Is Russell Wilson having his best off season ever?

Russell Wilson appears to be more focused than ever on taking his Seattle Seahawks team back to the Super Bowl.

Lost among all the attention the last couple months centered on free agents coming and going, and a certain Beastly running back deciding to retire, is the fact that behind the scenes the Seahawks franchise quarterback appears to be putting together his own version of a “championship off season.”

More from 12th Man Rising

• 4 prospects Seahawks could reach for at No. 20 in 2023 NFL Draft
• Seattle Seahawks Mock Draft: Post-first wave of free agency 
• Seahawks podcast: A review of the first week of free agency
• 4 experiments the Seattle Seahawks could cut short in 2023
• 3 pros and cons of Seattle Seahawks drafting Anthony Richardson

First, there’s his engagement to Ciara. I mean, that’s big time. Kudos to you sir! But I wanted to get that out of the way right off the cuff, because these 500 words or so are NOT going to be about completely irrelevant things like that.

I’m talking about REAL work. Wilson has been Tweeting, and Instagramming a sneak peek into his off season routine virtually since the moment Hawks were eliminated by the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round of the playoffs in January. Much of it shows him working out with last years rookie sensation WR Tyler Lockett.

But also just lots of examples of him busting his ass to get ready for the season.

Last year at this time there was a lot of speculation, too much probably, that Wilson’s focus had strayed away from the football field. He was doing too many commercials, Ciara was a distraction, and he was simply way too concerned with chasing celebrity status rather than success on the field.

Bull-pucky!!!!

I’m amazed that it’s completely escaped the watchful eye of the ever-critical traditional press and blogosphere that Wilson didn’t report to Rangers spring training this year. Last year he worked out with the team that acquired his rights, spoke to the team, hit a home run in batting practice, and even told HBO’s Bryant Gumbel that the Rangers wanted him to play for them. At the time, many wrote it off as a negotiating ploy (this was before Wilson signed his 4 year, $87.6 million contract extension), but some took it seriously enough to question Wilson’s commitment out loud.

How ridiculous does that look now?

The timing couldn’t be better. With the mercurial Marshawn Lynch galloping off into the sunset of retirement (on a camel no less), this is now Wilson’s team to lead. Lynch didn’t talk much off the field but his voice of leadership was powerful within that locker room. It’s up to #3 now to take total control over the tone that’s set with this Seahawks team, on and off the field.

Sometime in the next week or two, Wilson will once again be organizing a large group workout with members of the offense, and presumably the defense as he did last year when he took the contingent to Hawaii. After that, mini-camps will be upon us and before you can even check the calendar it will be time for training camp.

Say what you want about whether or not the Seahawks will have finished assembling an offensive line capable of protecting him or not, but at this point it’s hard to surmise that Wilson’s 2016 off season has been anything but championship-level.

Next: Seahawks Preseason Schedule Released

And that’s not all……. there’s also THIS!

This is one BUSY man!