The Pittsburgh Steelers have gone through a few quarterbacks since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. After leading the Steelers to an improbable victory on Sunday, it seems Russell Wilson could have what it takes to lead the Steelers offense for at least this year. However, in a recent interview, Wilson is thinking of a longer drive in his career journey.
Russell Wilson sat down with Hannah Storm of ESPN to discuss how his time in Pittsburgh is going thus far. Among the topics, they discussed his recruitment to the Steelers, his teammates, getting released from Denver, and notably his NFL future. Wilson wasn’t shy about wanting to play much longer than a season or two.
“I definitely want to play another five to seven more years, you know, I think that’s always been my goal,” Wilson said when asked about his time left now that his children are growing up. “I’ve been very clear about that since the beginning. I think that’s always been my mindset is, you know, the longevity of the game.”
If Wilson were to max out his goal, he would be playing near his mid-40s–something rarely ever seen in the NFL. The goal isn’t totally unreasonable to Wilson for one simple area of his game: durability.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to play, I don’t know, 200 plus games and really not [miss] any,” Wilson said of his health. “I feel great, I feel young. I feel I can still move around out there … make all the throws and throw the ball where I need to throw it.”
Prior to his calf injury at the beginning of training camp, Russell Wilson only missed five games out of 193 due to injury. This season, he exceeded that total by being the inactive/emergency third quarterback in the first six games.
The motivation behind this is simple for Wilson: winning.
“Winning this week … winning the next one … the end of the season hopefully we’re holding something that we forever remember,” Wilson said of his goals to win another Super Bowl (or two?) “I [have] a goal of winning a couple more.”
That alone should be music to Steelers fans’ ears. Wilson’s contract expires at the end of the season. If he can take Pittsburgh on a deep playoff run, there’s no doubt the Steelers will want to bring him back on a multi-year deal. Five to seven years? Maybe, maybe not. One thing is for sure, Wilson wants to win for years to come.