Who is Russell Wilson? That seems to be a question that many have asked for the last few years. And we rarely hear from any of the people who actually know him, but those on the outside love to talk. The new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has weathered a lot of talk about the kind of person he is.
Regardless of what others have to say about him, however, Wilson has made a good impression on his new teammates in Pittsburgh since he arrived. TE Pat Freiermuth has already raved about his leadership, taking initiative by organizing a workout. NT Breiden Fehoko also weighed in with his impressions over the past several weeks.
“Dude, I love Russ,” he told Gabe Kuhns of 92.7 FM. He joked about ribbing Wilson for a follow-back on Instagram and the quarterback being apologetic about it. “The first time I came into the locker room, he came up to introduce himself to me. I didn’t go up to him.”
“And he does it for everybody. Whether you’re a guy that’s new here, whether you’re a guy that’s been here,” Fehoko continued speaking about Wilson’s openness with his Steelers teammates. “Every new person that’s come through that locker room, I’ve seen Russ go up to them and introduce himself. ‘Hey, I’m Russell Wilson,’ like, I know who you are, bro! You’re Russell Wilson!”
This feels at least somewhat significant, given the stories about Wilson not being a good teammate. It’s actually similar to the story James Harrison told about becoming Tom Brady’s teammate. He said that he wanted to hate Brady, but after watching him for weeks, he realized how genuine he was. He truly got to know every player on the roster.
Responding to talk about Wilson having a fake persona, Fehoko also disputed that angle. “No, not at all. For the last month and a half I’ve been here and been around him, he’s only shown genuine respect,” he said. “He’s been the same way every time, so it’s not a switch-up. What you see is what you get. The guy is genuine.”
He added, “As long as he wins us games, everybody’s gonna continue to love him here.”
And that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? We didn’t hear too much about Russell Wilson behind the scenes while his teams won. It only really came to the surface at the end of his tenure in Seattle and then in Denver.
But the question is, can Russell Wilson win in Pittsburgh? Even if he is the best teammate in the history of the franchise, he still needs to win games. He needs to be the reason that they win games. Not for the least reason being they have a quarterback sitting behind him they want to see.
If Wilson can’t win in Pittsburgh, however, it’s not for a lack of effort. Fehoko says it’s common to see him work on his footwork at 7:30 AM before the defense is supposed to be on the field. He said the offense practices after the defense.
“The outside noise you hear, and then when you see it, you learn to tune it out because of the way Russ works,” he said of Wilson. “He’s a real first-class guy. He comes to work every day. He’s a good man, not just a football player but a good man.”
It all sounds good, but you’re not going to hear his current teammates say anything bad about him. Even still, you can tell when somebody is just giving an answer and when they’re really answering a question. Fehoko strikes me as genuinely impressed by how Russell Wilson’s come in here as part of the team. And with how he’s gotten straight to work.
