When the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Russell Wilson, the biggest question was what version of Wilson they were getting. Were they getting the Russell Wilson who won one Super Bowl and went to another with the Seattle Seahawks? Or were they getting the Wilson who struggled with the Denver Broncos? Most assumed the latter.
When Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner joined the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, he talked about his impressions of the new-look Steelers quarterback room. A large part of that discussion revolved around Wilson.
“I think when he went to Denver, this was a combination of not only the Denver Broncos and their coach saying, ‘We want to get a quarterback that can play more conventional quarterback,'” Warner said. “But I think it was Russell Wilson saying, ‘I wanna show everybody that I can play more conventional quarterback and read the field and dissect defenses and do all of that.’ And he wasn’t able to do that in Denver.”
Wilson certainly struggled in his first season in Denver after being traded and signing a big new contract. He played in 15 games in 2022 and completed a career-low 60.5 percent of his passes. He also only threw for 16 touchdowns, the first time in his career he had thrown for less than 20 touchdowns in a season. He also threw 11 interceptions, tied for second-most in his career.
Wilson did rebound in 2023 under new Broncos head coach Sean Payton. He bumped his completion rate back up to 66.4 percent, the third-highest mark of his career. He also threw 26 touchdown passes to only eight interceptions. However, he also registered career lows in both yardage (3,070) and yards per attempt (6.9).
When you look at Russell Wilson’s advanced statistics, he was playing quite differently in Denver. According to Pro Football Reference, Wilson’s Intended Air Yards Per Attempt was only 7.1 yards in 2023. IAY/PA is simply a measure of how far the ball travels on pass attempts. That was a full yard and a half shorter than any other year since the start of the 2018 season.
So what needs to happen for Wilson to be successful in Pittsburgh?
“Can Russell get back to being that guy that he was in Seattle?” Warner asked. “Which was more creative, more off schedule-type plays… Do they have to design an offense around what Russell Wilson was in Seattle? And is he capable of doing that again and carrying a team?”
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Wilson are not a perfect fit. Smith loves to attack the middle of the field while Wilson has never been one to do so. However, there are certainly overlaps in the two men’s preferences. Smith utilizes play-action heavily and likes to take shots down the field, two things that suit Wilson well.
Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora did a deep dive into Wilson’s film shortly after the signing and examined the good and the bad of his game. There’s no question that Wilson is an upgrade over what the Steelers trotted out for the vast majority of the past two years. What will be interesting is seeing how Smith and Wilson mesh to get the best results on the field.
You can watch the entirety of Warner’s thoughts on the Steelers’ quarterback room below:
