This article will evolve over time. This is just a first draft document and not the finished product.
Now that Russell Wilson has announced his intention to retire from the game of professional football, something of a controversy has erupted on social media about whether or not he qualifies for the Hall of Fame. As expected, the usual suspects, the AP awards voters, people like Mike Sando (formerly of the Tacoma News Tribune), have subtly implied that he is not, or that the road will be difficult for him.
This of course is utterly ridiculous. Russell Wilson is probably the third best quarterback I have ever seen, and easily an instant first ballot Hall of Famer. The statistics show that, the highlight reel shows that, and the accomplishments and wins show that. The questions should not even be "Is he a Hall of Famer?" It should be simply is he an instant, 1st Ballot Hall of Famer.
The answer, by the way, is yes.
It has also exposed an ugly underbelly of prejudice in sports media which is especially pernicious in the game of professional football. Russell Wilson has been the most unfairly maligned player of his generation. The contents of this article will illustrate that. I will also be taking on the criticisms of others, like, for instance, Mr. Sando, who I have had many disagreements with over the years. As we will see, the simple fact is you cannot make a statistical or visual argument that Russell Wilson is not one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. For me, in the top five, but certainly to any one rational, in the top ten.
Yet somehow in his entire career he never received a single AP Sports writers vote for first team All Pro or the MVP, even though you can make a solid argument that he should have won both awards multiple times in his career. This has to do with what I believe is a pernicious East Coast bias in the sports writers, who unfortunately have control of these awards and of the Hall of Fame selection process. In this article we will take that prejudice head on and show you why it is exactly that. It is not based on any rational or impartial evaluation of his career.
Wilson, in my opinion has been a victim of at least three different aspects of prejudice. First and foremost is that he played in Seattle. A location that Jimmy Johnson, a commentator for Fox, once described as "South Alaska." As we have all seen over the years, Seahawks players have to accomplish far more than their East Coast contemporaries to receive the same recognition. A prime example would be Sean Alexander, who had an intense rivalry with the chargers Ladainian Tomlinson in the early 2000s. Tomlinson played in Southern California, which is a much larger media market and while both were terrific players, Alexander as a pure runner was easily on a par with Tomlinson. Yet LT. has been in the Hall of Fame for many years, and Shaun Alexander can't even make it to a final vote. Mike Holmgren is another example. How he can be held out of the Hall of Fame and a coach like Tony Dungy is allowed in for years and years and years is unfathomable. Unlike Dungy, Holmgren actually innovated many aspects of the West Coast offense and was one of the games truly great play callers. Dungy did nothing but take over existing teams whose talent had already been established and not blow the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning at quarterback. He made no significant contributions to the game and his defenses were not innovative in any way. They were simply carbon copies of Monte Kiffin's defensive concepts that had been established more than a decade before. The truth is the East Coast sportswriter dominated AP only gives recognition to Seahawks players when they are so brilliant they are forced to. It will be interesting to see, as other members of the legion of boom come up in the next few years for Hall of Fame recognition how they are treated. I suspect several of them will be made to wait, if not be completely snubbed. I think Marshawn Lynch will get in right away, but Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Cam chancellor, and obviously Russ will have a much harder time as long as the current voting system remains in place.
So, the argument that Wilson didn't win enough awards to get in is a circle jerk. The same biased reporters who didn't want to acknowledge Wilson's greatness in his playing days are going to use the fact that they didn't acknowledge his greatness then to not acknowledge his greatness for the Hall of Fame now.
The other problem that Wilson faces is -- and I hate to say this -- simply one of racism. During his time in Seattle, other Seahawks players, most notably Michael Bennett and Doug Baldwin and even, it has been implied, Richard Sherman, complained that Russell Wilson was "not black enough." In other words, Wilson spoke too eloquently, was too intelligent, and was not into ghetto rap music enough. Or something like that. The fact is Russell Wilson walked and talked like a white guy. And that, for some reason, upset a lot of people. These criticisms were well out in the open in the 2015-to-2018-time frame, when Wilson was carrying the team on his shoulders.
The final reason why the AP voters who will decide this issue are so against Russell Wilson is even worse. It comes down to anti-Christian bigotry. Wilson wears his Christianity on his sleeve. He talks about it constantly, although he generally leaves it out of his football conversations. Most Associated Press football writers are left wing Democrats. Mike Sando for instance, tried to run for Congress in Washington state. Guess what. He ran as a Democrat.
Democrats hate Christians. And I believe that is actually the deepest root source for the bias against Russell Wilson's career accomplishments. At some point we will examine that and scrutinize it at well as well. Starting today we are simply going to focus on the unfair and inaccurate narratives against Russell Wilson and show, with facts and highlights, that he's easily one of the top 10 or 15 quarterbacks of all time.
This document will continue to evolve over the next few years until Wilson comes up for consideration for the Hall of Fame.
Now let's get started.
The Case for Russ
16th all-time in passing yards (Ahead of: Fouts, Mahomes, Jim Kelly, Montana, Unitas, Young, Warner, Josh Allen, Aikman)
4th all-time in rushing yardage from the quarterback position (5,568)
12th all-time in touchdown passes (Ahead of: Tarkenton, Elway, Moon, Unitas, Montana, Fouts, Kelly, Young, Aikman)
5th all-time in Passer rating: (Ahead of: Brees, Brady, Manning, Young, Warner, Montana, Stafford, Moon, Bradshaw, Roethlisberger, Favre, Kelly, Aikman)
25th in completion % (Ahead of Roethlisberger, Young, Montana, Brady, Favre, Aikman, Kelly, Marino, Moon, Stabler, Elway)
4th all-time in TD/Interception ratio (ahead of Brady, Brees, Allen, Young, Manning, Matt Ryan, Rivers, Montana, Roethlisberger, Elway, Marino, Warner)
9th All-time in 4th quarter comebacks (Ahead of Elway, Tarkenton, Favre, Montana, Moon, Rodgers, Fouts, Kelly, Mahomes)
Only quarterback IN NFL HISTORY to pass for 40,000 yards and rush for 5,000 yards
One of only 4 Quarterbacks in NFL History to pass for 4,000+ yards and rush for 500+ yards in a single season. One of only 2 to do it twice.
Holds NFL RECORD scoring 37 of Seahawks 38 TDs in 2017 (97.4%, highest percentage in NFL history). Also accounted for 86.4% of Seattle’s offensive yardage, also HIGHEST IN NFL HISTORY
Seahawks were within one score or leading in the 4th quarter for the first 84 starts of Wilson’s career, also an NFL RECORD (Mahomes streak was only 54)
Wilson has more wins, passing yards, a higher Comp % and more Super Bowl appearances than Aaron Rodgers over his career.
Most passing yards in a playoff game by a rookie: (385)
Most fourth quarter touchdown passes in a season: 16 (2017)
2020 Walter Payton Man of the Year
Only Quarterback in NFL history to have winning seasons his first 9 years
10-time Pro-Bowler
2 Super Bowl appearances
Super Bowl Champion
List of Hall of Fame players Russell Wilson is ahead of in at least two major statistical categories: Elway, Marino, Favre, Moon, Mahomes, Big Ben, Montana, Kelly, Fouts, Warner, Young, Manning, Brady, etc.
Pete Carroll with Russell Wilson
113-60-1/65.3%
3 Division titles
8 playoff appearances
2 Super Bowls
1 Super Bowl win
Pete Carroll without Russell Wilson
34-33/50.7%
I Division title
2 playoff appearances
0 Super Bowls
0 Super Bowl wins
“Let Russ Cook”
2020 – Weeks 1-8 (Seahawks)
Record 6-2
Comp% 71.4
Yards 2,541
Yards per game 317.5
Touchdowns 28
Interceptions 8
TD/Int Ratio: 4:1
Passer rating: 115.8
2024 – Weeks 7-14 (Stealers)
Record 6-1
Comp% 64.3
Yards 1,784
Yards per game 255
Touchdowns 12
Interceptions 3
TD/Int Ratio: 4:1
Passer rating: 104.1
Combined (15 games)
Record 12-3
Comp% 67.8
Yards 4,325
YPG 286.2
Touchdowns 40
Interceptions 11
TD/Int Ratio 4:1
Passer Rating 109.9
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