Russell Wilson trade rumors are wildly off-base and frankly crazy

Russell Wilson is going nowhere else but Canton

There are two things stopping this from happening: One, it’s crazy, and two, it’s stupid. Okay, I have actual reasons, but those are totally valid. First, no quarterback with the resume of Russell Wilson has ever been traded at this stage of his career. Yes, I know Joe Montana got traded, thank you. He was 36 years old and lost his starting gig to Steve Young the prior season. Drew Brees is a much better comparison. So let’s dig in.

Brees was the Chargers quarterback for five seasons when he was traded to the Saints, four of those as their starter. In his four starting seasons, he had passer ratings of 76.9, 67.5, 104.8, and 89.2. Add in his one game as a rookie, and he threw for 80 touchdowns against 53 interceptions, for an overall passer rating of 84.9.

Now let’s look at Russell Wilson. I’ll use his first five seasons, same as Brees. Hey, it’s not my fault the Chargers didn’t trust the rookie Drew Brees more than the 39 year old Doug Flutie. Okay, back to Wilson. His passer ratings for his first five seasons: 100.0, 101.2, 95.0, 110.1, and 92.6. Wilson threw 127 touchdowns versus 45 interceptions. His overall passer rating (including last season’s 95.4 which pulled it down) was 98.8.

Brees is an amazing quarterback, but there is no comparison between Drew Brees after his fifth season and Russell Wilson. Other big name quarterbacks traded in early to mid-career include Carson Palmer, Jay Cutler, Drew Bledsoe, and Sam Bradford. Yes, Bradford is a special case, but I didn’t give him tissue paper tendons. These are all really good players (and yes, your mileage may vary), but none are close to Wilson.