During an appearence today on The Rich Eisen Show, former NFL quarterback turned analyst Robert Griffin III explained why it seems some media members (*cough, cough Mark Schlereth) always seem to have it out for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. Griffin, who worked at ESPN and now hosts the Outta Pocket with RG3 podcast, explained that there’s a prevailing thought among some media members that Wilson isn’t authentic, which he disputes.
“I’ve got a great relationship with Russ, I think that some people in our business don’t believe that he’s a genuine guy. Or they believe he’s too perfect, he tries to say the right thing too often,” Griffin said. “I don’t think that. I just think it’s his personality. He understands that being the CEO of Russell Wilson Enterprises and being the CEO of whatever team he’s playing for is important, and what he says and how he operates matters to people that are even beyond himself.”
Griffin said he believes that media people want to see less buttoned-up.
“I think that some people wish that Russell would just go to the club with them or something. Or just hang out or smoke weed or something. But that’s not his personality.”
Of course, if Russell Wilson did go to the club and smoke some weed, the media would still be all over him. So it’s really a no-win situation for Wilson when it comes to how he’s viewed in the eyes of the media. There’s no doubt he says all the right things, and in pretty much every interview he’s done with the Steelers he’s complimented various teammates on some facet of their play. Griffin is one of the people who believes it’s genuine, and it’s just who Wilson has always been.
A lot of the negative discourse around Wilson started due to his struggles in Denver, and it’ll be interesting if the media narrative changes around him if he has a strong season with the Steelers. The national media by and large were the ones trying to downplay Wilson and pushed the idea of a quarterback competition. Even today FS1’s Danny Parkins said Wilson was “weird” while Justin Fields was “cool.” That goes hand-in-hand with what Griffin is saying.
At the end of the day, the opinion of the media doesn’t matter to Wilson, nor should it. He’s doing what he thinks is best for him, and if people think he isn’t genuine so be it. Ever since he got to Pittsburgh, he’s gotten praise for his leadership and ability to lead the team, and if his teammates like him and his coaches like him, that’s what matters. At this point, Russell Wilson’s personality isn’t going to change, and we’ll see if the media ends up changing their opinion on him.
