Kept home by coronavirus, Russell Wilson becomes FaceTime welcome man to Seahawks picks
The coronavirus pandemic and all the limitations it has caused had a silver lining for Seahawks draft picks.
Immediate, surprise FaceTime calls from Russell Wilson.
All weekend, $140 million franchise quarterback was like the rest of America, home and locked down to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Instead of being out who knows where with his varied interests—helicopter piloting, philanthropy, playing baseball part-time for the New York Yankees—Wilson had the time to become the Seahawks’ instantaneous brand ambassador and welcome-committee chairman to the team’s new draft choices.
Particularly, he welcomed the newest players on his offense.
His latest call came Saturday afternoon.
Freddie Swain was at his family home in Ocala, Fla. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider called the wide receiver and kick returner from the University of Florida from their homes on the Zoom online platform. They were calling Swain to inform him he was Seattle’s sixth-round draft choice, the 214th-overall choice in the 2020 NFL draft.
The league held the draft virtually and entirely remotely for the first time. Coaches, GMs, scouts, team officials and drafted players were all separated in their homes because of our nation’s stay-at-home orders to contain COVID-19.
That meant Wilson was home all weekend watching the draft, like the rest of us. He let everyone know that on his social-media account.
Saturday, minutes after Carroll and Schneider ended their call with Swain, Wilson called up the newest Seahawk on FaceTime.
“I just got off the phone with him,” Swain said later Saturday, on another Zoom call with Seahawks beat reporters.
“I mean, Russell Wilson is one of the best of the best in the league,” Swain said.
Friday night, Damien Lewis was celebrating at home the Seahawks just having selected him as their third-round draft choice. Wilson instantly knew the right guard on college football’s best offensive line, the national-championship one at LSU, last season is going to matter in the quarterback’s well-being in 2020 and beyond.
So he connected with Lewis on FaceTime, too.
“Man, you ready?” Wilson asked Lewis.
“He was smiling,” Lewis said.
One of the new rookie’s three younger brothers was crying in the background.
Lewis’ response to the Super Bowl-winning Seahawks quarterback: “I’m ready to help you win a Super Bowl...
“I’m ready to make you happy.”
Saturday morning, Seattle made the 6-foot-7 tight end Colby Parkinson from Stanford one of its two selections in the fourth round. Parkinson is now Wilson’s newest—and tallest—receiving target for the red zone.
And Wilson wanted to start those connections right away.
“He actually FaceTimed me a couple of minutes ago,” Parkinson said on his post-selection Zoom call.
He sounded in some degree of disbelief that the highest-paid player in the NFL, the winningest quarterback over the first seven seasons of a career in league history, a six-time Pro Bowl passer and Super Bowl champion, was calling a college kid who’s yet to graduate..
“He was just saying that he’s fired up. And obviously I am, too,” Parkinson said. “We’re going to get right into it. We’re going to start getting the playbook install (from coaches, via the internet) coming here pretty soon.
“I can’t wait to play with a quarterback like that, someone who has been just an amazing player for the past, what, 5-6 years now since he came out of college.
“I’m excited to play with him and this great organization.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 5:54 PM.
