If Russell Wilson is nothing else, he is a consummate professional. That is the manner in which he has conducted himself since signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He puts in the work, according to all reports, which Mark Kaboly believes puts the offense in good hands. Of course, knowing what you’re doing is only half the battle; the other half is doing it.
“Here’s the thing. Russell Wilson, what I’ve seen from him, heard about him, is the guy’s a tireless worker”, he said on 93.7 The Fan recently. “If there’s anybody that’s gonna get up to speed on a playbook, it’s gonna be a 14-year veteran who just works his rear end off. I don’t think that will be the problem”.
Kaboly joked about former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley and his “Rosetta Stone” offense. His offense may not have been as complex as QB Ben Roethlisberger whined about, but it is contextually relevant. After all, along with Russell Wilson, the Steelers also changed offensive coordinators, hiring Arthur Smith.
Smith is the Steelers’ first outside hire at a coordinator position since Haley in 2012. Thus, this is the most significant change they have made in that category.
However, one can argue that it’s much easier for Russell Wilson than it was for Ben Roethlisberger. After all, Wilson is new to the Steelers anyway, so it wouldn’t make a difference what the offense was. Roethlisberger spent his whole career within the same school, so Haley’s offense was a major shift for him.
As for Wilson, he had Darrell Bevell as offensive coordinator for his first six seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. In 2018, they replaced him with Brian Schottenheimer and Shane Waldron in 2021. In 2022, he had Justin Outten in Denver, and a year later, under Sean Payton, Joe Lombardi. Each instance represented a significant change, with a coordinator coming in from the outside, often from a different school.
If you didn’t catch that, Arthur Smith for the Steelers marks Russell Wilson’s fifth different offensive coordinator in five years. He had Schottenheimer in 2020, Waldron in 2021, Outten in 2022, Lombardi in 2023, and now Smith in 2024. So no, I’m with Kaboly—I’m not worried about his ability to pick up the offense.
I instead share his concerns about the rest of the offense coming together. He points out that the offensive line, with two rookies, is probably going to take some time. On top of that, the Steelers still need to determine if they have the right wide receivers for Wilson.
If the Steelers fail in 2024, it will not be because Russell Wilson lacks effort or understanding. He is doing everything in his power to maximize this opportunity, and everybody is noticing. Whether or not it actually pays dividends, we’ll have to tune in to find out.
