Cleveland Browns Came Close To Landing Russell Wilson
If you believe the whispers that Russell Wilson and wife Ciara are less than thrilled about living in the mid-sized media market of Seattle, imagine how they’d feel putting down roots in Cleveland, a city where the most notable form of media is the side of a downtown Sherwin Williams building.
Talk about a change of scenery!
But according to Dan Patrick, Cleveland came close to housing Seattle’s power couple by way of a trade in 2018 before opting instead to draft Baker Mayfield.
“(The Browns) wanted Russell Wilson a couple years ago,” said Dan Patrick during his morning radio show, The Dan Patrick Show.
WATCH PATRICK AND CHRIS SIMMS DISCUSS BELOW (8:36)
Patrick was speaking with guest Chris Simms on Tuesday when the botched Wilson trade came up. Patrick alluded to Cleveland’s reported interest in the future Hall of Famer, which Simms confirmed. Patrick then laid out how the dominos would’ve fallen, had it gone through.
“Seattle, from what I’m told, was going to take Josh Allen,” said Patrick. “And the Browns were going to take Russell Wilson. They were going to have a trade between those two teams.”
Per Patrick, the plan was OK’d by Wilson: “I know Russ was open to that. Cleveland wanted him and Seattle was ready to move on from Russell Wilson and get Josh (Allen).”
The possibility of a superstar quarterback in his prime joining the Browns, a team where quarterback careers unwillingly go to die, likely sent unsuspecting Cleveland-area commuters swerving into guardrails across interstate 480.
Simms, however, was not surprised at the time: “I know. I was one of the guys that kind of broke that story there. …It would be amazing, it really would be.”
Simms and Patrick, two of the most dialed-in sources across pro football, insinuated that the deal was close to happening, though neither could say why talks ultimately cooled.
“At that time, you didn’t know what Josh Allen was gonna be. You knew Wilson was certainly one of the best quarterbacks in football,” said Simms. “…I don’t know who got cold feet in that conversation and where that got slowed down there.”
Though a strong argument could be made that both teams would like a redo, it’s tough to argue with the results: Wilson has remained in Seattle and been in the mix for league MVP, Allen is beloved by the Bills mafia, and last year, Mayfield guided Cleveland to the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades.
On the downside, Cleveland apparel companies could’ve retired off the profits made from selling DangeRuff Wilson t-shirts to the Dawg Pound.
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