As part of a negotiation tactic while trying to get the big contract from the Seattle Seahawks, Russell Wilson talked about his love for baseball and possibly in the future playing in the majors. Well, the saga has ended; he and the Seahawks have a deal. But there’s no clause preventing him from playing baseball, if he actually wants to do it.
He has made spring training appearances in the past but has stayed away from it this year. While there have been two-sport players in the past, quarterbacks who make over $20 million a season don’t seem like the right fit for that kind of effort and lack of rest, especially when quarterbacks have more to learn and remember than other players, not to mention their overall importance to a franchise.
Jameis Winston, the number one draft pick in 2015, has a clause in his contract preventing him from playing baseball. The same clause appears in the contract of Johnny Manziel of the Cleveland Browns. But Wilson, who has maintained his stance that his love and attention to the sport isn’t a negotiation trick, doesn’t have anything holding him back if he finds a way of working it out.
It’s not quite clear if the Seahawks pushed for a clause and it became a part of the negotiation. Maybe Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, offered that kind of clause for more money in the deal and the Seahawks turned it down. Wilson would like to play both sports, and would be very serious about doing it if the Texans Rangers, who currently hold on to his rights, traded him to the Seattle Mariners.