Will Russell Wilson one day make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? That’s debatable, but what’s not is that Wilson had some incredibly notable and memorable moments during his NFL career.
Russell Wilson had been hoping for, surely even expecting a better final chapter to his NFL career.
He was confident his failed Denver Broncos tenure was an aberration, only to find a similar recurring lack of confidence in his post-prime abilities from the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants.
And just like that, it was over.
No, this isn’t the ending anyone would have imagined for Wilson when he was one of the most exciting players in the game not all that long ago, but he made the decision this week to formally announce his retirement from the league and take a job as an analyst for CBS’ Sunday NFL pregame show.
He did so with a video post to social media captioned, “Thank You, Football.”
Wilson’s career featured incredible highs and highlights on his way from an undersized third-round draft pick to an outsized face of the league — Super Bowl champion in just his second NFL season, celebrity marriage to music star Ciara, and the superlative stats and accolades piling up along the way.
But just like his signature moon balls that made him one of the most dynamic passers in the sport, no matter the heights his career reached it had to come down at some point and land somewhere.
The suddenness of Wilson’s decline was stunning, though.
It’s hard to remember a quarterback going from “Let him cook!” to “Man, he’s cooked!” more swiftly.
Wilson was coming off his ninth Pro Bowl honor in 10 years with the Seattle Seahawks in 2021, having passed for 3,113 yards, 25 TDs and 6 INTs in 14 games. But it was a frustrating 7-10 season for the team overall with reported behind-the-scenes strife between the organization and its star QB.
The previous year, though, Wilson had one of his best seasons period with 4,212 passing yards (7 off his high) and a career-best 40 TDs with 13 INTs for a 12-4 Seahawks team.
At that point, Wilson needed only a few more mildly interesting chapters to his career to likely end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Instead, the sharp plot twist that followed leaves that matter rather cloudy.
After that 2021 season, Wilson was traded to Denver in a move he said was “definitely mutual.”
It turned out mutually regrettable — for he and the Broncos.
Doomed In Denver
Seattle got two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock and a couple other players for Wilson and a fourth-round pick.
The Seahawks used that trade to fuel the rebuild that led them to a Super Bowl title last year and the launch of an exciting new era for the franchise.
Wilson never enjoyed the same kind of second act.
Given the price the Broncos paid, they surely expected they were getting the Wilson of old, but rather they simply got a clearly old Wilson.
The QB turned 34 his first season in Denver in 2022 and had seemingly lost a step on his once-elite escapability in the pocket and threat to run that had been the foundation of so many of his best highlights — the ones in which he danced his way out of seeming peril only to then drop a dime downfield for a big gain.
Really, that decline had showed in his final season in Seattle as well, as his rushing total dropped from 513 yards on 83 attempts in 2020 to a then-career-low 183 yards on 43 attempts (in two less games) in 2021.
He was sacked a career-worst and league-high 55 times that first season in Denver and rushed for 277 yards. His passing production went off a cliff too — a career-low 60.5% completion rate for 3,524 yards and just 16 TDs with 11 INTs over 15 games.
His head coach Nathaniel Hackett was fired two games before the end of the regular season as the Broncos went on to finish a dismal 5-12.
Denver hired coach Sean Payton ahead of the 2023 season, and he and Wilson simply never clicked.
With the team dropping to 7-8 after back-to-back losses, Payton benched Wilson late in that season with one driving factor being a clause in the QB’s contract that locked in a $37 million guarantee for 2025 if Wilson was injured and couldn’t pass a physical.
It was clear the Broncos planned to move on from the sunk cost of the massive trade and subsequent contract extension it gave Wilson and wanted no further obstacles in doing so. Indeed, he was released in March after that season.
He finished that 2023 campaign with a career-low 3,070 passing yards, albeit with 26 TDs and 8 INTs (with 45 sacks).
Searching For A Final Chapter
Wilson tried to revive his career with the Steelers in 2024, battling Justin Fields, the failed first-round pick who had been acquired from the Bears that offseason for a conditional sixth-rounder.
Wilson won the preseason QB competition, but a calf injury sidelined him before the first game. Fields would start the first five games before giving way to Wilson, who went 6-5 as a starter with 2,482 passing yards, 16 TDs and 5 INTs. He played fine in the team’s wildcard playoff game, completing 20 of 29 passes for 270 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs, but the Steelers lost 28-14 to the Ravens.
Wilson hoped to return to Pittsburgh last season, but the Steelers decided to go a new direction (ultimately signing even older veteran Aaron Rodgers). So Wilson signed a one-year deal with the Giants, who named him the starter to open the season despite also signing veteran Jameis Winston and drafting QB Jaxson Dart in the first round.
Wilson went 0-3 as a starter before being benched for Dart, though he did mix in a turn-back-the-clock performance in Week 2 with 450 passing yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT in an overtime loss to the Cowboys.
Those would be the final touchdown passes and highlights of his storied career.
After struggling off the bench in a Week 10 relief effort, Wilson was demoted to third-string for the rest of the season — a most humbling finish for one of the more memorable players of his era. (He later stated that he tore his hamstring prior to that game vs. the Cowboys, though it was never disclosed to the team.)
In terms of legacy and historical standing, he is presently the only quarterback to ever amass 40,000 passing yards and 5,000 rushing yards.
He made 10 Pro Bowls overall and finished top four in the voting for NFL Offensive Player of the Year three times, but he earned only one, lone second-team All-Pro honor and never received a single MVP vote.
That last part is what particularly complicates his Hall of Fame case, though it seems likely he still gets the call to Canton.
Wilson ranks 16th all-time in career passing yards (46,966), 12th in passing touchdowns (353) with 114 interceptions and 5th in career passer rating (99.3), reached back-to-back Super Bowls and won a championship.
He was never the best quarterback of his era, but he was highly entertaining for a long time.
We couldn’t even narrow down a concise list of Wilson’s most jaw-dropping plays — like this scramble-drill TD to Doug Baldwin in 2015.
But we will take a shot at breaking down Wilson’s 10 most notable performances/moments from his 14-year NFL career.
10 Most Notable Moments In NFL Career Of Russell Wilson
1. Super Bowl Champion
In just his second season in the league (2013), Wilson celebrated a Super Bowl championship as the Seahawks, their young star QB and their Legion of Boom defense dominated the Broncos, 43-8.
Wilson did his part, completing 18 of 25 passes for 206 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs.
2. Walk-off Winner To Get Back To The Super Bowl
In their quest for back-to-back championships, the Seahawks looked like they were going to fall short in the NFC championship game vs. the Packers, trailing by 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Wilson had thrown 4 interceptions to that point, and yet he found a way to turn that game into one of the most memorable of his career.
With less than 4 minutes to play, Wilson hit on completions of 20 and 26 yards and scored on his own 1-yard touchdown run to cut the Packers’ lead to 19-14 with 2:09 to play.
Seattle then recovered an onside kick and marched down for the go-ahead touchdown (a 24-yard Marshawn Lynch run) and two-point conversion pass from Wilson. The Packers tied it at 22-22 on a field goal in the final minute, sending the game to overtime.
And Wilson, shaking off the 4 interceptions from early, delivered the walk-off winner, first hitting Doug Baldwin for 35 yards on third down and then connecting with Jermaine Kearse on a perfectly thrown deep shot for a 35-yard game-winning touchdown to send Seattle to a second straight Super Bowl appearance.
3. A Haunting Finish To Super Bowl XLIX
It’s hard to go any further down this list and not mention one of the most iconic plays in NFL history — of which Wilson happened to be on the wrong side.
The Seahawks were vying for back-to-back Super Bowl titles, and before we get to the haunting finish to that game, let’s at least note that Wilson helped stake Seattle to a 24-14 lead over the Patriots entering the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIX. New England scored the next 14 points to take the lead with 2:02 remaining.
Wilson answered by driving the Seahawks down the field in the final 2 minutes with 31-yard connection to Lynch, an 11-yard completion to Ricardo Lockette on third-and-10 and a 33-yard hookup with a juggling Kearse down to the New England 5-yard line (first clip in the video below).
Two plays later on second-and-goal from the 1 came the fateful decision to dial up a passing play rather than let Lynch keep ramming his way toward the end zone. Wilson’s pass was picked off by Malcolm Butler in one of the most legendary plays in league history and what looked like a burgeoning Seattle dynasty never made it back to the Big Game with that core.
What’s lost in that ending and 28-24 loss is that Wilson passed for 247 yards and 2 TDs while leading a clutch two-minute drive to the brink of a career-defining moment — that play call (more so than the pass itself) will forever haunt Seahawks fans and everyone involved.
4. Wilson Outduels Texans In Shootout
One of the best regular-season performances of Wilson’s career came in October of 2017 in 41-38 shootout win over the Texans at home in Seattle.
Wilson completed 26 of 41 passes for a career-high 452 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT and led the team with 30 rushing yards.
On the game-winning drive with under 2 minutes to play, Wilson connected with Paul Richardson for 48 yards, Lockett for 19 yards and then tight end Jimmy Graham for the 18-yard go-ahead touchdown.
5. Excellence In Efficiency
One of the most impressive performances of Wilson’s career came late in his Seahawks tenure in a 38-25 road win over the Falcons early in the 2020 season.
Wilson was nearly perfect that day, completing 31 of 35 passes for 322 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs while leading the team with 29 rushing yards.
Incredibly, though, that was not even his best single-game quarterback rating (143.1).
6. First 5-Touchdown Game With An Exclamation Point
That feat came back in 2015 when Wilson completed 21 of 30 passes for 345 yards, 5 TDs and 0 INTs in a 39-30 win over the Steelers.
Wilson capped that performance with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin with a little more than 2 minutes to play.
Wilson finished with a 147.9 quarterback rating that game.
7. Statement Win Vs. The Saints
One of the games in that 2013 season, Wilson’s second in the league, that announced to the rest of the NFL the Seahawks were legitimate Super Bowl contenders came in early December at home against the Saints.
Seattle entered the game 10-1 and New Orleans was 9-2.
Wilson completed 22 of 30 passes for 310 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INT, took only one sack and led the Seahawks with 47 rushing yards on the way to a 34-7 domination and Seattle’s seventh straight win.
It was just the second 300-yard passing game of Wilson’s career and arguably his best performance to that point as the league was starting to realize Seattle had a star at QB.
8-9. Let Russ Cook!
In addition to one already noted, Wilson had two other games in his career with 5 TD passes and 0 INTs.
One came in 2019 vs. the Buccaneers in a 40-34 overtime win as Wilson completed 29 of 43 for 378 yards, 5 TDs and 0 INTs. His 29-yard completion to DK Metcalf on third down kept the game-winning drive in overtime going before he capped it with a 10-yard TD pass to Jacob Hollister.
And then the next year, Wilson did it again in a 38-31 win over the Cowboys, completing 27 of 40 passes for 315 yards, 5 TDs and 0 INTs — including the 29-yard game-winner to Metcalf in the final 2 minutes.
When he played to the peak of his powers, on any given week Wilson could absolutely be as good as any quarterback of his era.
10. Final Flashes
While we touched on the final seasons of Wilson’s career falling far short of the finish he probably deserved, it is incredible to note that two of his three biggest passing games (by yards) came with the Steelers and Giants.
The highlight of his 2024 season in Pittsburgh came in a 44-38 win over the Bengals in which Wilson turned back the clock in completing 29 of 38 passes for 414 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. It marked the third-most yards Wilson ever threw for in a game.
And then came the very final flurry in that 2025 game with the Giants vs. the Cowboys. It came in defeat (40-37 in overtime), but Wilson completed 30 of 41 passes for 450 yards — his second-best mark — with the final 3 TDs of his career and an INT.
