Russell Wilson, you are a Pittsburgh Steeler. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Steelers intend to sign Wilson in a move that will certainly heat up the team’s quarterback situation. The deal will be for the veteran minimum, one year at $1.2 million.
The move can’t be made official until Wilson is released by the Broncos, which will take place at the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Russell Wilson confirmed the news on Twitter moments ago, sharing this clip of Renegade with clips of Steelers’ Nation.
Thursday, the PPG’s Gerry Dulac reported the team planned to meet with Wilson before the start of free agency. And now, they evidently have a deal. Wilson visited the New York Giants before flying into Pittsburgh. But the Steelers offered a better opportunity.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Wilson will sign a one-year deal for the minimum, $1.2 million. Due to offset language, the Denver Broncos are on the hook for the other nearly $40 million of his salary.
Per Schefter, Wilson met with the Steelers for more than six hours on Friday, spending plenty of time with Mike Tomlin and new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Now 35 years old, Wilson was released by the Broncos two years into his five-year, $245 million extension. Despite good box score numbers, 26 touchdowns and only eight interceptions a year ago, he struggled down the stretch and was benched by Sean Payton late in the year. Still, his production far exceeds what Pittsburgh has gotten in the two years without Ben Roethlisberger, having thrown just 25 combined touchdowns across 2022 and 2023.
Ahead of their 2019 matchup, Tomlin praised Wilson’s mobility and the challenge it posed the Steelers’ defense.
“He also brings a unique challenge of mobility and his ability to extend the play and also just get on the perimeter of your defense and get chunks of yards”.
While Wilson isn’t as mobile now as he was then, he still rushed for 341 yards – his most since 2020 – and three touchdowns last season.
Drafted in the third round of the 2012 draft by the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson went from backup to franchise quarterback and Super Bowl winner. With 188 career starts, he’s thrown for more than 43,000 yards and 334 touchdowns. In a blockbuster deal, Seattle traded him to Denver ahead of the 2022 season. After a terrible first year under head coach Nathaniel Hackett, Wilson’s production perked up under Sean Payton. But multiple losses in the Broncos’ stretch run and playoff push caused Wilson to be benched along with issues over injury guarantee money.
Shortly after the NFL Combine, the Broncos announced Wilson would be officially released at the start of the new league year, giving him permission to meet and speak with teams ahead of time.
Though Wilson may be framed as competition with QB Kenny Pickett, odds are Wilson will be the team’s starter. During his year-end press conference, Mike Tomlin said Pickett was the team’s current QB1 and believed his 2024 starting quarterback was currently on the roster. With Wilson’s addition, both sentiments appear to have changed.
