Breaking down the Bears trade offer for Russell Wilson, why Seahawks said ‘no’

The Bears’ offer for Russell Wilson has been revealed, and the Seahawks were probably right to have said no.

Russell Wilson has not asked the Seattle Seahawks to trade him, though his agent was quick to offer a hypothetical list of teams that would be desirable to go to. That list has one team left who might be open to the move. The Chicago Bears took note of being on Wilson’s list, and apparently made a significant offer before being rejected and left to pivot to Andy Dalton.

The offers Seattle might entertain for Wilson are surely not far off from the kind of offers it would take for the Houston Texans to move Deshaun Watson. Franchise quarterbacks cost a premium, after all.

On his show Wednesday morning, Dan Patrick revealed the Bears’ offer for Wilson.

Breaking down the Bears offer for Russell Wilson

Three first-round picks is a good start. The first issue might be this year’s for the Bears, which is 20th overall. A third-round pick is a throw-in, and two starters that could help them right away surely carried some surface-level appeal to the Seahawks. But we already know they declined the offer, and the Bears pivoted to Dalton right away.

Let’s dive into who the two starters the Bears offered might have been.

The list had to start with Khalil Mack. Nick Foles is also an easy one, but while he could be seen as an ideal quarterback for Pete Carroll’s run-oriented desires he stretches the label of “starter.” Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks would be another possibility, along with cornerback Jaylon Johnson, safety Eddie Jackson, linebacker Roquan Smith and linebacker Danny Trevathan. Wide receiver Anthony Miller and running back Tarik Cohen are two other options who are some level of starter-caliber. Running back David Montgomery might have been an option too.

If the Bears didn’t offer Mack and/or Montgomery fairly quickly, the rest of the offer may have quickly fallen on deaf ears in Seattle. As much as three first-round picks is nice, the first one is already not a premium pick and if Wilson was the Bears’ quarterback the next two would be lined up to be even later on Day 1.

Shy of Wilson making a trade demand, the Seahawks aren’t going to move him easily. The Bears simply didn’t, or in some respect couldn’t, pony up with the kind of offer to get their attention right now.