GM Jon Daniels: Rangers won't get in way of Russell Wilson's NFL career

Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says he believes Russell Wilson's drive would allow the Seattle Seahawks star quarterback to become a Major League Baseball player, but he has no plans to interfere with Wilson's day job.

In an interview with HBO's "Real Sports" that will air Tuesday, Wilson discussed his ambition to one day become a two-sport star and said the Rangers want him to give baseball a try, beyond the one-day visits he has made to Texas' past two spring trainings.

"That's why the Texas Rangers got my rights," Wilson said in the interview. "They want me to play. Jon Daniels, the GM, wants me to play. We were talking about it the other day."

Daniels, however, said Saturday that he has no plans to push Wilson toward baseball.

"Russell has the competitiveness and work ethic to where he'd have a shot if he committed to baseball," Daniels told reporters. "Obviously, he's got a pretty good thing going on with the Seahawks, and we're not going to get in the way of that. Playing quarterback is more intensive than the positions of other guys who have attempted to play both sports."

Wilson and the Seahawks are discussing a new contract with the deadline for Seattle to exercise the quarterback's fifth-year option approaching. General manager John Schneider said last week in an interview with Seattle's KIRO radio that the Seahawkswould be somewhat cautious in what they offer Wilson, keeping in mind salary flexibility for the rest of the team, which has played in the past two Super Bowls, winning one of them.

Schneider also discussed Wilson's baseball dreams.

"I think one of the primary things that really attracted Russell to us -- I know me in particular -- was the confidence he has in himself and the goals, dreams, aspirations," Schneider said. "He's off the charts in terms of his confidence level and the way he views himself, so it doesn't surprise me that he would think that way. Quite frankly, I haven't thought much about the baseball aspect of it. Based on the position that he plays in football, I think it would be difficult. But the way he attacks everything, I don't think you could put anything past him."