“The critics were out there, and in big numbers. To this day, I’m finally going to announce my retirement and they’ll say ‘See I told you he couldn’t do it’.”
-Doug Flutie, 21 seasons Professional Football
5’10”, 180 lbs
With the 75th pick in the 2012 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks selected Russell Wilson, 5’10 and 3/8″. The team would never be the same again, and neither would the League itself.
Talented as they were – with the likes of Marshawn Lynch, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor already established on the roster – the Seahawks were coming off of their fourth consecutive losing season. Worse than that, they were coming off of 36 years of frustration, underperformance, and frequent-mediocrity.
The Seahawks were never quite “laughingstock” status, they suffered through a different type of failure: Irrelevance. Outside of the infamous “Northwest Bubble”, the Seahawks were an afterthought. The forgotten step-child of a League that was more than happy to kick them around – spurning them from one Conference to another, erasing rivalries and history along the way. The team’s logos and colors were subjected to endless experimentation and occasional disfigurement as the League switched uniform vendors, further eroding the fragile identity of a forlorn fanbase. Local favorites were overlooked by outsiders, and what fleeting success the team had was quickly forgotten or ignored. And the team had never – not once in 36 years – EVER drafted a franchise Quarterback. Literally all of that all changed right away.
For the League, the change took much longer to notice. Afterall, what WAS a “dual-threat Quarterback” in 2012? “You mean, like, Michael Vick?” No, Vick had one season as an above-average passer. “You mean like, Tim Tebow? Or Vince Young?” No, and no. Not a “Running Quarterback”, a “DUAL-threat Quarterback”. An elite passer who can ALSO run the ball just as effectively – year after year.
“Oh, you must be talking about Steve Young or something, but that was a loong time ago.” Like I said, the change was subtle. So subtle, in fact, that a lot of people STILL don’t seem to notice. As I write this now, 3 of the last 7 MVP awards have gone to dual-threat Quarterbacks – a species long thought to be near-extinct, until the 3rd round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Likewise, two QBs under 6′ tall have since been drafted with the first overall pick – NOT undrafted CFL veterans, NOT 3rd-round “reaches,” but NUMBER ONE overall picks. A development that would have seemed unthinkable before Russell Wilson entered the league.
The selection was promptly mocked, the Seahawks were ridiculed, and Russell Wilson was immediately written off. “He’s too short”, “He runs around too much”, “He’s weird and creepy”, etc. None of these things were ever going to change. Russell could never prove his doubters wrong, he could only prove that he’s a winner regardless of what they thought or said. For the next decade, that’s exactly what he did.
The heroic exploits of Russell’s early career have been well chronicled, especially by me: The years he spent with Marshawn Lynch and the Legion of Boom were, without exaggeration, the stuff of LEGEND[1].
But here are some of the highlights:
- Out-dueling Tom Brady as a rookie after the Defense gave up 475 yards at home [2]
- Leading not one but TWO Game Winning Drives against the 10-win Bears after Sherman allowed a 56 yard reception that forced OT [3]
- Winning a playoff game in frigid Minneapolis after Marshawn refused to get on the team bus [4]
- Leading 21 point comebacks against the Texans [5] and Buccaneers [6]
- 300 yds passing and 100 yds rushing (the first player to do so) while the Defense struggled with Austin Davis [7]
- Throwing 5 TDs in a shootout against the Steelers at home (39-30) [8]
- Throwing 4 TDs in a shootout victory against Houston at home (41-38) [9]
- Reaching a Super Bowl with two undrafted WRs and a backup TE [10]
- Playing with an MCL injury AND a high ankle sprain through all of 2016, and STILL winning the Division and beating Matt Stafford in the playoffs [11]
Not to mention Game Winning TD passes in back-to-back NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl title. Yes, I’m sure his teammates loved having one of the toughest and most reliable winning-machines of his generation leading the way for so many years, and I’m sure they’re appropriately grateful to this day – especially since most of them never accomplished anything meaningful without him at any point in their careers.
Lynch missed most of 2015 with injuries before retiring, and the Legion of Boom was no more by the end of 2017. But contrary to popular belief, Russell’s career continued. More than that, it flourished. No longer defined by his running ability, he was now an elite Quarterback who ALSO happened to be a dual-threat.
In 2015 he led the league in Passer Rating (110.1) while completing 68% of his passes with 34 TDs and 8 INTs. His final 10-games were a hot streak for the ages, propelling the Seahawks back to their fourth consecutive playoff appearance after starting the season 2-4.
In 2017 he led the league in TD passes (34) while ALSO leading his own team in Rushing Yards (586) and Rushing TDs (3). In fact, Wilson scored 37 of the team’s 38 TDs on Offense – a feat that has never been duplicated. With these kinds of stats, it’s no wonder the NFL fans organically began to call him “Mr Unlimited.”[12]
Lynch and the LOB were gone, but Seahawks excellence continued thanks to Russell Wilson – and he hadn’t even reached his final form. The Seahawks finally addressed their O-line (they had allowed the 2nd most pressures in 2016 and the 4th most in 2017), and next few seasons would be the best yet of Wilson’s already brilliant career. His STATS from 2017 through 2020 are so astonishing, they can only be comprehended through that most trustworthy of formats: KNOWLEDGE TABLES!!!!!!!!
See? Astonishing, just like I said. Tied for the most Yellow Highlighting, and the most 1st place rankings.
Four years. More touchdowns than anybody, by a lot, despite fewer pass attempts. A better passer rating than Rodgers. More wins than every quarterback except Brady himself. These weren’t the Legion of Boom years. This wasn’t Marshawn Lynch. This was Russell Carrington HOFer Wilson carrying a flawed roster while producing at a level matched only by his fellow Hall of Famers. And he carried this roster to more Fourth Quarter Comebacks and Game Winning Drives than any other HOFer during this era.
So the next time someone tells you Wilson was no good without Lynch or the LOB, please remind them that he was unquestionably a Top 3 QB from 2017 through 2020, and this AFTER he had already established himself as Championship-caliber legend. You know what? Just give me the Golden Boner Award right now.
But of course, nothing lasts forever. In 2021 during a week 5 game against the Rams, Wilson’s throwing hand bounced off of Aaron Donald’s helmet – snapping his index finger along with his 10-year ironman streak of consecutive starts. At the time of his injury Wilson had a passer rating 125.3, on pace to break the single season record.
But Wilson, having never missed so much as a PRACTICE due to an injury, rushed back after a few short weeks and was clearly not the same player. He played valiantly, and finished the season with three consecutive 100+ passer rating games, but his mid-season struggles resulted in the first losing season of his remarkable career.
“See, I told you he couldn’t do it,” the Knowledge Haters exhaled after 10 years of looking like fools.
Russell would soon learn the same lesson that Doug Flutie had learned years earlier: The critics would never admit they were wrong. They would only move the goalposts and shift their criticism – dismissing his incredible accomplishments and highlighting only the negatives. They would ignore his obvious Hall of Fame credentials simply because he doesn’t LOOK like a Hall of Famer. Or, more accurately, because he doesn’t remind them of any other Hall of Famers – but that’s because Wilson was truly one of a kind.
Russell’s resume speaks for itself, and it will for all eternity. The best QB under 6′ tall. The most successful dual-threat QB since Steve Young. The most consistently dominant QB drafted between Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. And one of the absolute best QBs of his generation, even after the talented roster around him was depleted [12]. No amount of social media criticism or bad publicity can change these facts. I believe it’s only a matter of time before the sports-viewing public snaps out of their bizarre Russell Wilson-amnesia, and remembers just how much he meant to the game and for how long. The day will come when he finally gets the credit he deserves.
References
[1] – Earthy Girthy Presents: A Hero’s Journey – SpikedKoolAid.com 2/27/2018
[2] – Patriots @ Seahawks 2012 Week 6 NFL Network Highlights
[3] – Seahawks @ Bears 2012 Week 13 NFL Network Highlights
[4] – Seahawks @ Vikings 2015 Wild Card NFL Network Highlights
[5] – Texans @ Seahawks 2013 Week 4 NFL Network Highlights
[6] – Buccaneers @ Seahawks 2013 Week 9 NFL Network Highlights
[7] – Seahawks @ Rams 2014 Week 7 NFL Network Highlights
[8] – Steelers @ Seahawks 2015 Week 12 NFL Network Highlights
[9] – Texans @ Seahawks 2017 Week 8 NFL Network Highlights
[10] – Seattle Seahawks trade Percy Harvin to New York Jets – NFL.com 10/17/2014
[11] – Performance team key to Russell Wilson’s remarkable durability – ESPN 12/12/2019
[12] – DK Metcalf surprises Russell Wilson with Madden 99 club – NFL Stories – 10/14/2020
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