Just a few short years ago following the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers seemingly had an opportunity to trade for Russell Wilson. Ultimately, they didn’t overpay for Wilson like the Denver Broncos did. Two years later, Denver have moved on, and Wilson is set to become a Steeler after agreeing to a one-year, $1.21 million deal Sunday night, which will become official at the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Though Wilson isn’t what he once was in Seattle, he remains a good quarterback overall, even after a fallout in Denver in large part due to a clash of personalities with head coach Sean Payton.
Now, he lands on his feet in Pittsburgh with a team ready to win now under head coach Mike Tomlin.
For Wilson, he doesn’t have to be the superstar many expect him to be. That should be great news for Wilson, at least according to longtime talking head Craig Carton. On the Monday morning edition of The Carton Show on Fox Sports 1, Carton stated that Wilson just has to be competent in Pittsburgh and predicted that he will win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award if he can do just that.
“No one’s saying that Russell Wilson has to be a 50-touchdown, eight-interception guy. We’re just saying all you gotta do, which he can do in his sleep, frankly, is be more competent and better than Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph and the Steelers win,” Carton said regarding Wilson’s fit in Pittsburgh.
Really, that’s all Wilson has to do. He’s not the superstar quarterback he once was in Seattle, running around, making outlandish plays after the play broke down, creating something out of nothing in a backyard football style, which led to incredible success for the Seahawks and saw Wilson hoist a Lombardi Trophy with Seattle.
Even though things went sideways in Denver, Wilson was solid in 2023, throwing for 3,070 yards and 26 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. He still throws a great deep ball and makes the right reads time and time again, which will bode well for the Steelers under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Solid — or competent — is just what the Steelers need, much like Carton said.
Wilson can easily do that at this stage of his career, assuming he’ll change his ways some to fit under Smith. Based on him spending a bunch of time at the facility last Friday during his meeting, talking with Smith and really getting a feel, it seems as though Wilson is open to change and wants this to succeeds.
Time will tell.
But if he does change his ways some and adapt to where he is in his career, blocks out the outside noise and puts all of his attention back on where it needs to be, which is the game of football? Look out.
“I think people have gotten a little crazy with the criticisms of Russell Wilson because if you take stock of it, the majority of the criticism that’s fair at least is the, ‘I’m a one-man team, these other 52 guys are over here. I’m gonna be treated special and different,’ all that nonsense,” Carton said of Wilson. “When he first got traded, obviously to the Denver Broncos, they gave him that mega contract before he took a single snap. Russell Wilson concentrating on nothing else but football, which he’s gonna do in Pittsburgh — there’s nothing to do in Pittsburgh. If he just says, ‘I’m a football player and nothing else,’ you’re getting a great version of Russell Wilson and book it now: Comeback Player of the Year.”
There you have it. Carton’s in on Wilson with the Steelers.
Now, it’s all about focusing on football, making improvements to his game and being the best possible version of himself at 35 years old while fitting into Smith’s system. If he does that, the Steelers will again be in the playoffs, and Wilson should have a late-career renaissance. That should have him in the Comeback Player of the Year Award discussion after being benched in Denver.
