Russell Wilson can still remember the phone call that started it all on April 27, 2012.
The Seattle Seahawks had just handed Matt Flynn a three-year contract with the expectation he would stabilize their uncertain quarterback situation. But in the third round (pick No. 75), the Seahawks changed the course of their franchise’s history when they took a chance on an undersized passer from Wisconsin.
“Pete (Carroll) called me when I got drafted, and said, ‘Go ahead and go for this thing,’” Wilson recalled last week. “I said, ‘Coach, I don’t know any other way.’”
Wilson was coming off of an incredibly efficient season at Wisconsin, completing 72.8 percent of his passes for 3,175 yards and 33 touchdowns against just four interceptions. His dynamic mobility added a spark that propelled the Badgers to the Big Ten title and a second consecutive Rose Bowl appearance.
However, in a draft class that also featured Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, questions about Wilson persisted. Could a 5-foot-11 QB really make it in the NFL? Many wondered whether baseball would be a better path for the dual-threat, dual-sport athlete.
“When I was a rookie, I was a young African American kid from Richmond, Virginia,” Wilson said. “Everybody told me I was too short and couldn’t do it.”
A dozen years later — after nine Pro Bowl appearances, a Lombardi Trophy, a blockbuster trade and a messy breakup in Denver — Wilson once again received a career-altering phone call. This time it was Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward with a recruiting pitch.
“It’s different from college, because I didn’t have to worry about NIL,” Heyward joked.
In 2023, the Steelers’ talented and highly compensated defense lugged an anemic offense quarterbacked by Kenny Pickett and coordinated by Matt Canada to the playoffs. The long-time defensive captain saw something in Wilson that gave him confidence he could help the team chase the Lombardi Trophy that has eluded Heyward.
“Leadership,” Heyward said. “He’s already won a Super Bowl and can provide knowledge there, but then also someone who’s also hungry chasing another one.”
From the moment he signed, Wilson always had the inside track to start Week 1, even if coach Mike Tomlin maintained through training camp and the preseason that this was a true competition with Justin Fields. On Wednesday, the coach ended any speculation when he announced Wilson as the starter for Week 1 in Atlanta.
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As Wilson begins this next chapter of his NFL journey, the doubt that once caused him to fall in the draft has resurfaced — but in a different way following two turbulent seasons in Denver.
Soon after Wilson was traded to the Broncos, he said he wanted to play another 10 or 12 seasons and win another couple of Super Bowls. He considered the change of scenery another chapter in a story he hopes ends in Canton.
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However, that experiment ended prematurely after just two years and an 11-19 record. Wilson ultimately watched the final two games from the bench after the Broncos gave up on him. Sean Payton, a well-respected offensive mind, and the Broncos chose to take on $85 million in dead money to move on from the player who was once seen as the future of their franchise.
Wilson blames a partially torn lat muscle in his throwing shoulder for his poor 2022 season in Denver, when he posted career lows in completion percentage (60.5) and passer rating (84.4). However, even when healthy, he has long relied heavily on creating plays outside of structure. With some of his mobility lost to age, he took a league-high 100 sacks over the last two seasons (something that’s already been an issue in Pittsburgh).
Can Russell Wilson overcome the scars left by his rocky tenure in Denver? (RJ Sangosti / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Around the league, the perception of Wilson has faded quickly. Four years ago, he was a unanimous Tier 1 quarterback alongside Patrick Mahomes in Mike Sando’s annual poll of 50 NFL coaches and executives, ranking ahead of Aaron Rodgers. After his disastrous 2022 season, he dropped from Tier 2 (No. 8) to Tier 3 (No. 16). Even after an improved 2023 season, Wilson slipped further in this year’s poll, falling to No. 22 and on the brink of Tier 4, which is reserved for unproven players or veterans “who ideally would not start 17 games.”
Asked about those doubting him, Wilson answered with his trademark unrelenting optimism.
“I think a lot of people doubt, and it’s nothing that I’m not used to. I’ve heard it for a long time,” he said. “I’ve just never been worried about what other people think. … God chose me for this, and he chose me to play this game. I’m one of 32 men in the world that get to do what I do. There’s 8 billion people in the world, and for whatever reason, I get to be one of these guys.”
But for how much longer will he be one of those 32? This is a make-or-break season for Wilson that will shape not only the Steelers’ ceiling but also the QB’s legacy.
On one hand, he brings a resume with Hall of Fame potential. He ranks fourth all-time in passer rating (100.0), 13th in passing touchdowns (334), 19th in passing yardage (43,653), 19th in completions (3,668), 20th in completion percentage (64.7) and 15th in wins (115). He still throws what assistant GM Andy Weidl described as a “majestic” deep ball and brings the intangible leadership traits Tomlin covets.
Russell Wilson does two things the Steelers likely value: Protects the football and throws a great deep ball.
Since he entered the league in 2012, Wilson has completed 35.4% of his passes that traveled 30 or more yards in the air (8th best).
He’s lost 0.73 TO/gm, 8th best. pic.twitter.com/X0qjz5Ajgh
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) March 11, 2024
“This is not a guy who was hungry, meaning that can be satisfied,” Tomlin said in March, soon after the Steelers signed Wilson. “This is a guy that’s driven. You want to work with people who have that mindset.”
Steelers teammates say Wilson’s confidence and commitment — which some former teammates in Seattle and Denver have criticized as inauthentic — have rubbed off positively in Pittsburgh.
“He’s very confident in himself, and he tries to instill confidence in others,” receiver Calvin Austin III said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. Because to begin, you have to have belief in yourself, and that’s the message that he pushes to everyone around him, and you can tell that it’s definitely sticking with everybody.”
For everything he accomplished early in his career, nothing is guaranteed for Wilson at this stage.
He agreed to a one-year deal in Pittsburgh, suggesting the league — which has a shortage of quality QBs — wasn’t enamored by his past two seasons. For the first time in his NFL career, he will enter a season with no money guaranteed in the following year. The Steelers also traded for Fields after Wilson’s signing, making it fair to wonder whether the team wanted an alternative in the event things don’t pan out as planned.
Wilson, who says he wants to play another five to seven seasons, has the opportunity in Pittsburgh to prove his time in Denver was a blip on the radar, not Father Time knocking. If he can recapture some of the magic from his days in Seattle — when he was surrounded by a talented defense and a reliable running game, like he is now with the Steelers — it could reshape the way the league sees that two-year stint. Maybe it was the dysfunction around Wilson — not the quarterback himself — that sullied his time in Denver?
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Asked Wednesday if he feels he has something to prove after two years with the Broncos, Wilson replied, “I feel like that every day. You try to prove yourself, just who you are, how you go about it. … I’m not focused on anything old, or anything ahead. I’m just focused on right now and the moment.”
If Wilson thrives in Pittsburgh, he’ll have options next offseason as a free agent, and perhaps a shot to play those half dozen more seasons he desires. Kirk Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million deal with $100 million guaranteed with the Falcons this spring, months before his 36th birthday and while recovering from a torn Achilles. Baker Mayfield garnered a three-year, $100 million deal with the Bucs after a resurgent season in Tampa.
But Wilson will have to prove it. The Steelers, who have a long-standing policy of not negotiating contracts in-season, have not been sold enough yet to offer Wilson an extension before Week 1. They will let the season play out, Weidl said, before deciding whether they’ll extend Wilson or Fields, who is also in the final year of his contract.
When Wilson was a rookie, he often said, “Experience is only necessary for those who are unqualified.” At 35, he’s evolved that mantra: “Age is only necessary for those who are unqualified.”
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“I feel the fountain of youth,” Wilson said in May. “I feel revived in every way — mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I feel confident. I think that at some point, you have to know who you are as a player, as a man, as a competitor, as someone who’s fortunate to play this game. I trust it.
“I felt really good last year playing. I felt really confident, in the midst of everything. I think now I have all that confidence times 10.”
But if that confidence doesn’t lead to results? This could be his last chance.
There’s no assurance he’ll even be the Steelers’ starter all season. Fields is waiting in the wings and worked extensively with the first-team offense while Wilson’s calf injury sidelined him in training camp and the preseason. The Steelers invested so little in Wilson that they would lose nothing by pivoting midseason.
If that happens, or if Wilson has an underwhelming season, who else would want him as a starter? And would Wilson — who has averaged $30.3 million in annual earnings over the last 10 years — even entertain the possibility of being a backup? Would he just call it a career, several seasons and a few Super Bowl rings shy of his stated goals?
It’s impossible to know how this will unfold. But in a world full of doubt, this is one thing you can count on: This season, good or bad, will shape the backstretch and the final image of Wilson’s career.
“In terms of legacy, the reason why I came here is I want to win another Super Bowl or two, and that’s what we got to do,” Wilson said. “That’s our plan. That’s our strategy. That’s our mission every day. And I think that’s what really matters.”
(Top photos: Joe Sargent / Getty Images)
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