Russell Wilson rejected a trade to the Eagles? If so, here’s what it really tells us.

So the Eagles wanted Russell Wilson, but Russell Wilson wanted no parts of the Eagles. If you like a good what-if, this one’s a strip of stale beef jerky: You can chew on it forever.

The suggestion that Wilson turned down a trade proposal last year that would have made him the starting quarterback here is the stuff that fuels debate shows and probably compels Eagles fans to wipe their brows and say, Whew, thank God that didn’t happen. The notion came up during a radio interview last week with Sports Illustrated’s Greg Bishop, and Wilson’s apparent rejection of the opportunity to come to Philadelphia was a titillating tidbit that did three things.

One, it provided a glimpse into how major trades in pro sports either come to be or never get consummated at all. Wilson had a no-trade clause in his contract with the Seattle Seahawks. He presumably said no to the Eagles and yes to the Denver Broncos, as was his right, though it’s ironic that he said he based his decision on his belief that, with the Broncos, he had a better chance of winning. Two, it confirmed what everyone already knew or suspected to be true. The narrative was right: The Eagles weren’t completely sold on Jalen Hurts ahead of his terrific 2022 season. They weren’t committed to him until he gave them no choice but to commit to him. And three, it provided, with the benefit of hindsight, a clearer view of just how fortunate Wilson and the Eagles were that the situation played out as it did. Consider just three factors that we know now but only could have guessed at then.

Wilson’s 2022 season was a disaster. It wasn’t just that the Broncos went 5-12 and his performance was the worst, by any standard, of his 11-year career. It was that, from the moment he arrived in Denver, he gave off an air of insincerity and entitlement that intensified the atmosphere of frustration and anger around the team.

There was his use of his catchphrase, “Broncos Country, let’s ride,” which he repeated so often that it became a mocking meme. In his postgame news conferences, he seemed to download each of his answers and explanations from a database of clichés, as if he were a computer or robot programmed to annoy media members and fans with his lack of honesty and genuineness. There already had been doubts about Wilson’s ability to forge strong relationships within a locker room, based on reporting that examined his time with the Seahawks, and a monologue by the NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt, after Wilson played terribly in a 12-9 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in October, threw those doubts and their ramifications into stark relief.

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“Where is this going, with his relationship in the locker room?” Brandt said. “Because I think Russell Wilson is one of the least authentic personalities we have in this league. I think Russell Wilson is a poser. And that doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. I think he’s a good person. I think he tries to be something that he’s not. And when you make 245 million dollars, you’ve either got to be a really great guy and the locker room loves you, or you’ve got to be an amazing player. … Two hundred and forty five million? That could come unraveled fast.”

Now, imagine how fast it would have unraveled here had Wilson been as bad for the Eagles as he was for the Broncos. It’s certainly possible that, with Nick Sirianni as his head coach and Shane Steichen as his play-caller, Wilson would have been a much better quarterback than he was under Nathaniel Hackett. But Donovan McNabb was an excellent QB here, too, and because of the image he projected here at times — a little goofy, a little corny, prone to letting on that criticism bothered him — he struggled to win people over. Wilson would have likely had a similar experience, no matter how well he played, and it would have made life more difficult for him and the Eagles.

Howie Roseman has received plenty of laurels for building the Eagles into Super Bowl contenders so quickly after the Carson Wentz debacle, and he has earned them. They are among the premier franchises in the NFL, and his ability to think creatively and act decisively in acquiring talent and shaping a roster is a big reason.

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But there’s no denying the good fortune and mind-bending turns of events that contributed to the Eagles’ recent excellence. If Roseman and his staff had not decided to use their second-round pick in 2020 on a quarterback, Wentz might not have melted down. If the Eagles had drafted a quarterback other than Hurts, they might not have survived and thrived after investing so heavily in Wentz, then trading him. If they had traded for Wilson, they never would have reaped the benefits of Hurts’ growth. They were the seeds of their own problems and their own solutions. Some of that success comes down to skill and acumen, sure. And some of it comes down to little more than luck.

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The scuttlebutt about the Eagles’ interest in Wilson had been out there for years. They had wanted to draft him in 2012, and acquiring him had been something of a fixation for Roseman ever since. Hurts could have allowed those circumstances to weigh on him, to bother him, to hamper him, and as a first-time head coach, Sirianni could have bungled the entire situation. He could have hinted, publicly or privately, that the Eagles weren’t certain Hurts was their long-term answer at quarterback. Worse, he could have hinted that to Hurts. Instead, he helped create the conditions that turned Hurts into an MVP candidate, and at this still-early stage, their relationship seems strong.