Ranking every Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback ever

1. Russell Wilson

After Seattle made a large splash by signing free agent quarterback Matt Flynn, Seattle selected overlooked prospect Russell Wilson out of Wisconsin in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Wilson, who most teams passed on due to his size. Teams were concerned with Wilson's ability to pass from the pocket at his stature.

Throughout the 2012 preseason, Flynn was the consensus starter. That was until Wilson made it impossible to ignore him. After a stellar preseason, Seattle named their third-round rookie the starter over the free agent quarterback they paid $26 million to. It was a classic example of Pete Carroll's mantra, "Always compete".

In his rookie season, Wilson led the Seahawks to 11 wins, including a playoff win in Washington. Wilson threw for a then-rookie record 26 pass touchdowns to go along with 3,118 passing yards and 489 rushing yards. In his second season, Wilson led the Seahawks to a league-best 13 wins behind 3,357 passing yards and 539 rushing yards.

Seattle was the first seed in the NFC and hosted two playoff games before moving on to Super Bowl XLVIII. The Seahawks dominated the Super Bowl and Wilson completed 72 percent of his passes for two touchdowns as Seattle won its first-ever Super Bowl, 43-8.

By 2014, Wilson had a Super Bowl ring and two Pro Bowl appearances in his two seasons in the NFL. That year, Wilson set a career-high in both passing yards and rushing yards. Seattle won 12 games and was again the first seed in the NFC.

Wilson and Seattle won two more playoff games before advancing to Super Bowl XLIX, which they'd eventually lose to the Patriots in one of the most heartbreaking defeats in league history. Despite the loss, Wilson was named to his third Pro Bowl and was considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

From 2015-2021, Wilson was consistently a top-five quarterback in the league. He threw for over 4,000 in four years and had four straight years of 30+ touchdown passes. In ten years starting with the Seahawks, Wilson broke virtually every passing record in Seattle history.

Wilson owns the records for career passing yards (37,059), passing touchdowns (292), completions (3,079), completion percentage (65 percent), wins (113), and winning percentage (65 percent). Although the Seahawks - Wilson divorce in 2022 was ugly, Wilson will likely always be remembered as the best quarterback in Seattle's history.

And in terms of his current relationship with Seattle, following his trade to Denver and subsequent release and signing with Pittsburgh, Wilson and the Seahawks brass have appeared to patch things up. It gives a bit of closure to a rocky end to his career in Seattle.

More Seahawks news and analysis: