Russell Wilson will turn 36 next week, and while the decorated quarterback has not been on the league’s top tier at the position for a bit, he has found some traction in Pittsburgh. The 13th-year veteran has established himself as the Steelers’ starter, and the team is not deviating from an aim it expressed upon acquiring him.
The Steelers had gone to notable lengths to assure Wilson he was the priority this offseason, with rumors about a second contract — despite the two-year Broncos starter having just signed his first with the team — coming out immediately after the Justin Fields trade commenced. Fields and Wilson remain free agents-to-be, and with the Steelers not changing their policy of not negotiating in-season to account for this unique situation, the team has some decisions to make early in the 2025 offseason.
Although Fields caught up with Wilson during training camp — to force a late-August Mike Tomlin call — and started the first six games due to the veteran’s nagging calf injury, Wilson has stayed healthy since the September setback. The former Super Bowl winner has not done anything to prompt the Steelers to change plans, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac indicating the club intends to re-sign its current starter.
With the Steelers not changing their in-season negotiating policy — in place for 30-plus years — they have a narrow window to complete a second Wilson contract. How far Pittsburgh advances in the playoffs will shape that window, as 2025 UFAs will be free to speak with other teams beginning March 10. The franchise tag window opens Feb. 18, but like Baker Mayfield this past offseason, Wilson does not seem a true candidate to clog a team’s cap with a QB tag number (2024’s was $38.3MM) just so the Steelers can keep negotiating without outside interference. The March 10 deadline will apply here.
The Bucs re-signed Mayfield a day before this year’s legal tampering period, agreeing to a three-year deal worth $100MM. Mayfield being six years younger than Wilson complicates the latter’s path, though midlevel QB1 deals like Mayfield’s and those given to Derek Carr, Geno Smith and Daniel Jones could certainly be relevant. Smith’s three-year, $75MM Seahawks deal became team-friendly quickly, as he is the only quarterback with an AAV between $12.5MM and $33.3MM.
Wilson’s age makes that territory the Steelers will likely try to explore, though the potential Hall of Famer has a past as a shrewd negotiator. While Wilson’s fiercest negotiations came in Seattle, his Denver deal (five years, $245MM) has introduced a historically high hurdle for the Broncos to clear due to the record-setting dead money stretching to 2026. Wilson is tied to a veteran-minimum contract, as he had guaranteed money coming his way from Denver, with Pittsburgh.
Only making four starts with his new team before Thursday night’s game, Wilson has directed the Steelers to a 4-0 record. Starting off better than he did with the Broncos, Wilson has averaged 7.8 yards per attempt (60.3% completion rate) and thrown six touchdown passes compared to two interceptions. This is still a small sample size, but Pro-Football-Reference would rank Wilson 33rd in QBR (43.0) were he to have enough snaps to qualify. This is south of his 2023 Denver mark (50.7). The Steelers not negotiating in-season will allow for more data to emerge, as this probably will not be a simple negotiation assuming Wilson proves enough to be viewed as a 2025 starter.
The Steelers have not enjoyed quality QB play since before Ben Roethlisberger‘s 2019 elbow injury, with the Kenny Pickett plan backfiring quickly. How Wilson fares down the stretch will be a key NFL subplot, as Fields drifting to the backup level moves the 2021 draftee closer to free agency. Wilson and the Steelers’ price points will be fascinating, as the sides’ quest to find middle ground on a medium-term deal will be one of the 2025 offseason’s top storylines.
