Russell Wilson’s time with the Denver Broncos serves as a cautionary tale for the rest of the NFL. They made a historic trade to acquire him, shipping off two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, and three players to the Seahawks in exchange for Wilson.
That signifies going all in on the player. The expectation was immediately there for Wilson to carry the franchise, even if the roster wasn’t complete.
They traded away a significant amount of their draft ammunition, which could have been used to improve the team around Wilson. And to make matters worse, they turned around and gave him an historic contract extension, loaded with guarantees and among the highest average annual values in the league.
Now reportedly signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday with the start of the new league year when he officially becomes a free agent, Wilson’s new team doesn’t carry those same burdens that the Broncos sacrificed to secure him. ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption host Michael Wilbon discussed how this works in the Steelers’ favor on a recent podcast appearance.
“The Steelers aren’t gonna put the pressure on Russell Wilson to win for them. That’s not what the Steelers do,” Wilbon said on the Tony Kornheiser Show. “I believe that Russell Wilson can sort of operate, never off the radar—quarterbacks don’t do that—but he can operate within a team framework where everything’s not riding on him. The Steelers know how to put together a team.”
The Steelers have proven as much, maintaining a baseline of at least a .500 record while having subpar quarterback play over the last two or three seasons. The offense is young but loaded with rising talent, and the defense is veteran, with a highly paid and highly competitive core of players.
They don’t need a quarterback to carry the team. They spent the last two seasons building a team that could win without a franchise quarterback. They had a bottom-five scoring offense in 2023, and not much better in 2022, yet they still found a way to go 19-15 in the regular season over that time.
Wilson doesn’t need to be the annual MVP contender that he was with the Seattle Seahawks. He just needs to create plays at a higher frequency than the Steelers have received over the last two seasons. Removing that pressure from the equation could make the difference between Denver and Pittsburgh for Wilson.
