If I told you that a quarterback was one horrendous play call, the worst play call ever in the history of sports, away from being a two-time Super Bowl champion and guaranteed lock for the Hall of Fame, would you then blast him when he had a down season later in his career?
If I told you that a quarterback, despite not playing in four games over two seasons due to injury and a coach’s decision, threw for 6,594 yards with 42 TDs and 19 INTs in two seasons on a team in a state of disarray, would you scapegoat him for the team’s record of 11-19 during that time?
What would you say if I told you that a quarterback was a Pro Bowler after throwing for 3,113 yards, 25 TDs and 6 INTs and went 6-8, and then two years later threw for 3,070 yards with 26 TDs and 8 INTs and went 7-8?
What if I told you that the quarterback is Russell Wilson?
Wilson has been one of the most scrutinized players in the NFL during his 12 years in the league, and for some reason, many dislike Russ for simply being Russ.
He avoids trouble, is raising a beautiful family, loves his wife, raised her son like he was his own, stays in shape and despite being an undersized underdog, led a Seattle franchise to two Super Bowls and winning records in nine out of his ten years as the Seahawks’ starter.
So why so much apathy and loathing for Russ?
Is it because he’s light-skinned, has good hair and speaks well?
Is it because he has a beautiful wife yet isn’t a flashy baller?
Is it because he isn’t “all up in the video?”
Black people understand what I’m talking about.
Whatever the reason, Russell Wilson seems to attract haters despite the success he’s had on and off the field.
This is why it’s so infuriating to see how tarnished his career has become in two frustrating years in Denver.
When news broke this week that the Broncos were going to release Wilson, his fans were relieved that he would finally be free.
His detractors, on the other hand, immediately called out how much money he would be making over the next two years and blasted him for being a failure.
Yes, Russ did make $124 million and the Broncos will be hit with $85 million in dead cap money due to his release.
But he didn’t make the trade for himself. Denver did.
The Seahawks fleeced the Broncos by sending Russ and a 2022 4th-round pick to the team in exchange for Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris, 2022 1st-round, 2nd-round and 5th-round picks, and 2023 1st-round and 2nd-round picks.
So if you want to be mad, be mad at the right people.
Now, is Russ completely devoid of blame? No.
Over the past two seasons, he missed throws, made bad reads and had some very untimely turnovers. But some of that is attributable to Nathaniel Hackett, who tried to force the 9x Pro Bowler into his system instead of designing a system around Wilson.
Hackett was exposed and fired, only to be picked up by the Jets and exposed again when he’s Aaron Rodgers-less.
After the Broncos coaxed Sean Payton out of retirement, he began his tenure with a shocking critique of the Broncos organization.
“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton said. “And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.”
Payton also came to the defense of Russ that same day.
“That wasn’t his fault,” Payton said of Wilson. “That was the parents who allowed it. That’s not an incrimination on him, but an incrimination on the head coach, the GM (George Paton), the president (Damani Leech) and everybody else who watched it all happen.
“There’s so much dirt around that,” he continued. “A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play-in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.
“[But] everybody’s got a little stink on their hands. It’s not just Russell. It was a (poor) offensive line. It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.”
But in the end, Payton flipped the script and scapegoated Wilson by benching him with two games remaining in the season and the team at 7-8.
After watching and listening to the endless debates about Russ over the last two days, I’m glad he’s leaving Denver because he deserves better than how the Broncos treated him.
Wilson is a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and a Super Bowl winner with a record of 104-53-1, 37,059 passing yards, 292 TDs and 87 INTs. He’s also the QB who, instead of taking a knee to end a game in 2021, called an audible to help a teammate receive a $100,000 performance bonus.
He’s never blasted the city, the team or its fans and he did his best to try to lead when others limited his ability to do so.
But the team still tried to force him to change his contract, otherwise he’d “be benched for the rest of the year.”
On March 13th, Russell Wilson will officially be released and be a free agent. For that, he’ll receive a $39 million check from Denver this season. This means that he’ll be a cheap signing for any team that smartly decides to sign him.
No matter what he decides to do this season, one thing is certain.
Russell Wilson deserved better.
