The Pittsburgh Steelers made quite a shocking move this offseason when they signed Russell Wilson to a cheap deal. Wilson may be a Super Bowl champion, but he hasn’t looked like an elite quarterback since the Seattle Seahawks traded him to the Denver Broncos. His first year with the Broncos was awful, but his second year actually wasn’t too bad, at least on paper. He threw 26 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions, while also passing for over 3,000 yards. The numbers aren’t mind-blowing, but they also aren’t terrible. However, if you ask one former NFL offensive lineman, those stats don’t tell the full story and paint a fraudulent picture.
Mark Schlereth played in the NFL as an offensive lineman from 1989 to 2000, making two Pro Bowls and winning three Super Bowls. Now, he analyzes football on his podcast Stinkin’ Truth. During the latest episode, he went into detail on Wilson’s last year with the Broncos, explaining that if you actually watch the games, he wasn’t all that good.
”They went on a five-game win streak where they won the turnover battle by almost four turnovers a game. There are more games they won in spite of Russell than they did because of Russell. The numbers are good, but there’s some fool’s gold in those numbers. If you really look at it, there’s a bunch of fool’s gold in those numbers that he posted.”
Schlereth is correct that the Broncos forced a ton of turnovers during their win streak in the middle of the season, but that’s only half the story. The other half is that Wilson himself didn’t turn the ball over, creating that incredible turnover ratio for the Broncos. Steelers fans understand how crushing it can be to see their team’s defense force an interception or a fumble, only for the offense to instantly give the ball back. That’s what the Steelers’ quarterbacks did last year, so if Wilson can limit his turnovers like he did with the Broncos, then that’ll be real gold for Pittsburgh.
During that same episode, Schlereth went on to describe why he believes Wilson’s numbers painted the wrong picture about his level of play, breaking down the inefficiencies in his game.
”You’re like, ‘Wow, statistically he’s really good,’ but then when you start looking at the percentage of the 45 sacks given up go directly to him, his propensity to roll out of the pocket and try to make something happen on the fly. How many of those plays are broken plays, and they’re broken because that’s the choice he made as opposed to throwing to the first guy that was there. You start to look at it from a different perspective when you really study the film and you see how many missed passes.”
Schlereth isn’t wrong in his critiques of Wilson. There are reasons he was available to be signed for the veteran minimum. He did struggle with most of the things Schlereth listed, but those issues have been present throughout most of his career. Wilson has always had trouble running into sacks. He’s always felt more comfortable scrambling and creating for himself rather than playing within structure. The only difference now is that he’s getting older, and his athleticism is starting to decline. As a result, he can’t play the same way he did when he was younger.
Wilson has his issues, but he’s still a massive upgrade for the Steelers. Mike Tomlin and the rest of the organization seem impressed with him, and that should be all that matters at this point. Until he throws a pass for the Steelers in a regular season game, making a judgment is difficult. Schlereth makes some good points, but the Steelers’ situation is also different from the one in Denver. While Wilson reportedly didn’t get along well with Sean Payton, he should be a great fit for the Steelers and what Arthur Smith wants to do. He may not be Ben Roethlisberger this year, but he also won’t be Kenny Pickett or Mitch Trubisky.
