Russell Wilson to sign with Steelers on 1-year deal, per source: What Pittsburgh can expect from veteran QB

By Larry Holder, Nick Kosmider and Mark Kaboly

Russell Wilson will be making his third NFL stop, this time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he announced Sunday on social media. The Super Bowl-winning quarterback agreed to terms with the franchise on a one-year deal, according to a league source.

Year 13. Grateful. @Steelers pic.twitter.com/0U4Q2sRtXs

— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) March 11, 2024

Wilson, 35, is coming off a rocky two-year stint with the Denver Broncos which started with a blockbuster trade from the Seattle Seahawks and ended with his release in early March. He was benched during the final two games of the 2023 season, which Denver finished with an 8-9 record, opening the door for his release.

Last season, Wilson threw for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions resulting in a 98.0 passer rating for 15 games within Sean Payton’s offense. The quarterback struggled to a career-worst 84.4 passer rating along with 3,524 yards, 16 TDs and 11 interceptions in 2022 as coach Nathaniel Hackett didn’t even finish out one season with Wilson. Denver fired Hackett before the end of the year.

The Broncos acquired the nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback in a massive trade with the Seattle Seahawks in March 2022 in which the Broncos gave up five draft picks, including two first-rounders, and three players in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round pick. Denver won only 11 of the 30 games Wilson started.

Wilson left the Seahawks with one of the better résumés in the NFL with one Super Bowl win in two trips to the game as well as nine Pro Bowl nods. He threw for 37,059 yards with 292 TDs and 87 interceptions resulting in a 101.8 passer rating in his 10 seasons with the Seahawks.

Where Wilson stacks up

What should the Steelers expect from Wilson? It might not be the most favorable results given how the last three seasons have panned out.

Here’s how Wilson stacked up in Expected Points Added per dropback (via TruMedia), passer rating and total QB EPA among qualified passers last season:

There’s a noticeable difference within the rankings for Wilson in passer rating and EPA. That’s because Wilson still managed to fill the stat sheet in non-pivotal moments for the Broncos last season. The trend dates back to his time with the Seahawks. He yielded his worst single-game EPA rate of his career last season in Denver’s Week 6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So can Wilson pull himself back together? That’s the gamble the Steelers are taking by signing him. — Larry Holder, NFL senior writer

What the Steelers are getting in Wilson

The Steelers won’t be getting the version of Wilson that was an MVP candidate as recently as the first half of the 2020 season. He showed last season that he’s a far better player than the one who turned in a career-worst season in 2022, his debut season in Denver. As a quarterback entering his 13th season at age 35, he’s somewhere in between.

Wilson is not as accurate a deep-ball passer as he was earlier in his career, but it remains a significant weapon. His throw to Courtland Sutton in a Week 14 win against the Los Angeles Chargers showed he can still accurately push the ball down the field.

How does he keep doing this 🤯@SuttonCourtland | 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/xlRoH9GGBk

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 10, 2023

Wilson can still make unique things happen — see: double-spin move and touchdown throw to Sutton in Buffalo — but he is not nearly as elusive as he was in that department.

He took 100 sacks during his two seasons in Denver, more than any other quarterback in the league during that stretch. His sack rate of 9.7 percent ranked 31st out of 38 eligible quarterbacks.

Still, Wilson is an experienced quarterback in big moments who led four fourth-quarter comebacks for the Broncos, helping them reach a 7-6 mark 13 games into the season following a 1-5 start. He’ll need to be supported by a strong running game in Pittsburgh so that he can thrive in play-action settings. — Nick Kosmider, Broncos staff writer

Wilson becoming a Pittsburgh Steeler seemed like a long shot, at best. General manager Omar Khan had “full faith” in Kenny Pickett and the Steelers wanted to re-sign Mason Rudolph. As the old cliche goes, a lot can happen in a week. Wilson is now the perceived No. 1, their actions have shown they have little faith in Pickett and Rudolph will be playing for another team in 2024.

The question is what happened in such a short period? The Steelers have to think that Wilson puts them closer to a championship or they wouldn’t have brought him in even if they frame it as a competition, which they will most certainly do. A nine-time Pro Bowler, or better yet, a former Super Bowl champ with options and a cheap price tag doesn’t sign with the Steelers to compete with a quarterback with 13 touchdowns in 24 career starts. Pickett’s career as a Steeler is all but done with the signing of Wilson. — Mark Kaboly, Steelers senior writer

Required reading

(Photo: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)