Mr. Happiness for All? Wilson Says the Key to Being a Leader

The Steelers in Pittsburgh took a chance on quarterback Russell Wilson. After being cut from a $245 million deal with the Denver Broncos before he could play a down, Wilson signed for the league minimum. He was a quarterback who had been cut and was looking for a chance to start over in football.

Wilson’s Steelers start was delayed by a couple of leg injuries, but he has surpassed all expectations. For first place in the AFC North, the Pittsburgh Steelers are two games ahead of the 8-5 Baltimore Ravens after six games under his leadership.

He took the Steelers from being average to being in the middle of the AFC playoff picture. He did this while staying true to the style that has been criticized for a long time, whether that criticism is fair or not.

Friendships may have ended in Seattle, and he may have upset the wrong people in Denver. Younger players are paying attention now that Pittsburgh has found another leader to move the team’s attitude forward.

Offensive tackle Broderick Jones recently talked about Wilson’s calm leadership and how the quarterback’s optimism hasn’t changed even when things have gone wrong. Wilson went into more detail about his feelings on Thursday.

“It takes a lot to irritate me,” Wilson told Mark Kaboly. “I am uncertain. Watching my dad go through some of the same things I had to go through as a child—the good and the bad—makes me very angry easily.

In Western Pennsylvania, Wilson has at least had to deal with some doubt. Wilson moved into the quarterback room with Justin Fields. He missed most of the summer with an illness, but Fields got the starting job when something went wrong.

Wilson stuck by his support even though he knew that burning out in Pittsburgh would probably be his last chance to start. Fields played well, but the Steelers were down 4-0 at the start, and head coach Mike Tomlin was going to get a lot of flak when he said Wilson would take over.

Wilson took it in stride and outperformed Fields in the early part of the season. Wilson says this is because of baseball, which is a sport that both players played as kids.

“I think, more than anything else, though, I believe in great things,” said Wilson. “All I know is that the best is yet to come.” That is something I’ve always said. I always take the next play seriously. It’s probably because I love baseball. I played too much baseball—too much shortstop, too much second base, and too much pitching. I simply trust the next pitch. In life and the next day, the next morning, and every morning you show us mercy again.”

Wilson has thrown for 1,784 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 3 picks so far this season, which is the most yards per attempt of his career (8.4). There is a lot of support for him in the locker room and with offensive coach Arthur Smith. Most importantly, he has kept the Steelers on track during a tough second-half schedule.

Since Ben Roethlisberger retired, Pittsburgh hasn’t had a quarterback that fans can get behind. Wilson is just giving back to the company for taking a chance on him.

I’m not easily angered, but I do get very emotional. If you play with me, you know that there’s fire between the white bars. Man, I just try to lead with a heart of thanksgiving all the time.”