The Denver Broncos made it official Monday when the team announced that they would be releasing QB Russell Wilson after the start of the new league year in March. While that was the obvious move, it’s always nice to have confirmation when it comes to big contracts and a valuable quarterback.
Depending on who you believe, the Steelers are either still heavily interested in bringing in a veteran quarterback, or they are avoiding the big names that are on the market. So, will the Steelers pursue Wilson as a free agent?
If former NFL WR James Jones is right, it’s the only move that makes sense. On Monday’s episode of Speak on FS1, Jones was asked what teams should be calling Wilson. He said there was only one.
“There’s one team that Russell Wilson should be going to, and that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Jones said. “They are the only team that’s built the way Russell Wilson has been used to winning with.”
Perhaps a change of scenery and an offensive scheme reset can help Wilson get back to playing good football. That’s not to say he was bad last season. In fact, he completed 66.4 percent of his passes in 15 games, the third-highest completion percentage of his career. He also threw for 26 touchdowns versus eight interceptions.
However, Wilson’s relationship with the Broncos quickly soured after they invested draft picks and a lot of money in him to bring him over from the Seattle Seahawks after the 2021 NFL season. His first season in Denver was atrocious as he only completed 60.5 percent of his passes and threw for only 16 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions. The completion percentage and touchdown throws were career-lows for him, while the interceptions tied a career-high.
So why would the Steelers want to invest in a quarterback who turns 36 during the 2024 season? Jones thinks that the Steelers are uniquely suited in the NFL to doing what works best for Russell Wilson.
“You’re going to be able to get him at whatever price you want to get him at because he already making $39 million,” Jones said. “But everything is there. A really good defense, which they’re always going to have, and really good playmakers on the offensive side of the ball… That is what Russ is used to playing with in Seattle when he had that success winning football games.”
Under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the expectation is that the Steelers will continue to run the ball well (and maybe get even better) while also utilizing play-action at a much higher rate. Wilson was still quite good in 2023 when using play-action. He averaged 7.3 yards per attempt and threw 11 of his 26 touchdowns while only throwing one interception. When accounting for six drops, Pro Football Focus has Wilson with an adjusted completion percentage of 80.9 percent on play-action last season.
In fact, Wilson has been extremely accurate when throwing from play-action. Per PFF, Wilson has had an adjusted completion percentage of 80 percent or higher in six of his 12 NFL seasons. Five of those six have all come in the last six seasons, with his first year in Denver being the only outlier.
So, if the Steelers want to bring in a veteran quarterback to start (which is still highly debated), Wilson certainly would fit the bill in terms of being able to execute the offense.
