Every NFL franchise passed on Russell Wilson—at least twice—before Wilson was taken by Seattle in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Maybe that fact smarts a bit more for Arizona general manager Steve Keim, who is an NC State alumnus. In any case, he minced no words when talking to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about his thought process during that draft:
“Look, I’m from North Carolina State. I study all the guys out of there hard. But I just didn’t think there was a good comp for Russell Wilson, and I was wrong.