I know, I know — he doesn't play here anymore and hasn't since 2021.
And yeah, the Mariners' collapse (or perhaps pending surge?) is on the minds of the most ardent Seattle sports fans now.
But it's hard to look at that score — 70-20 — and not think that Russell Wilson is the sports epitome of "be careful what you wish for."
The first three weeks of the 2023 season has only amplified Wilson's nightmarish departure from Seattle, something that seemed close to impossible after the disaster that was last year.
After forcing his way out of Seattle and drawing boos from the Lumen Field crowd in the season opener, the Broncos QB watched his new team go 5-12 (4-11 with him as a starter) and give the Seahawks the fifth overall pick in the following draft.
It was a series of on-the-field, off-the-field and in-the-air embarrassments, with Wilson posting a career-low passer rating of 84.4 and career-high number of sacks taken (55) — all while being mocked nationally for exercising in the aisle of the plane while his teammates slept.
Sure, a five-year, $242 million contract will help assuage some of these humiliations, but money isn't a panacea to a competitor with an ego. Last year hurt Russell. What's happening now might be even more painful.
The Broncos are now 0-3 after losing by 50 points to the Dolphins on Sunday. That takes Wilson's record to 4-14 as the starting QB in the mile-high city, his worst 18-game stretch by a country mile. The losses aren't necessarily his fault. He is having a decent year by NFL standards, with his 99.5 passer rating ranking seventh in the league — although he has taken 10 sacks.
But Wilson didn't force his way out of Seattle to be decent. The Broncos didn't pay him nearly $50 million a year to be decent, either. These moves and signings were built around the idea that Wilson would take his (once) Hall of Fame-worthy résumé and resurrect an organization that hadn't reached the playoffs since its Super Bowl-winning season in 2015. The opposite has happened. The Broncos just keep getting worse.
It's quite possible that Wilson's numbers would have dropped off last season regardless of where he played. Had it happened in Seattle, however, it's unlikely that he would have taken the brunt of the blame for his decline. Critics probably would have pointed to coach Pete Carroll, or the offensive system, or a shoddy O-line that consistently failed to protect the team's primary asset.
But Wilson exposed himself when he changed jerseys in what still seemed to be the prime of his career. Now it was all on him. Suddenly, it didn't seem like it was the Seahawks' fault for all the sacks he took in Seattle — not when he took more than ever in his first year in Denver. It wasn't a lack of support from receivers or running backs that kept him from advancing in the playoffs in his later years in blue and green — not when he has done zilch with minimal support with the Broncos.
Yes, his numbers have rebounded to a respectable degree in the short-term — but with the losses piling up, and Denver coach Sean Payton telling him to "(expletive) stop kissing all the babies," the snowball builds.
It's hard to think of a more demonstrative fall from grace for a former superstar who had no major off-the-field scandals or injuries. MLB's Cody Bellinger went from National League MVP one year to a guy who hit .165 two years later — but he wasn't incessantly derided on a national level. The NBA's James Harden regularly asks for trades and insults former employers — but his teams still achieve relative success as his statistics remain at elite.
What's happening with Wilson is different.
Years earlier, Ken Griffey Jr. took a similar route when he forced his way out of Seattle after 11 years with the Mariners. Except ... he wanted to move back to his hometown of Cincinnati so as to raise his children near family.
The move didn't sit well with M's fans at first. But now he has a statue outside of T-Mobile Park and receives booming ovations whenever he returns. That's unlikely to happen with No. 3 at Lumen.
Had Wilson stayed in Seattle, he could have faded with grace and maintained an adoring fan base that would always see him as the quarterback that helped drive the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl win. Now he's a man without a city — earning emphatic scorn from separate fan bases and, as former NFL QB Ryan Fitzpatrick suggested recently, possibly playing his way out of the Hall of Fame.
I suppose it's difficult to say that someone who has received two nine-figure contracts and is happily married with children is living a hard life. At this point, though, it seems just as difficult to say that Wilson is living an easy one.
