Mar 15, 2024 5 min read

By Dale Lolley

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

So, Russell Wilson is now a member of the Steelers. And Kenny Pickett is not.

It was simply too much of a low-risk, high-reward move for the Steelers to pass on adding a potential Hall of Fame quarterback.

Pickett was traded to the Eagles for a third-round pick in this year’s NFL draft and two seventh-round choices in the 2025 draft in exchange for Pickett and Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick this year.

It’s low-risk because the Denver Broncos are on the hook for the majority of Wilson’s $39 million salary in 2024, with the Steelers offsetting a small portion of that with a $1.2 million base salary.

If Wilson works out, the Steelers get an improvement at quarterback at an extremely reduced price. And it didn’t cost them any draft capital to acquire Wilson.

If it doesn’t work out, they can simply release Wilson at very little cost to their salary cap.

That doesn’t seem likely.

Wilson’s tenure in Denver didn’t work out. The Broncos gave up multiple players and draft picks to acquire Wilson from the Seahawks. They then handed him a five-year, $242.6-million deal on which they’re still liable for $85 million against their salary cap over the next two seasons. It’s the most dead money for a player in NFL history.

But part of the reason for the Broncos feeling the need to do that was because they realized their roster wasn’t very good. Denver hasn’t made the playoffs since 2015 and Wilson wasn’t putting the Broncos over the top.

The Steelers, on the other hand, have won 19 games the past two seasons despite getting only 25 touchdown passes in 34 games from their quarterbacks. Wilson had 26 touchdown passes in 15 games for Denver last season.

“I’ve never been a numbers guy. What I care about number one is wins. First thing,” Wilson said Friday. “Second thing is touchdowns do matter. Those help those wins and solidify them.”

With Wilson in the fold, the Steelers felt confident enough to move on from Pickett, trading him Friday to the Eagles.

This is Wilson’s job, and his alone. And Pickett saw that writing on the wall.

“​​I come in with the mindset of being the best version of me every day. That’s always the plan,” said Wilson. “What we’re trying to do is for me. I want to help our football team win. I think that’s the job of the quarterback. The role is to help the Pittsburgh Steelers win.

“That’s always been the goal every day. So the goal is to get more trophies and do everything we can to win.”

• On paper, the addition of Wilson would seem to make the Steelers a better team because of the aforementioned touchdown passes, which have been lacking for the Steelers.

But he also values the ball at a level that aligns with how the Steelers want to play.

He had only eight interceptions in 2023 and his 1.9 percent interception rate for his career is tied for eighth-best in NFL history.

In the past two seasons, when the Steelers win the turnover battle, they’re 19-5. When they do not, they’re 0-11.

• Wilson’s bargain deal also allowed the Steelers to make a big splash in free agency adding former Baltimore linebacker Patrick Queen on a 3-year, $41 million deal.

Queen is the kind of every-down inside linebacker the Steelers have been searching for since losing Ryan Shazier at the end of the 2017 season to a career-ending injury.

Shazier was 25 when he suffered his devastating spinal cord injury and earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl in four seasons in 2017 despite his injury.

Queen is only 24 and is coming off his first career Pro Bowl berth and was named second-team All-Pro in 2023.

It also doesn’t hurt that he was stolen away from the Ravens.

“It’s going to be weird, but I want to be that villain, that guy,” Queen said. “So I’m looking to do some stuff to them.”

• Wilson was recruited heavily by the Steelers. And not just the front office. He said he spent an hour on a video call with defensive lineman Cam Heyward before he met with the team last week.

Both Wilson and Heyward have won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, Heyward this year and Wilson in 2020.

“It was a cool experience of a guy that has been at the top of his game for so long and also a man who has made a difference in the community, a guy who has made a difference, not just in Pittsburgh but around the country, in all the things he’s done,” Wilson said. “He solidified himself as one of the best players in the game.”

Having other great players such as Heyward, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick around mattered to Wilson.

“This is the place I wanted to be, be a Pittsburgh Steeler and to wear the black and gold,” said Wilson, who led Seattle to two Super Bowls, winning once. “It’s a true honor, tradition, the history. There are six (Super Bowl) trophies in there and we’ve got to go get a seventh.”

• In trading Diontae Johnson and a seventh-round draft pick to the Panthers for Donte Jackson and a sixth-round pick, the Steelers skipped a step along the way that they included in the trade of Santonio Holmes.

The Steelers traded Holmes in 2010 to the Jets for a fifth-round draft pick. They then shipped that fifth-round pick to the Cardinals for cornerback Bryant McFadden and a sixth-round pick they used to select Antonio Brown.

This time, they got their cornerback in Jackson and improved their draft slot by more than 60 picks. And who knows, maybe that sixth-round selection will net them another Brown – only less crazy.

Dale Lolley hosts The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.