Russell Wilson will remain a divisive figure to Seattle Seahawks fans. He is the most successful quarterback in franchise history, but he worked his way out by trying to have general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll fired after the 2021 season. Instead, he was fired.
The team sent him packing to the Denver Broncos, and he spent two seasons there before washing out. He spent another year with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was with the New York Giants this season. He even started three games.
But he also recently admitted, maybe even unknowingly, that he put the Giants in a terrible spot. Reports have surfaced that before Week 2, when the Giants were about to take on the Dallas Cowboys, Wilson suffered a Grade 2 hamstring tear. He kept playing, and he did well against Dallas, passing for 450 yards, three touchdowns, but had a bad interception that ended the game.
Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson let the New York Giants down
He started again in Week 3, but was back to being terribly inefficient, and he was benched for rookie Jaxson Dart in Week 4. The former Seahawks quarterback didn't see the field much more the rest of the season.
The issue is that after Pro Football Talk tweeted that the NFL will likely investigate why Wilson played (with no injury designation) in Week 2 after the hamstring tear, the quarterback responded by astonishingly confessing that New York should be in no trouble because Wilson didn't tell the Giants about his injury.
Instead, Wilson said he wanted to "go ball" against Dallas. Playing through an injury, as long as there is no real risk of causing long-term harm, can be a sign of toughness. Not telling your employer that you are hurt, however, is not good. Maybe part of why Wilson did not play in Week 3 could have been the hamstring injury, but the Giants wouldn't have known it.
Not the @Giants fault!
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) January 5, 2026
they didn’t know bc I didn’t want to tell anyone bc of the circumstances. I just had to play through it to try and go ball that day! Thought we were going to Win that wild crazy game! https://t.co/NGyhZGtlni
NFL teams have an obligation to announce which players are hurt, and can be fined if they do not send out that information. The team also deserves to have the truth from a player if they are injured. A player being hurt could definitely affect team performance, and the team has a right to go in a different direction if it thinks the player is too hurt.
Russell Wilson, though, took matters into his own hands, wasn't honest with the New York Giants (who he almost definitely will not return to in 2026), and did something that could have affected his teammates' success. The former Seattle Seahawks quarterback is likely done in the NFL.