Russell Wilson announced his retirement following a 14-year NFL career. Wilson will now begin his TV career and join CBS as an analyst, closing the chapter on a career that was filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
Wilson’s greatest accomplishments in his NFL career occurred as a Seattle Seahawk, where he played for 10 years and was the greatest quarterback in franchise history. Wilson went from an undersized third-round pick to Super Bowl champion QB in his second year starting, to throwing one of the most devastating interceptions in NFL history.
Parts of Wilson’s personality made him a divisive figure among some, and his disastrous stint with the Denver Broncos left a stain on the latter part of his career. Wilson is a man of many facets, which has led some analysts to have trouble putting him neatly in a box.
Complicated Evaluation
Russell Wilson, when he left Seattle, seemed like a slam-dunk Hall of Fame case. He was a nine-time Pro Bowler, went 104-53-1, 37,059 passing yards, and 292 passing touchdowns.
Wilson left the Seahawks with what seemed like a guaranteed Hall of Fame career, but then his career fell off a cliff in Denver. Wilson went just 11-19 while his physical decline became more apparent. NFL analyst Sam Monson on “Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson,” Monson discussed how Wilson is “the most complicated QB this century.”
“He’s a guy that you can’t just evaluate as ‘was he good or bad‘,” Monsoon said. “Within a specific style of offense, he could put up performances and numbers that rivaled Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, but he couldn’t do all of the things those guys could do.”
Monson then discussed how the Seahawks worked around Wilson’s limitations in comparison to other Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
“The Seahawks knew, Pete Carroll and the Seahawks staff, multiple coordinators understood there was a part of Russ’ game that would not translate if you asked him to do that. And there were games that he had to do that, and it didn’t necessarily go that well, so it wasn’t guesswork,” Monson continued. “They understood that there were limitations to Russ that meant you couldn’t do those things, so you had to have an offense that leaned on the run game a bit, you had to have a ‘Legion of Boom’ defense that allowed them to stay in certain game scripts, which isn’t to say Russ was a fraud.”
While Wilson did have certain limitations and caveats in his play, he still has a case for the Hall of Fame.
Path to Canton
When his time comes to be on the ballot, there will be a great debate over whether Russell Wilson is Hall of Fame or Hall of Very Good worthy. While his steep decline and earlier career playing with one of the greatest defenses of all time will be held against him, his peak could be enough to take him over the line.
Mike Sando of The Athletic made the case for Wilson in his June 5 article. He evaluated how Wilson was viewed across the league at the peak of his abilities and after the Legion of Boom’s departure.
“At Wilson’s peak entering 2020 and 2021, 90 out of 100 coaches and executives cast Tier 1 votes for him in my annual Quarterback Tiers survey,” Sando wrote. “Those coaches and execs were evaluating Wilson after the Legion of Boom had gone bust, meaning they were grading Wilson apart from the cast around him.”
Wilson found himself being mentioned among the NFL’s best quarterbacks and future Hall of Famers (excluding Deshaun Watson).
“Brady, Rodgers, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes and (alas) Deshaun Watson were the only other Tier 1 quarterbacks over those two seasons,” Sando continued. “That’s elite company, and it affirms Wilson was among the very best, while at his best, and not only the beneficiary of a great defense.”
The legacy of Russell Wilson as an NFL quarterback is a complex discussion, with arguments on both sides about whether he should make the Hall of Fame, but it cannot be denied that Wilson, even for a short time, was among the NFL’s elite.
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