Imagine for a second that you were collaborating on a project for an entire year with a coworker, or even somebody that directly reports to you at work. Now imagine that the project doesn’t go well and then word gets out that you were in some way holding back that coworker from fully performing their duties.
If multiple reports are to be believed, that is the skinny on what happened between Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith as the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their final five games.
Senior NFL reporter Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports published a piece last night that discussed the Aaron Rodgers situation and the general QB carousel around the league. His reporting seems to further the idea of a rift between Wilson and certain coaches on the Steelers’ staff.
“Two league sources have told Yahoo Sports that Russell’s potential return to the Steelers is less certain regardless of what Rodgers does, and likely would be completely off the table if it were simply the decision of some members of the offensive coaching staff,” Robinson wrote. “For that to change would likely take some conversations inside the building and a total lack of other QB candidates.”
That sounds like more than just a small disagreement between Wilson and some of the coaches. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t help that it was reported shortly after the season that there was tension between Wilson and OC Arthur Smith and that Wilson had his ability to check out of plays stripped from him.
It’s hard to say for sure, but that does sound like information that could’ve come from the Wilson camp to save face after an ugly end of the season. Some stuff is better dealt with in house and not put out into the world without full context. If I had to guess, Smith is at the top of the list of people who don’t want Wilson back.
In November, SI.com’s Albert Breer reported that Arthur Smith had a series of “very hard, honest conversations” with Wilson to get him to buy in. Both Smith and Wilson also talked about their long nights at the facility well after everybody else had left to make sure they were as prepared as possible. They even joked that they barely got to see their wives on Friday evenings as a result of the overtime they were putting in together.
So how did it go from that to bridges being burned? Five losses to end the year and those unnecessary reports probably didn’t help things. There is probably a reason why we’ve heard almost zero reports of the Steelers talking to Wilson since free agency began.
According to Robinson, the Steelers would need to be completely out of options to even consider Wilson. And even then, they would need to have some conversations among the staff to determine if that’s the right path forward. If the Steelers somehow clear all those hurdles, then Wilson would need to be open to a return. According to Chase Daniel, he feels “some type of way” about how all this has been handled.
This is all in line with P-G Gerry Dulac’s reporting at the start of free agency. Add it all up and it’s safe to say Russell Wilson won’t be returning to the Steelers.
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