Russell Wilson has retired, moving on to CBS Sports.
It was time. What a polarizing QB. What a tale of two career halves.
Criminally underappreciated by the media, including by awards voters, in the first 2/3rds of his career. You'll never hear me question how legendary the Legion of Boom was, and how a lot of garden-variety QBs could Trent Dilfer their way to success having those guys harassing the opposing offense and Marshawn Lynch at his back, but Russ wasn't a garden-variety QB, even as a rookie. Dude stole the Malik Willis of his era's first starting contract
in training camp. Brees might've suggested, in some ways, that short guys can hack it as starting QBs, but Russ provided the archetype for GMs to start scouting (besides "hope they develop HOF-level processing ability to laser balls
between their linemen). Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, those guys don't go #1 overall if Russell Wilson wasn't lighting the league up by being a stout barrel of a dude destroying defenses with backyard football antics. Watching this dude slip under edge rushers and tackles twice his size to escape the pocket before chucking it 50 yards downfield to Baldwin or Lockett was a thing of beauty. He still throws a gorgeous moon ball, that didn't fall off when the rest of him did. There was a stretch, particularly from 2017 to 2020, where Russell Wilson was the only one keeping the Seahawks even remotely relevant while Pete Carroll and John Schneider were off doing peyote or whatever drug was behind the 2017 draft in particular. He'd have an MVP in 2019 if Lamar Jackson hadn't become an above-average passer and the media weren't obsessed with the new shiny object. He was the most valuable player to his team, in every sense of the word.
In Seattle he was a legend, but outside of that? Just a punchline. So he marries a famous singer, goes all Hollywood, gets on social media. He was still cringe af, he was always cringe af, that's just in his blood, but there was a volume to the cringe now, and an ego behind it. He started demanding more control over the team. Got his choice of OC hired, then fired. Got his choice again and picked a football terrorist because he farted in the same elevator as Sean McVay once, and Stafford's career took off on a new team. Maybe, he thinks, that's the thing he needs. A new team, where he's welcomed as a franchise savior. Where people in the building don't remember him as that overenthusiastic, kinda preachy 3rd round draft pick. But he gets his shot, gets his chosen offense installed to make him the centerpiece. He can't hack it. He gets flustered easily, defenses know his tells by now, and he's slower. Aaron Donald gets in the way of a throw and Russ breaks his finger on the guy's helmet. When he's out, Pete reverts his playcalling and Geno's actually looking pretty ok. The team's still a mess, this is the worst defense in the league in 2021, but something had changed. Until Russ came back. And that gave his front office everything they needed to know.
So he goes to Denver, nets his team a haul (I'm sure his ego loved that), gets a massive new contract, and it fucking blows up in his face, in spectacular fashion. You all know the highlights. Fans in Denver having to count down the play clock for him because he can't get a snap off in time. WRs throwing tantrums on the field because he missed them wide open for a potential game-winning TD, again. His teammates giving him the side eye on the bench. Getting mocked by a fucking cartoon starfish on Nickelodeon after throwing an interception to his old teammate, Bobby Wagner. On Christmas. His coach gets fired. The Broncos bring in Sean Payton, and he is having none of Russ' shit.
I'll give Payton this, he's the only reason Russ got any contracts after the Denver one. Dude showed that if you tightly managed him as a QB, he can still be pretty good. Even a pro bowl QB (as an alternate, which he'll never pass up). But Russ hated it, and did not like Payton. And it was mutual, so he gets cut, which I'm sure was humiliating. The highs are there, infrequently. But his average is a bottom 1/4 starting QB. Defenses don't play the way they used to anymore. They took away his backyard football fun by posting 2 high safeties on most drops. The Moon Ball means nothing if nobody gets open, and he can't scramble long enough to get one off anymore as it is. We got one good game out of him in 2025. Man, did he ever torch the shit out of the Cowboys defense (and it is not a coincidence that his one good game came against the worst defense in the league). He followed it up by throwing balls at nobody but the goalpost crossbar. Pretty sure he threw a 4th down throw into the tunnel, and shortly thereafter followed it out. For good, it seems.
I never subscribed to the "played himself out of the Hall of Fame" narrative that's been surrounding discussions of Russell Wilson lately. His resume was extremely fringe at the time he left the Seahawks. Too many good QBs in the 2010's. And he was criminally underrated. But if it was fringe then, it's definitely not happening now. He will, for the medium term at least, be mostly remembered for his hubris. For Mr. Unlimited. For telling Broncos Country it was time to ride, even when he could barely trot. For that photo of Melvin Gordon staring increduously at him on the bench.
It'll be interesting to see what he winds up doing. Old teammates often joked that Russ came off like he was always running for president, but there's enough memes about the latter half of his career that, if he had that ambition, it's probably dead now. I'll be curious how Seattle fans welcome him in the future. He's for-sure the greatest QB the Seahawks have ever had. I think 2022 was enough of a salve that nobody in the fandom really holds the two-faced way in which he pushed himself out of town against him anymore. Pete's gone, I don't know what his relationship with Schneider is like. If Richard Sherman can come back and be welcomed, I don't really see a reason why Russ couldn't, if he wants to.
Thanks for the memories. I don't think I've ever seen a QB humiliate Nick Bosa the way he did.
