Russell Wilson is a Super Bowl champion, but his reputation took a hit after poor play with the Denver Broncos. Now, he has an opportunity to prove everyone wrong by playing well with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, there are people within the media who believe Wilson is nothing but a problem. Former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth is one of those people.
Speaking on his podcast, Stinkin’ Truth, Schlereth spoke about how terrible it was for Broncos head coach Sean Payton to work with Wilson.
“Sean Payton coming off the Russell Wilson experience,” Schlereth said Monday. “That was like he was pushing bamboo shoots underneath his fingernails. It was so bad for him.”
Comparing what Payton had to deal with from Wilson to torture is as extreme as it gets. True, Wilson could be called quirky and corny, but Payton has coached actual criminals before. You can’t say Wilson’s personality is worse than that. You can dislike him and say he’s tough to manage, but he’s always been prepared on gameday, and he’s never had issues with the law.
Wilson isn’t even the worst quarterback Payton has ever coached. With the New Orleans Saints in 2021, Payton had Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian at quarterback. Even though Wilson had a down year last year, he was still leagues above both those players. It wasn’t like Wilson was costing the Broncos multiple games.
Payton has also had teams that performed worse than Wilson’s Broncos last year. He had multiple seasons with Drew Brees and the Saints where the team wasn’t close to the playoffs. If having to coach Wilson was as bad as Schlereth makes it seem, then you would think the Broncos would have been much worse than they actually were.
Is Wilson’s personality for everyone? No. Does everyone have to like him? No. Is he as terrible as Schlereth makes him out to be? No. Payton didn’t have to coach JaMarcus Russell or Ryan Leaf. Last year, Wilson was, at worst, a below-average quarterback. However, there were times where he was still good.
Wilson might not be a franchise quarterback anymore, but he’s better than what the Steelers had at the position last year. He’s also reportedly been a good leader with the Steelers, so maybe he isn’t as awful as Schlereth believes him to be. With the Steelers playing the Broncos in Week 2, there will be a big opportunity for either Payton or Wilson to try to prove who the real issue was last year.
