When Russell Wilson signed a five-year, $245 million contract with the Broncos in 2022, he said he wanted to spend the rest of his career in Denver.
“I think this is a marriage,” he told reporters.
Two years later, that marriage, initially built on an unstable first-time head coach in Nathaniel Hackett and the league’s worst scoring offense in 2022, is over.
But Wilson surely has a better foundation for success at his next stop: the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he agreed to join on a meager $1.21 million deal this week after the Broncos cut him (and is still owed nearly $38 million this year).
In Steel City, Wilson will join a team where he is essentially the missing piece.
Russell Wilson speaks at his introductory Steelers press conference on Friday afternoon.
In the past, his wife Ciara received unfounded blame for some of his poor performances.
Wilson is now the only QB on the Steelers’ roster after the team traded Pickett
2021 Defensive Player of the Year TJ Watt leads a commanding defense with the help of Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, while George Pickens is a hugely promising young receiver.
The backfield duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren has also proven to be competent.
It certainly won’t hurt that Wilson plays for Mike Tomlin, now the longest-tenured coach in the league and one of the most respected.
Even with a mediocre Kenny Pickett the past two seasons (who was traded to the Eagles on Friday) and a handful of backup Mason Rudolph, Tomlin still He has never recorded a losing season in his 17 seasons in Pittsburgh.
Now, he’ll aim beyond simply sneaking into the playoffs, as the team did last year, with nine-time Pro Bowler Wilson entering the fray.
“To be a Pittsburgh Steeler, to wear the black and gold, it’s a true honor, it’s a tradition, it’s history,” Wilson told reporters at his introductory news conference in Pittsburgh. ‘There are six trophies there. Let’s get a seventh.’
Perhaps there is an unfair gap between what Wilson once was and what he is perceived to be now.
Kenny Pickett struggled as the Steelers’ quarterback after the team drafted him in 2022.
And Tomlin decided to leave Pickett after the signing of veteran Wilson.
The 35-year-old is no longer one of the league’s top five quarterbacks, but his team’s failures in Denver have swung public opinion of him too far in the opposite direction.
If you get past the constant barrage of memes mocking the no-nonsense quarterback, you’ll see that he played quite well for the Broncos last season: 26 touchdowns and just eight interceptions show that he can still be an effective player, if not the great one he used to be. be.
But that doesn’t mean ‘Mr. Unlimited’ is pretty much finished.
While his exorbitant contract with Denver was seen as an overpayment for a declining arm, Pittsburgh fans are now calling it ‘theft’ after signing for close to the league minimum.
Brother Kelce also praised Wilson after he signed with the Steelers.
On his New Heights podcast, Jason said, ‘Dude, this is like the only missing piece right now in Pittsburgh. If Russ is even close to the quarterback he used to be, this is an extremely dangerous team with what they are working on on the defensive side of the ball.
To that, Travis added, “I think Russ has a lot of good football left in him, man.” He has that “it” factor that we’ve seen so many times, and he will certainly bring some veteran presence to that locker room.
Wilson may be past his prime, but he had a pretty good 2023 for Denver
Still, his team missed the playoffs again as they finished just 8-9 under Sean Payton.
“We all know how good a coach Tomlin is and how good his defense is. So the Steelers definitely improved.”
It’s been easy to attack Wilson in recent years, with his embarrassing Subway commercial and his admission that he once did high knees during the Broncos’ eight-hour flight to London for a game.
His catchphrase ‘Broncos Country, Let’s Ride’ was also mocked.
But for Wilson, and by extension his wife Ciara, the scrutiny goes back much further.
During a bye week in 2015, Wilson and his then-girlfriend vacationed in Mexico, where they were photographed by paparazzi before the quarterback played poorly in a loss the following week against the Cardinals.
Some Seahawks fans found a way to blame Wilson’s singing girlfriend.
Wilson’s recent Subway ad for his ‘Dangerwich’ became the butt of jokes among fans online.
“Maybe putting all the blame on Ciara is totally unfair, but after seeing her vacation photos in Mexico, I think she at least deserves some of the blame,” said one K.IRO Radio the listener wrote.
“I saw your vacation photos spread all over the Internet and I can’t imagine that going on vacation with a stylist and a photographer editing all your photos on the beach is very conducive to having a much-needed week of rest.”
Nine years ago, any such criticism of Wilson’s teammate for his own play was exaggerated at best.
Now, it is completely null and void.
If Wilson can’t succeed in Pittsburgh – one of the league’s most stable franchises, with one of its smartest coaches – then the fault lies entirely with him.