeted, “I agree.”
At the time, Wilson laughed off the possibility of playing both football and baseball.  He seemed to be slightly more serious about the possibility now that he has gotten a taste of spring training.
“You never say never,” Wilson said Monday.  “I’ve always had the dream of playing two sports.  If somehow it was a miracle that it could work out, I’d consider it.  At the same time, my focus is winning the championship with the Seattle Seahawks and hope to be playing for a long time.”
It would only work out if Wilson is deemed to be so good at baseball that a baseball team would allow him to make football his top priority.  Even then, it would be much harder to play both sports than it was in the days of Deion (who eventually gave up baseball) and Bo Jackson (whose hobby was football) and Brian Jordan (who eventually picked baseball as his sole sport).
For quarterbacks especially, football takes up much more than football season.  So in order for Wilson to follow his own advice to outwork everyone, he probably needs to be outworking everyone at only one job.
That said, he’s a year away from being eligible to get a new contract in Seattle.  It’s simply good business to muse about his options in order to ensure that the Seahawks will treat him fairly, at the appropriate time.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
AP Photo: Elaine Thompson

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