Russell Wilson is joining the Steelers: Here’s what to expect

By Larry Holder, Nick Kosmider, Mark Kaboly, Mike DeFabo and Randy Mueller

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.

Wilson’s announcement featured the Steelers’ unofficial anthem, “Renegade,” a nice touch to begin to endear himself to his new fanbase.

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 that started with a blockbuster trade from the Seattle Seahawks and ended in early March with confirmation of his impending release. He was benched during the final two games of the 2023 season as Denver finished with an 8-9 record, opening the door for his release.

He cannot officially sign with the Steelers until his release becomes official. That won’t happen until the new league year opens on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, because the Broncos plan to release him with a post-June 1 designation, which will spread the league-record $85 million dead money from Wilson’s contract between 2024 and 2025.

The Broncos owe Wilson $39 million guaranteed in 2024. That salary is subject to offsets, but his deal with the Steelers will be for the veteran minimum, which is $1.21 million for a 12-year veteran like Wilson, making it a cost-effective way for them to address their uncertain quarterback situation. That will leave Denver paying $37.79 million.

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

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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.

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.

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The Broncos acquired Wilson in a massive trade with the Seahawks in March 2022 in which Denver 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 those 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.

How he fits

Coach Mike Tomlin promised competition for Pickett at his end-of-season news conference. Even though Wilson’s price tag is the veteran minimum, a nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion likely isn’t here to be the No. 2 to Pickett or push him in a quarterback competition the way re-signing Rudolph might have.

While it wouldn’t be Tomlin’s way to anoint a starter, Wilson has to be the odds-on favorite to win the job.

The question is, what does he have left? Wilson might not be at his Pro Bowl best, but the Steelers won’t ask him to be. Pittsburgh’s defense, which finished sixth-best in scoring last season, essentially lugged an anemic offense into the postseason.

With new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith expected to install a run-heavy scheme that takes the pressure off the quarterback, Wilson will be put in a position to do what he does best: Minimize turnovers, hit a few deep balls to maximize George Pickens’ big-play potential and win white-knuckle, wonky games the way he’s built his career. — Mike DeFabo, Steelers staff writer

From a football standpoint, this move makes sense and is a good fit. Smith’s offense is heavy on the run game, RPOs and play-action passes, which help facilitate straightforward reads and allow the quarterback to predetermine targets in the passing game. That suits Wilson’s skills well at this point.

The Steelers already have some leaders on that roster, so it won’t be the “Russell Show,” but he could bring a bit of been-there, done-that confidence to the offense. His personality also might fit better with Tomlin and Smith than it did with Payton, which might be as important as his skill set at this point. I don’t think this move means Pickett is gone, just maybe a chance to take a step back and watch. — Randy Mueller, NFL staff writer

What the Steelers are getting

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 year 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

2024 impact

It’s ironic in a sense that Wilson chose “Renegade” in his social media post, because that’s Pittsburgh’s defensive anthem.

The Steelers spent first-round picks on defense in nine of 10 years from 2011 to 2020 (counting the compensation from the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade) to build a near-championship caliber defense. Two years ago, when Ben Roethlisberger returned from elbow surgery, the hope was that defense and a reliable running game could carry Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Now, with Cameron Heyward two years older and after hefty raises to T.J. Watt and Fitzpatrick, the Steelers will try that same approach with another veteran quarterback.

In some ways, the Steelers might be the best fit for Wilson at this stage in his career. He’ll give the Steelers a shot to lean on a similar formula to last season: Play turnover-inducing defense. Run the ball.

But now, with a veteran passer running the show and a new offensive coordinator calling the shots, the missing passing threat will be the difference between another near-.500 season and a legit contender. — DeFabo

What’s the Steelers’ future at QB?

At his age, Wilson might be seen as a bit of a bridge. The Steelers are not in position to draft a top quarterback, as they have the No. 20 pick. Nor is next year’s draft class projected to be especially impressive. In an ideal world, things would work out so well for the Steelers that they re-sign Wilson for another season.

But what if it doesn’t work?

Tomlin emphasized this was going to be a “huuuuuuuge” year for Pickett. After this year, his third season, the Steelers will have to decide if they’re going to pick up his fifth-year option. Now, with a veteran challenging for QB1 status, they might never really see what Pickett would be without former offensive coordinator Matt Canada. — DeFabo

Required reading

(Photo: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)