It is well known that former NFL offensive lineman and current NFL analyst Mark Schlereth despises Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, dating back to Wilson’s time in Denver the last two years.
So, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that any chance Schlereth gets, he hammers Wilson.
On Wednesday morning during an appearance on “Breakfast Ball” on FS1, Schlereth did just that again, bashing Wilson for failing everywhere he’s been, and believing that the 35-year-old quarterback is playing himself out of the Hall of Fame.
“Yeah, Hall of Fame — future Hall of Fame — quarterbacks in their prime always play for three different teams and fail at all three of ’em,” Schlereth said when asked if Wilson was overrated or underrated, according to video via the show. “He was so good that they decided to get rid of him. He failed in Denver, okay? He failed in Denver. And what are we gonna do in Pittsburgh?
“…I don’t wanna go up a tangent, but the guy’s playing his way out. All I’m saying, he’s playing his way out of the Hall of Fame.”
It’s entirely unfair that Schlereth already is saying Wilson has failed in Pittsburgh, which is something that co-host Craig Carton pointed out. But that’s Schlereth’s expectation for Wilson in Pittsburgh: failure.
The former NFL offensive lineman believes Wilson failed in Denver and was entirely at fault for the struggles last season under head coach Sean Payton. He stated that Payton — who is known as the QB whisper despite being downright terrible without Drew Brees — bears no responsibility for what happened last season in the Mile High City.
And as far as playing his way out of the Hall of Fame conversation, that seems like a bit of a stretch.
Wilson has a Super Bowl ring, an appearance in a second, and has nine Pro Bowls on his resume. According to Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame monitor, Wilson has a great case for the Hall of Fame that will only get stronger the longer he plays.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Hall of Fame Monitor “is a metric designed to estimate a player’s chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame using AV, Pro Bowls, All-Pros, championships, and various stat milestones.”
Wilson has a HOF monitor of 88.37 at the QB position, which is just behind Hall of Famers Kurt Warner, Dan Fouts, Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw. He’s also just ahead of Eli Manning, who will likely get in soon, too. The average Hall of Famer from a HOF QB monitor perspective is a 108, which is a number Wilson is approaching.
Things would have to go catastrophically bad for Wilson to play his way out of the Hall of Fame with his resume. That seems unlikely to happen. He might not be what he once was, but he had a solid year in Denver last year and shouldn’t be hammered the way he has been by Schlereth, who appears to be carrying water for Payton any chance he gets.
Hopefully Wilson plays well for the Black and Gold and shuts up Schlereth, all while solidifying his Hall-of-Fame resume in the process.
