For Super Bowl champion and 35-year-old quarterback Russell Wilson, the journey to becoming starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers has undoubtedly been a long and unexpected one, filled with peaks and valleys.
Wilson overcame the odds of being an undersized and overlooked quarterback for most of his young career. He played football and baseball for NC State then transferred to Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers to a Rose Bowl appearance.
In 2012, the Seattle Seahawks took Wilson with the 75th pick in the third round. He eventually asserted himself as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks the league had ever seen. Wilson was selected to nine Pro Bowls and went to back-to-back Super Bowls with the Seahawks, winning Super Bowl XLVII.
Although critics undervalue Russell’s success with Seattle due to the “Legion of Boom” defense, they cannot deny his production. Wilson broke many franchise records with the Seahawks, including single-season passing yards and hee is the third quarterback in NFL history to record 250 or more passing touchdowns in the first nine years of a career, joining Dan Marino and Peyton Manning.
The Denver Broncos made one of the biggest offseason trades in March of 2022, acquiring Wilson and signing him to a five year, $242 million deal.
The Broncos signed Russ as their franchise’s savior, expecting Wilson to bring their team back to Super Bowl contention.
To almost everyone’s surprise, Wilson’s storybook career took a dramatic turn for the worse. From his first snap, he looked nearly unrecognizable. A Broncos team with Super Bowl aspirations finished 5-12 in 2022, and Wilson finished with a career-low 38.7 quarterback rating and 16 touchdowns.
The Broncos brought in offensive guru Sean Payton in 2023 to try to bring back some of what Russ used to be. He improved his performance statistically, putting up 26 touchdowns to eight interceptions and a 98.0 passer rating. A midseason surge from Denver was not enough to prevent another disappointing season.
Payton’s displeasure with Wilson was obvious, so it was no surprise when the Broncos released him and swallowed the $39 million guaranteed in his contract. After a long free-agent visit with the Steelers, Wilson signed with Pittsburgh on a bargain one year, $1.2 million deal in March. From his first press conference interview, it’s easy to see that Wilson’s personality and leadership qualities fit well with Tomlin’s personality and the team culture he likes to create.
This one year deal looks good on paper for both sides. The Steelers are a team that impressively won ten games last year with incompetent quarterback play from Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky for most of the season.
Wilson is coming to the Steelers with the expectation of being the best version of the player he is now, not to be the superstar he once was.
It would be naive to think that the pressure isn’t on Wilson in his first year in the black-and-gold. This year is his last chance to prove that he can be a reliable, winning quarterback in the NFL during the twilight of his career.
It’s reasonable to think that the odds of Wilson succeeding in Pittsburgh aren’t exactly in his favor. He has to adjust to a new offensive play-caller in Arthur Smith. He has a relatively young offensive line in front of him and a receiving core with many question marks. Not to mention, his leash may be short with a younger, more athletic Justin Fields waiting in the wings.
If Russ is going to succeed, he has to adjust his playstyle, and Arthur Smith will have to help him do that. The days of constantly ad-libbing in and out of the pocket and holding onto the ball too long must be over. Wilson has taken 527 sacks in his 12-year career, recently passing Brett Favre for fourth all-time on that list, and by the year, he is becoming too old and slow to avoid and break sacks like he used to.
In general, Wilson won’t have much time in the pocket if the offensive line struggles, so Smith must have plays handy that set up quick reads, especially over the middle of the field where Russ has not thrown the ball enough in recent years.
Pittsburgh’s run game must be the best part of their offense, so the team can limit the number of difficult situations that Russ has to be in. Wilson isn’t built to throw the ball over 40 times a game anymore, but his strengths still lie in play-action and his famous “moonball” that he throws deep downfield. This part of the passing game will open up, as long as the offensive line’s strength of run blocking creates holes for running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
With Mike Tomlin at the helm, every season for the Pittsburgh Steelers is one heck of a ride, and this year, Russell Wilson will be taking the wheel for one of the craziest and most unlikely rides in Steelers history. Russell Wilson is familiar with the spotlight, so at least give him some time to see if he can shine.
