Former Denver Broncos offensive lineman Mark Schlereth thinks Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson will start five games before he’s benched. Schlereth, for some odd reason, rips Wilson constantly. Some believe that Schlereth is just a mouthpiece for Sean Payton and echoes what he’s told.
While Schlereth despises Wilson, one Broncos legend has a different outlook on the nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion.
“Sometimes it’s just not a great fit,” Broncos two-time Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey said about Wilson’s two-year tenure in Denver, via Betway Insider. “Russell Wilson’s a nine-time Pro Bowler, he’s been to two Super Bowls, won one, and he’s had almost 50,000 passing yards in his career. He was in a different offense in Seattle, he was on the Broncos for a couple of years and I thought he showed a lot of improvement from his first year to his second.”
The Broncos are paying Wilson nearly $38 million this year to play for the Steelers, who will only pay him just over $1 million on a veteran minimum contract. Denver is kicking themselves for making one of the worst trades/deals in NFL history, but Wilson’s relationship with head coach Sean Payton wasn’t salvageable. The two just never saw eye to eye.
“There were huge expectations he first signed, a new head coach, new play caller, and then all of a sudden your coach is fired,” McCaffrey said. “Now you’ve got another new head coach on a team that’s rebuilding and let go of a lot of veteran players and revamped some positions with a lot of young players. There was improvement, but I believe the Denver Broncos felt it was time to find the franchise quarterback for the future.”
Rookie Bo Nix is now the starting quarterback in Denver. Wilson and the Steelers play the Broncos at Mile High in Week 2, which certainly will provide intriguing headlines.
“I do think Russell has a chance to have success in Pittsburgh,” McCaffrey said. “Mike Tomlin’s never had a losing record, they’re typically a nine or 10-win team. They’re looking to turn the corner, but they’re in a very tough division.”
McCaffrey thinks Wilson will have to be an X-factor for the Steelers this year.
“Russell earned the job, even though he was in a little bit of a competition with Justin Fields, but they’re going to expect big things from him,” he said. “Mike Tomlin is not a guy that minces his words, so Russell Wilson is the guy but he’s got to continue to play at a high level, and he knows that.”