With Russell Wilson one of the bigger names at the quarterback position entering free agency, he’s going to have a decent market, especially after having some good moments with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024 in his first season in the Steel City.
Though things went off the rails late as the offense struggled mightily and Wilson didn’t look anything close to how he looked earlier in the season, there still seems to be a desire from Wilson and from the Steelers to remaining a pairing, based on Wilson’s end-of-year comments, and comments from owner and team president Art Rooney II.
On ESPN’s Get Up Thursday morning, NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported that the Steelers have “expressed interested” in re-signing Wilson.
Of course, the Steelers could also go with Justin Fields, but for now it seems like there’s a good chance that they run it back with Wilson for another year or two. The biggest question about that is what would the contract look like?
Friday morning, ESPN’s Dan Graziano tried to take a shot at predicting what Wilson’s deal could look like. In a piece for ESPN.com, Graziano predicted a two-year, $50 million deal for Wilson, including $35 million guaranteed.
“Pittsburgh has two free agent quarterbacks — Wilson and Justin Fields, who started the first six games of the season while Wilson recovered from a calf injury. The Steelers have a tough decision to make,” Graziano writes. “Wilson started out hot once he got the job but fizzled toward the end of the season. After averaging 8.4 yards per attempt and posting a 59.3 QBR over Weeks 7-14, Wilson dipped to 6.4 yards per attempt and a 38.4 QBR over his final five starts, including the playoffs. Pittsburgh lost all five of those games.
“The coaching staff liked the progress Fields was making while he was the starter, but they still benched him for Wilson and didn’t use him a ton late in the season. Could there be an outside market for Wilson? Possibly, but the Steelers were the only interested team one year ago, and he didn’t do a ton to improve his marketability.”
The Steelers landed Wilson last season on a one-year, $1.21 million deal in free agency, due in large part to the huge lump of money the Denver Broncos were paying Wilson after cutting him just two years into a massive contract extension. That worked for the Steelers, who were able to save significant money at the most important position in sports while still getting some decent play.
Now, though, with Wilson set to hit free agency along with Fields, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the Black and Gold this time around. If they’re going to keep Wilson, they’ll have to pay up some. Based on Graziano’s contract projection, that $25 million per year would make him the 19th-highest paid QB in the NFL.
Still a bit of a bargain, but on the surface $25 million a year — with $35 million guaranteed in the two-year deal — would be a tough pill to swallow, especially with how Wilson and the Steelers’ offense looked late in the year.
