It wasn’t that long ago that many were ready to whip out the blank check for Russell Wilson to sign and carry the Pittsburgh Steelers forward for the next three or four seasons. After a four-game losing streak in which he has played poorly, should they even want him back at all?
At age 36, it was fair to wonder what kind of market value Wilson would have while he was playing well. Many were pointing to Baker Mayfield’s three-year, $100 million contract as an aiming point for Wilson and the Steelers. Reports indicated back when he was signed that there was a mutual interest in a multi-year deal following the 2024 season. More recent reports have suggested the same, but that was before the losing streak.
One former NFL scout isn’t so sure the Steelers should want him back, calling his play “mostly atrocious” against the Bengals.
“It wasn’t that long ago when people were like, ‘Are they gonna give Russell Wilson the Baker Mayfield contract?” John Middlekauff said via his 3 and Out podcast on YouTube. “Would they even want Russell Wilson back for like $10 million?”
Middlekauff talked at length about Wilson making a rookie mistake on the Steelers’ final drive when they only needed a field goal to beat the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead of throwing the ball away, he scrambled for a few yards without getting out of bounds. That cost them about 15 seconds with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game. That wasn’t the only mistake he made on the drive. On the opening play of it, he checked down to Najee Harris behind the line of scrimmage with no hope of getting out of bounds. Those two plays wasted a ton of time.
Despite his mostly poor play throughout the game, Wilson had a chance to lead a comeback and failed.
Wilson has generally been great in the clutch moments of games throughout his career. He is one of the all-time leaders in game-winning drives and fourth quarter comebacks. The fact that he made a pair of mistakes with the clock is puzzling. If the veteran can’t even execute that properly, then why is he around?
“You watch him against Joe Burrow, it would be like going to a high school game where one kid’s going to Texas or Ohio State and the other guy is just going to college to study and never going to play organized football again in his life,” Middlekauff said. “Anytime he throws to these wide receivers, it’s just outside the numbers. Let it rip. That’s not really going to work.”
Earlier in the season when Wilson was having success, the “let it rip” tactic was working. His deep ball was hitting more often than not to guys like George Pickens. Other than a big play here or there during the four-game losing streak, his deep ball has not been working. That has had a ripple effect on the entire offense. He can’t get into a rhythm to spread the ball around like he was a month ago.
Opposing teams are stacking the tackle box to prevent the run game from carrying the load. The entire offense stops working. You can’t bank on low-percentage plays every week and expect sustained success.
Unless Wilson finds some playoff success, it is going to be a tough sell for him and his agent to get the Steelers to invest significant money in him. A five-game losing streak (including the playoffs) to finish the season isn’t good enough, and he isn’t going to get better in his late 30s. Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers can serve as a cautionary tale.
The problem is, the Steelers don’t have a ton of other options. They are too far back in the draft to land one of the premier quarterbacks. Maybe a guy like Jaxson Dart could be a gem on Day 2 if he lasts that long, but that isn’t exactly a solid plan. The other free agent quarterbacks will include the aforementioned Cousins and Rodgers and maybe Sam Darnold, who will be very pricey after the borderline MVP season he’s had.
The Steelers are paying Wilson $1.21 million right now. Paying him or any other quarterback a substantial amount would require some massaging of the salary cap.
“You can’t re-sign this player,” Middlekauff said. “You cannot resign Russell Wilson to anything of value. If you wanna give him like five, seven million to be a bridge quarterback, I guess you can live with that.”
