![\"Arthur](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1897625853.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780\")
<\/p>\nThe media connected several quarterbacks to the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0early this offseason, but that was before the Steelers had an offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Steelers have since filled their\u00a0offensive coordinator position with Arthur Smith\u00a0on January 30. With Smith now in place, ESPN\u2019s Jeff Saturday argued that Pittsburgh should strongly consider adding quarterback\u00a0Russell Wilson\u00a0in free agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell Wilson for Arthur Smith would be the best fit and because he wants to play under center,\u201d\u00a0Saturday said to the rest of the panel on ESPN\u2019s Get Up on February 1. \u201cHe wants play action. He\u2019s a veteran quarterback. All the different things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about Seattle and all those years, the Steelers are very similar. Big, physical receiver outside, little quick one inside, good running game \u2026 defense that can win championships. It\u2019s a massive upgrade there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson is not a free agent, but the\u00a0Denver Broncos\u00a0benched him for the final two games of the 2023 regular season.\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini reported on December 27 that Wilson expects the Broncos to release him this offseason.<\/p>\n
While Saturday\u2019s Seattle versus Pittsburgh idea is a fair comparison, he\u2019s working under the assumption that Wilson is the same quarterback he was when he played for the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n
Simply put, he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
During his first season with Denver in 2022,\u00a0he threw\u00a0for a career-low 16 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Last season, he had 26 touchdowns and dropped his interception total to 8. However, Wilson averaged a career-low 6.9 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n
Wilson turned\u00a035 years old in November. He\u2019s not likely to get any better even if Smith\u2019s offense proves to be the perfect match for him.<\/p>\n
But the ESPN panel on Get Up argued Wilson could still be an attractive free agent quarterback for 2024 because of his unique contract situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it stands, scheduled to make $39 million fully guaranteed this year, and there are offsets in the contract,\u201d\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Dan Graziano said. \u201cWhat that means is if the Broncos cut him, as we expect that they will, and he goes and signs somewhere else, anything he signs for just goes back to the Broncos, up to $39 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact of the matter is, you can get Russell Wilson to play for a minimum salary this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
It should make no difference to Wilson how he gets $39 million. He\u2019s getting that from the Broncos regardless. So, it would be prudent on his part to agree to take the league minimum from his new team in 2024.<\/p>\n
That would allow his new team, perhaps the Steelers, to make as many other free agent moves as possible.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to keep in mind, though, that the Broncos are off the hook with Wilson after 2024 if they cut him. The Steelers could only get Wilson for the league minimum for one season.<\/p>\n
Saturday had very specific reasons Wilson will fit nicely in Smith\u2019s offense and with the Steelers.<\/p>\n
His colleague, ESPN\u2019s Domonique Foxworth, made it more simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just about everybody is a fit in Pittsburgh because Mike Tomlin\u2019s personality is consistent with the personality of the Pittsburgh Steelers,\u201d\u00a0Foxworth said. \u201cYou come and you conform, it\u2019s a lot like the Bill Belichick situation where you know when you get there, you know what you\u2019re signing up for.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of that, the Steelers would be getting a proven quarterback on a minimum salary.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell Wilson becomes a lot more attractive when you realize that you\u2019re going to pay him league minimum and you don\u2019t have to ask that much of him,\u201d\u00a0said Foxworth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about building around a cheap quarterback. You don\u2019t have to do it around a rookie, you can do it around a Super Bowl champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Ben Roethlisberger,\u00a0Wilson won\u00a0the Super Bowl in his second season, which was 2013. He led the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl in 2014.<\/p>\n
Wilson registered\u00a0a 65% completion percentage and averaged 7.8 yards per attempt with 292 touchdowns and 87 interceptions in 10 seasons with Seattle. In two seasons with the Broncos, Wilson has posted a 63.3% completion percentage and averaged 7.1 yards per pass with 42 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.<\/p>\n
The media connected several quarterbacks to the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0early this offseason, but that was before the Steelers had an offensive coordinator. The Steelers have since filled their\u00a0offensive coordinator… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbatruc.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}