Russell Wilson will always be relevant to the Seattle Seahawks. Eschewing the shadow of Wilson for a 12 is forgetting an important part of the most successful era in team history. Wilson was the best quarterback in Seattle football history, and he became endlessly irritating.
Part of the issue is that he seems unaware of this. He is the Steve Garvey of the Seahawks, except without having all the children out of wedlock. When Garvey was with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1970s and '80s, he honed an image that made him look clean-cut and a leader. He wasn't.
As far as Russell Wilson the human being, he is fine. As far as Wilson the football player, he isn't. The longer he tells us he is team-first, only proves he isn't. He is Russ-first. Seahawks fans learned this after the 2021 season when the arrogance of Wilson led him to ask ownership to have general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll fired.
Former Seahawks legend Russell Wilson continues his streak of having a lack of self-awareness
Wilson was the one who was fired. Seattle traded him to the Denver Broncos, where the quarterback thought enough of himself that he demanded to have his own office, which implied he thought he was bigger than the rest of the team.
Wilson isn't a bad person, but he lacks self-awareness as a player, and that has likely caused him to have more hate than love directed toward him. His actions have spoken louder than his, at times, meaningless words, and when he keeps saying the same things every year, and from team to team, he comes across as extremely disingenuous.
This offseason, Wilson signed with the New York Giants, his fourth team in five seasons, and his third in three. He has said part of the reason he came to New York is that he wanted to play with wide receiver Malik Nabers. In truth, the Giants are one of the few (and maybe the only) teams that wanted to sign Wilson.
He didn't have many options. He shouldn't have.
Now, in a recent article from Sports Illustrated, Wilson has doubled down on his reason for coming to the Giants with things such as, "Me and Carmelo (Anthony) were talking about this. He’s like, ‘Man, this is the perfect place for you to reestablish and have everybody realize who Russell Wilson really is, by not just how you play on the field, but what you do, the community, and different things that you’re able to impact.’"
The name-drop there is self-serving, of course. Russ has famous friends! Great. Bringing Anthony up only makes him appear more fake, though, in an attempt to build himself up. Again, his biggest sin is a lack of self-awareness.
The truth is that he is probably quite happy to be in New York City, one of the few cities where his inflated ego cannot overwhelm. Let's just see how he reacts once the Giants' season inevitably begins to go south and fans are asking for Wilson to be replaced, possibly as soon as Week 3.