Retired Philadelphia Eagles legend Jason Kelce and Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce are among noteworthy members of the NFL community who are fans of quarterback Russell Wilson making an offseason move from the Denver Broncos to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Russell gets to start fresh here in Pittsburgh,” Jason said during the latest edition of the “New Heights” podcast, as shared by Jeff Smith of Sports Illustrated and Jeremy Pike of Steelers Depot. “This is like the only missing piece right now in Pittsburgh. If Russ is even close to the quarterback he used to be, this is an extremely dangerous team with what they’re working with on the defensive side of the ball.”
Travis knows plenty about Wilson considering the 35-year-old faced Kansas City a total of four times during his two-season Denver tenure. This past October, the signal-caller who earned nine Pro Bowl nods while with the Seattle Seahawks, helped the Broncos earn a 24-9 victory over the Chiefs.
“He was still balling in Denver at times,” Travis said about Wilson. “I’ve seen him dice up some teams and make some good throws. I mean, we lost to Denver in Denver last year.”
According to ESPN stats, Wilson finished this past regular season ranked eighth in the NFL among qualified players with a 98.0 passer rating. Over 15 games, he tossed 26 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions.
Wilson agreed to a team-friendly deal to head to Pittsburgh, but it’s been made clear he will have to compete with 2022 first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett for the starting job this summer. Losing that battle to Pickett could spark the beginning of the end of Wilson’s playing career considering the Steelers aren’t married to him beyond next season.
“I think Russ has a lot of good football left in him, man,” Travis continued. “Obviously, he’s got that ‘it’ factor about him that we’ve seen so many times. Sure enough, he’ll bring some veteran presence to that locker room, and we all know how good of a coach [Mike] Tomlin is and how good that defense is. Steelers definitely just got better for sure.”
CBS Sports NFL analyst Matt Ryan believes Wilson can turn the clock back playing under new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Dan Orlovsky of ESPN thinks the version of Wilson who featured for the 2023 Broncos could guide Pittsburgh to a playoff win next January.
As much as some fans may have scoffed at the Steelers adding Wilson to their quarterback room, plenty of former and current players believe Pittsburgh improved at the sport’s most important position this week.
