PHILADELPHIA — In the four seasons after he turned 33, Steve Young led the NFL in both passer rating and completion percentage. In that span Young was better than fellow Hall of Famers Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, and John Elway, who all were about the same age or younger.
Russell Wilson turned 33 in November. He has missed three starts in 10 seasons. He’s smallish and mobile, like Young, but with a stronger arm and faster feet. Wilson’s the new, improved Steve Young.
He also might be available for the Eagles. It would take a lot of assets. He would demand a top-tier salary.
He would be a bargain.
The Eagles happen to have three first-round picks in the 2022 draft. The Seahawks went 7-10, and they have massive holes to fill. This is the time. The iron will never be hotter. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has to throw every resource into acquiring Russell Wilson.
It’s Russ or bust.
No offense
Not pursuing Wilson would be like turning down a slightly used $1,000 bill because you’ve got a crisp, new Benjamin in your packet that you plan to grow ... into $500.
Incumbent starter Jalen Hurts, a second-round pick, has played two seasons. At this point in his career Wilson, a third-round pick, had gone to two Pro Bowls and won four playoff games, including a Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts, after 20 NFL starts, has proven himself worthy of an NFL contract, but little else.
This is not meant to denigrate Jalen Hurts. This is meant to denigrate any argument against replacing Hurts with Wilson, one of the better quarterbacks in football history.
Hurts went 0-6 with an 82.1 passer rating against playoff teams last season, and that didn’t even include his worst game against the Giants. Most of his production in those six games came after the outcome was essentially decided; they were garbage-time stats.
We just witnessed the best playoff weekend perhaps in the history of sports. It was so because of the quarterback play.
Hurts would have been, by miles, the worst-equipped of the eight quarterbacks in the divisional round of the playoffs last week: Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and even Ryan Tannehill and Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy G won, but he was coincidental; his 49ers blocked a field goal and blocked a punt. He smiled pretty.
There has never been greater evidence that it takes a top-flight arm to reach the top of the NFL. That, Hurts lacks. That, Wilson has, even at age 33.
In Russ we trust
There’s a narrative circulating that Wilson is slowing down. That’s ridiculous.
Wilson dislocated, fractured, and tore a tendon in his right middle finger in Game 5 of the 2021 season. He’d thrown 10 touchdowns and one interception to that point. He still finished the year with a 103.1 passer rating — his worst rating in four years, but still fifth-best in the NFL. Even when he stinks, Wilson’s elite.
When his insult digit is right, Wilson is dominant. In the 25 regular-season games before the finger injury, Wilson threw 55 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.
Still, incredibly, there is a contingent of football folks both in Philadelphia and beyond who believe that Wilson isn’t the answer. These folks figure that continuing to develop Hurts, building a better defense, and adding a weapon or two is the wiser path than procuring a high-character, Hall of Fame shoo-in still in his prime. From all indications, Roseman and coach Nick Sirianni stand among these folks.
We like to call these people “delusional.”
It’s outrageous. The entire exercise of stockpiling draft picks involved landing a player like Wilson, either to develop as a draftee or to plug and play. The QB draft stinks. So, Wilson it is.
The path
Roseman, at very least, must determine what it would take to make Wilson an Eagle. Two firsts? Three? Two firsts and a second? Two firsts, a second, and Jeffrey Lurie’s Tesla? Done.
Roseman also needs to figure if he could make the money work. Wilson is owed $51 million the next two seasons, and he’d surely want an extension if he moved. But Roseman, for all his faults, always makes the money work.
The biggest hurdle probably would be persuading Wilson to waive his no-trade clause. He’d be leaving a picturesque city with a chill vibe and lifestyle that blindly worships the only team in town that matters — a city he owns like Dr. J owned Philly. Wilson would land in a gritty town with a merciless fan base and a media contingent that scrutinizes every syllable uttered, every breath taken.
However, Wilson should love the idea of playing behind an elite offensive line; Seattle’s is a long-term farce. He should adore the notion of leaving the NFC Best and pillaging the NFC Least for the next four years. He’d no longer have to play the Rams, Cardinals, and 49ers in the West twice a year.
All three of those teams made the playoffs, which means they’re good now, and they’re built to be good for a long time. The Rams play the 49ers for the NFC championship on Sunday, and the Cardinals have the most talented quarterback, Kyler Murray.
Meanwhile, no NFC East team has won a playoff game in two years, largely because of inept quarterback play and Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy. Wilson would make the Eagles instant division favorites. The Eagles line would make Wilson the favorite to win his first MVP.
Beast of the East
Wilson wouldn’t just be the best QB in the NFC East. He’d be the best QB in the NFC East, ever. That’s how good he is.
He’s already been to two more Pro Bowls than Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman, who won a combined five Super Bowls but all before the heart of the salary cap era that limited wanton stockpiling of talent. Norm Van Brocklin might have finished with more decoration, but he played a different game in a different age — one in which a player like Wilson, whose cleverness doesn’t demand today’s quarterback protections, would have demolished every record.
Again, this in no way demeans Jalen Hurts. He was drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft to become a gadget option and, eventually, a dependable backup quarterback. He has displayed moments of promise, even brilliance, but he remains at least two years away from being a complete, viable NFL starter. This adheres to his logical, predicted career arc. There has been far too much talk about developing Hurts. To be who? Kordell Stewart?
You want to waste another season of Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Dallas Goedert? Then, by all means, forge forward with Jalen Hurts. You’d rather trust Howie Roseman with three first-round picks? Godspeed.
But if you want to develop receivers like DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins, and if you want Goedert to go to the Pro Bowl a few times before he falls apart, then you want 33-year-old Russell Wilson.
Steve Young, 2.0.
