Former Seahawks QB Russell Wilson announces he will join the Pittsburgh Steelers
SEATTLE – Russell Wilson’s quarterback journey will continue in Pittsburgh.
The former Seahawks quarterback confirmed via social media Sunday night that he will sign with the Steelers, posting on X “Year 13, Grateful. @Steelers’’ accompanied with a video of scenes from Acrisure Stadium, the home of the Steelers.
ESPN reported Wilson will sign a one-year deal with the Steelers, apparently for the league minimum of $1.21 million, with the Broncos paying the rest of the $39 million he is due in 2024.
This ends a whirlwind of a week that began with Denver announcing that it decided to release Wilson after two shaky seasons with the Broncos. That release will not become official until Wednesday for salary-cap reasons.
However, the Broncos gave Wilson the permission to negotiate with teams immediately.
Wilson reportedly visited with the Giants late last week and then headed to Pittsburgh. It was rumored he might visit the Raiders.
Wilson instead came to an agreement with the Steelers, with ESPN reporting he met for six hours with Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin and new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
In Pittsburgh he will be expected to immediately take over the starting role.
The only other quarterback on Pittsburgh’s roster is Kenny Pickett, the 20th overall pick of the 2022 draft who was benched after starting the first 12 games of the 2023 season and did not play in the final five games.
Mason Rudolph, who led the Steelers to three wins down the stretch last season – including a 30-23 win over the Seahawks at Lumen Field – to get the Steelers into the playoffs can be a free agent and is not expected back with Pittsburgh.
Wilson’s release from Denver will mean an $85 million dead cap hit for the Broncos, the largest in NFL history.
But Denver’s willingness to take that hit also indicated how much of a failure the Broncos – and maybe more specifically, coach Sean Payton – felt Wilson’s tenure had become after he was acquired from Seattle for five draft picks and three players in March 2022.
Wilson went 11-19 with the Broncos, with Denver missing the playoffs each season, continuing a drought that dates to the 2015 season, when Peyton Manning led Denver to a Super Bowl title in his final NFL season.
Wilson will be entrusted with trying to not only get the Steelers back into the postseason but past the wild-card round.
The Steelers’ fast finish to last season got Pittsburgh into the wild-card round with a 10-7 record.
But a 31-17 loss at Buffalo seemed to show that the Steelers needed something more to get back to making a significant move in the postseason.
The Steelers ranked sixth in points allowed last season but were 25th in yards gained and 28th in points scored, underscoring the team’s issues at quarterback.
That Wilson is signing just a one-year deal shows each side is considering the 2024 season as something of a test run – the Steelers seeing if Wilson can reclaim the form he had during his nine Pro Bowl seasons in Seattle, and Wilson seeing if the Steelers are truly the team that can allow him to win the “two more Super Bowl trophies’’ in the next five years he proclaimed is his goal during an interview on the “I Am Athlete” podcast last month.