Russell Wilson has last chance to save his legacy with Steelers’ QB job

If Russell Wilson retired an hour before he was traded to the Denver Broncos, it’s probably more likely than not he’d have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Through 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson made nine Pro Bowls, had a Super Bowl ring and another NFC championship. In 2017 he was responsible for more than 86 percent of the Seahawks’ yards from scrimmage and an astonishing 37 of 38 offensive touchdowns. He had a fantastic, historic run.

That Wilson probably isn’t what you think about first anymore when his name comes up. It’s probably more about Wilson struggling badly after a high-profile trade to the Denver Broncos and a bad contract, from the team’s perspective, that followed. It might be about the record $53 million salary-cap hit the Broncos took on in 2024 just to be rid of Wilson. Maybe it’s even a bit of how Wilson didn’t look good in his first Pittsburgh Steelers preseason game, leading to a discussion over whether Justin Fields should start for Pittsburgh at quarterback.

Wilson will start at quarterback for the Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin announced Wednesday. With that, Wilson has one last chance to save his reputation and his NFL legacy.

Russell Wilson gets another shot

Wilson’s preseason started like his Broncos career finished. In his first game he led the Steelers to four punts and a missed field goal. Through Wilson’s first four preseason drives the Steelers had 12 net yards and one first down. It wasn’t much different than what we saw from Wilson in Denver.

Wilson was horrendous in 2022 under head coach Nathaniel Hackett, then somewhat better but still quite flawed under Sean Payton last season. Hackett was in over his head and Payton had no patience for Wilson and seemingly never truly wanted to make that relationship work. There is an argument to be made that the Broncos’ situation was so bad that Wilson could look like at least a reasonable facsimile of what he was in Seattle in a new environment. The Steelers are a rock-solid franchise and offered that opportunity.

Wilson completed both of his passes in the preseason finale and that was enough for Tomlin to go forward with his plan to make Wilson his starter. The situation still isn’t ideal. Other than George Pickens, the Steelers are very thin at receiver. New coordinator Arthur Smith will want to run the ball most of the time. It will be hard for Wilson to put up a strong statistical season.

But he has a shot. And he needs to take advantage of it, because if he fails there might not be much interest in his services next offseason at age 37.

Can Wilson have a strong season?

Wilson probably can’t afford a slow start. The decision between Wilson and Fields seemed to be a legitimate one by the end of the preseason, after an offseason of the Steelers saying Wilson was their likely QB1. Wilson’s calf injury at the start of training camp and his poor preseason debut put that in some doubt.

Fields has his own issues, specifically that he holds the ball too long in the pocket and is inaccurate when he does throw, but he also has playmaking ability. Wilson used to have that with his legs but it’s not a part of his game anymore in his mid-30s. If Wilson falters, he likely doesn’t have a lot of job security. The Steelers have just a one-year, $1.2 million contract invested in him.

There’s plenty of pressure on Wilson to perform well in September. If he does, perhaps he can keep his job the whole season and perhaps help the Steelers back to the playoffs. Even if he doesn’t put up phenomenal numbers this season, a solid year with Pittsburgh putting up another winning season would help erase some of the stink from his two seasons in Denver. It could help feed the idea that a player who was one of the NFL’s best in Seattle was simply in an unwinnable situation the past two seasons.

Tomlin is giving Wilson the chance to turn things back around. How he does this season will go a long way in determining how we remember his career.