Today was the deadline for Russell Wilson to negotiate a new deal beyond this season or else he was going to play out his last year. In the 11th hour, Wilson and the Seahawks agreed on a four-year, $87.6 million contract with $30 million up automatically up front and $60 total is guaranteed. Wilson did not get his $25 million a year he originally wanted but did get just under the $22 million Aaron Rodgers got.
He is not worth as much if not more than Rodgers or one of the top 3-5 QBs in the NFL. However, he is still a good, top 8-10 QB in this league and in a quarterback driven league starved with a franchise QB, you have to pay and overpay for one of the top-10 Qbs in the league. Wilson might not be worth it in the eyes of many especially because of the "Legion of Boom" defense and Marshawn Lynch. Two things, one the Seahawks think he's worth it and two, who will you get that's better?
Can you get Rodgers, Brady, Luck, Brees, Manning, or Roethlisberger? I didn't think so and those guys are the ones that are an upgrade over Wilson. Guys like Rivers, Romo, Flacco, are maybe slightly better or about the same. Point is 20% of the league has guys better than Wilson while another 10-15% have as good of a QB as him. A little more than 2/3 of the teams in the NFL are worse off than Seattle having Russell Wilson. That's why ladies and gentlemen he's making as much money as he does.
He has won a Super Bowl and been to another and would have won two had Pete Carroll ran Lynch instead of throwing it, can you believe that? Regardless, Wilson has two Super Bowl appearances in his first three years in the league. I can't think of any QB that has done that in league history. Tom Brady has been to two Super Bowls in his first three seasons as a starter but it was his fourth season. Same with Kurt Warner in two of his first three years as a starting QB but he bounced around the league a year or two before.
Whether you think Wilson or Joe Flacco or Eli Manning are great or not, they've won Super Bowls and you get rewarded for being a Super Bowl winning quarterback even if your not the best or one of the top-5. Also, you don't want to be a team that is looking for a franchise Quarterback. As a Bills fan, I can tell you it sucks to be still searching for a QB as we have since Jim Kelly retired two decades ago.
I wish we can have a guy like Wilson or Flacco or Eli where many experts say he's not the best and we have to overpay, but we still win games and even a Super Bowl. Hell, I'd be excited if we had a Tony Romo. Seattle, trust me you don't want that it's good you paid the man even if it's a lot more than you want to pay. I am not that greedy. Yes I want Rodgers or Luck but I'd "settle" for a Wilson or Flacco or Romo or Rivers. I'd even go Matt Stafford or Cam Newton.
Wilson will always not be given a lot of credit by many because of the fact Lynch is a great runner and the fact their defense is the best in the league. Wilson doesn't throw it a ton so he doesn't put up eye popping fantasy stats like Rodgers, Brees, or Manning. Seattle has been 32nd, 31st, and 32nd in pass attempts in Wilson's three seasons, but first, second, and first in rushing attempts so obviously they run more than they throw thanks to the fact they have Lynch and that Wilson is a great runner too.
But if you look at some of Wilson's passing numbers for as few attempts as he gets, it's actually pretty amazing. He completes nearly 2/3 of his passes with an overall passer rating of 98.6. It gets even better as his total yards per pass attempt is 7.9 and has thrown 72 touchdowns to just 26 interceptions, almost a 3:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio for his career. That is amazing considering he doesn't have many weapons as a wide receiver or tight end to throw to.
Even when Wilson struggles, like last year's NFC Championship Game win over Green Bay, he plays well in the 4th quarter and overtime as he saves his best for last. Even in the second half of the season, he's better as his QB Ratings in the months of November, December, and January/February (playoffs/Super Bowl) are 108.3, 100.7, and 97.8, respectively.
To show Wilson's value to the team, Pete Carroll was about to be fired three years ago when Wilson won the starting job as a rookie as he had back-to-back 7-9 seasons. Since then, the Seahawks are 36-12 (42-14 if you count playoffs including a Super Bowl win) with Wilson starting. For those that think the defense is the reason they win, you are somewhat right but don't forget, they were 14-18 the two seasons before Wilson got there with Matt Hasselbeck, Charlie Whitehurst, and Tavaris Jackson starting at QB with an elite defense.
Even Lynch had been there before Wilson, but his best seasons in terms or rushing yards, yards per carry, and touchdowns have all been there with Wilson starting as Wilson is a threat to throw or run. Teams just don't have to focus on stopping Lynch, which isn't easy by the way, and have to worry about Wilson.
The QB ultimately matters the most of any position on the field. We shall see however if Wilson can still be as successful with a defense that will be losing players in the future thanks to the salary cap and Lynch as well. We will wait and see and if Wilson struggles without an elite defense and Lynch, I'll stand corrected. Until then, I think highly of Wilson and value him a lot more than others.
In other news, New York Jets stud defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson has been busted for resisting arrest for an incident of a high speed road race.. It's not just high (no pun intended) speeding it's over 140 mph. 140 mph and it's not on a race track rather our beloved public streets. If that's not enough, all the passengers in the car allegedly were high and there was a loaded hand gun in the car.
If Dareus got one game for his drag racing along with marijuana charges, what's Richardson going to get for going close to three times the speed limit on the fastest roads in America between 55-65 mph, assuming he did they on a thruway or an unpopulated country back road. Don't forget, Richardson is already suspended for the first four games this season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He apparently was arrested for this incident on July 14, two weeks after the suspension was handed down. He never let the Jets know he was arrested.
How does he treat being suspended for drug use? By going Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rolled into one but they don't smoke chronic nor have loaded hand guns in their car. If Richardson wants a year vacation, he might end up getting it because I could see this being a year-long, maybe half a season long suspension. It doesn't look good for Richardson.
It goes to show you the offseason is too damn long as Richardson's racing incident (even Dareus' racing incident a year ago), Wilson's on-going contract talks, Brady's possible suspension, Ronald Darby's tweets, Aaron Kromer's hitting a kid (allegedly), heck even LeSean McCoy's famous or infamous party invite are demonstrations as to the league having way too long of an offseason and football can't start soon enough.
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