For those within the Pittsburgh Steelers’ organization — well, mostly — there is quite a bit of belief in veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, who enters the season as the starting quarterback for the Black and Gold.
He’s a been there, done that guy who brings great leadership, accuracy, and deep ball ability to the quarterback position. But for some of his great traits, there are some negative ones that people can’t seem to be drawn away from, at least on the outside looking in.
That’s especially true in the national media, where Wilson has been ripped to shreds time and time again for rather silly reasons.
There’s real excitement there for a Wilson-led offense in Pittsburgh, at least inside the locker room. But on the outside in the national media, particularly from The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz, there is no belief in Wilson.
In his piece ranking the top 32 starting quarterbacks Wednesday, Russell Wilson landed at No. 27 overall. Ruiz questioned quite a bit about Wilson and believes he doesn’t do much of anything well at this point in his career.
“Wilson has always been a resilient quarterback, so it’s not a surprise that he’s landed on his feet and won the Steelers starting job. There aren’t a lot of things Wilson does well at this point in his career—he still isn’t great in the pocket, and now he’s a lot slower outside of it, too—but he doesn’t turn the ball over, which will endear him to Mike Tomlin,” Ruiz writes regarding Wilson for The Ringer. “The fact that Wilson still has a decent arm and is capable of throwing moon balls up to George Pickens makes him a more viable option than what Pittsburgh has had at quarterback these past few years.
“But that is a tremendously low bar, and this thoroughly washed version of Wilson barely clears it.”
A thoroughly washed version of Wilson is rather rough when it comes to describing him. That doesn’t appear to be the case — at all.
Russell Wilson threw for 3,070 yards and 26 touchdowns last season with just eight interceptions. He had a QBR of 50.7 last season, which was ahead of Kyler Murray but just a few decimal points behind Joe Burrow. He was also eighth in the NFL in the traditional QB rating system, too, at 98.0, ahead of guys like Jared Goff, Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield, all of whom were rather good last season.
Yes, Russell Wilson takes a lot of sacks and holds onto the football for far too long. That’s a real problem. But he still has a great arm, can hit the deep ball consistently, and generally avoids mistakes, which is exactly what the Steelers need under Arthur Smith.
He’ll have to get rid of the football a bit quicker and make the right decisions in the short, quick passing game. If he can do that, he’ll be just fine and will lead the Steelers to success this season. If not, maybe Ruiz might be right with the thoroughly washed line he dropped.
Here’s betting that won’t be the case with Russell Wilson in 2024, though.
