Russell Wilson had an interesting year with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024. After building a Hall of Fame career with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson spent two rocky years with the Denver Broncos. As a result, he was at a low point when he signed with the Steelers. While there were some bumps along the way, including an injury that delayed Wilson’s debut in Pittsburgh, he made some plays for the team. This offseason, he left Pittsburgh for the New York Giants, but it doesn’t sound like he regrets his year with the Steelers.
“Pittsburgh was a good place for me,” Wilson said Thursday on 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony. “It really helped rejuvenate me in every way because of the locker room there, the pros, guys like T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, guys like Miles Killebrew, those captains. And then just the guys I was around, the hard work those guys put in.
“I remember seeing a guy like Calvin Austin [III], young star, who just wanted to be great, came to San Diego, wanted to work with me. Just guys that I really appreciate. Guys like Najee Harris and how he went about practicing hard every day. Different guys you get to know, teammates like Dan Moore [Jr.], who I got to be really close with, and many others.”
With the Steelers not re-signing Wilson, it might have seemed like there was some bad blood between the two sides. Wilson spent considerable time as a free agent, and yet there weren’t many rumors connecting him to the Steelers. However, he seems to still hold a lot of love for his former team.
In 11 games with the Steelers, Wilson put up 2,482 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Overall, he had a decent season. Unfortunately, the team collapsed down the stretch, losing its final four games of the regular season. The Steelers also got crushed in the first round of the postseason, which likely left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
However, that shouldn’t take away from how Wilson helped the Steelers get to the postseason in the first place. His first few games with them were incredible. Their offense had an explosive element to it that Pittsburgh had sorely missed.
Wilson had his fair share of lowlights, too. He played a part in several of those losses to end the year. There were also rumors that he butted heads with Arthur Smith. Despite all of that, he wasn’t the only reason why the team fell to pieces to end the year.
At the end of the day, Wilson did look better in Pittsburgh than he did in Denver. That’s likely part of the reason why the Giants signed him this offseason. Now, he’s got a chance to continue rejuvenating himself. He isn’t the same player that he was with the Seahawks, but he looked like he still had gas left in the tank. His year in Pittsburgh didn’t end great, but things could’ve gone worse.
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