Russell Wilson Doesn't Fix the Steelers | The Play Sheet

[Music] I'm Ben solak February is in the books when's the offseason baby welcome to the play sheet the opening script steals country let's steal let just become steal welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2024 NFL season new league year is like almost begun it's technically still legal tampering but whatever players are moving around teams get ready for the draft boards it's aah holler at this time we know where most significant fre agents are going her cousins is a falcon bride birds as a giant s Barkins an eagle so on and so forth but the first big Domino to fall s before legal T break even began and that was Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson getting cut now Wilson was cut by the Broncos with five years left on his deal five enormous years left on his deal in fact he'll hit the Broncos cap with $85 million of dead cap of spent money which more than doubles the previous largest dead cap hit of 40.5 million which by the way this is bananas and we need to like we can't just say that oh $85 million they're they're paying him $85 million to not play for them they paid me $85 million to go away I will go away for I'll go away for $85,000 at any point I would leave anywhere I am for 85 a fraction of the Russell Wilson money so of that $85 million in dead money the Broncos owe Russ $39 million of it this year means that Russ is making $39 million no matter what accordingly he could sign pretty much anywhere for a veteran minimum Deal $1.2 million and the Broncos would be on the hook for the remaining 37.8 million and that's exactly what happened when Russell Wilson signed with Pittsburgh Steelers so on surface level this is pretty handy for the Steelers right you got a A starting quarterback Russell Wilson who's only going to cost you $1.2 million like that is objectively good business that is getting value pendings on the dollar I acknowledge that I respect that here's the problem I don't think that Pittsburgh is in a position we getting like decent quarterback play for $1.2 million good value Surplus value actually like has an impact on their franchise at all and it starts with Russ just not being good enough at quarterbacking right now let's talk numbers of the 35 quarterbacks last year who shw at least 200 passes Russell Wilson was 25th in EPA per dropback and 22nd in success rate below average descriptively he had like a a very tough and weird season he was 28th in air yards per attempt he was 27th in explosive play rate he was 28 in sack R in other words he did throw the ball very far down the field he didn't create a lot of explosive plays and he took a ton of sacks also only Justin Fields held on to the football longer which means that Ross is holding on to the ball to not create big plays which is not how quarterbacking supposed to work the the longer you hold on to it the more big plays you better give me right routes are developing down the field Russ was all of the the bad for none of the good last year with that now with a high sack rate often comes a high scramble rate and Ross was seventh in the League last year in scramble R scrambles were generally good but he was 18th in EPA for scramble right average like he even his scrambles aren't giving you juice for the squeeze now it's easy to look at Russ's numbers last year and just kind of wave them away be like okay well new head coach Shawn Payton just in like working with Russ it didn't give him an offense that that he he could operate well in there was of course famously Payton coming to Russ middle of the season and saying hey wave your injury guarantees on going to eventually like we had a very hostile relationship so you can you will try to wave it all away if you like I don't think that that explain is just sufficient let's go to play [Music] action that's FL Action Sound so over the last like two years of football I would say like more than that going back to the end of the Seattle era Ross has been one of the worst pocket managing quarterbacks in the league right he creates pressure where there shouldn't have been pressure sacks where there shouldn't have been sacks doesn't throw routes that are open on time like he he from the pocket single-handedly just nukes place just ruins them and that's that's not going away in Pittsburgh it's not leaving tomorrow all right this is late in the season against the Patriots Blitz off the edge picked up very nicely by the back and then rush just loses his mind in a completely clean and healthy pocket this is a very frustrating play one because Jerry Judy is open on what should be the primary read right this goes vertical here then this cuts into the middle of the field late but off of the blitz we're going to see Kyle Dugger here climb and become the Deep middle safety so now you have Judy operating into space he's going to have inside leverage on this route and there's going to be know droppers who get the requisite depth to take this route away like this this isn't just like oh he's open this is like oh my gosh we got exactly what we wanted and you hit this in stride and you have space like he has to turn and get invol the tackle this isn't just like net good this is net excellent throw the look pocket throw this then you can't you can't say no of that that's that's that's very very crazy even if you do know to it you're going to eventually get the tight end working into this vacuum into this space so if you don't like this then all right work this way in the pocket try to tether this Defender down and throw this you you you have multiple options here you cannot behave like this and so you all right here's our pressure luck s the football I don't like look at the pocket dude this is It's a unable quarterbacking the other thing about Russ and this goes back to like four last years of football for a while is he will not throw in middle of field he will not throw in Breaking patterns he doesn't see it well he doesn't layer the throws well between coverages he does not like them and and in the modern NFL which throws the intermediate middle of the field like so much this is just a a paralyzing inability it it it removes a key Jenga piece from like at least half of if not most of NFL offenses today concept wise they're going to run J Judy through and then they're going to go hor s on the Dig behind right javante Williams is out to the flat this going to be hard play action fake right here you run this play action fake you run this got 12 Personnel under Center to pull these players forward to throw this window that is the whole design here that's the whole idea run the film what happens but action fake Russ does not look at Sutton right he is looking at at jav he's he's looking at Sutton right now but if you were looking at Sutton you'd want to be seeing this here instead he's just Vision this way and he's going to dump this off to jonte right now like in Rhythm right right I mean pressure has not closed him he dumps this off Monte Falls over it's third and 10 Endzone view I I want you to see this open up okay so s the football FL and fake top of the drop here we go we got we have Alex anzelone who sat down he sunk right here and he's underneath this right so if you're running the Jerry Judy curl he's in that window it's good job by by anani this is Young linebacker Jack Campbell this is a rookie he Landmark wise right he probably needs to end up somewhere right about here but he's got his body he's got his hips and his shoulders open this direction and he's dropping this way and so when when when Judy continues to run through it he's going to run off screen he's going to pull this safety with him Corin suon comes in right here that's cor's going to come in on the screen in about a second the first Landmark you might throw this ball to is like right here right between these two linebackers but because Campbell is so far committed to moving this direction taking away that first window that window that's like right in front of the hatch there all you have to do with your rust is just hitch hitch right keep your body this way keep your moving this way but pitch twice and then throw this behind it right once you get this picture right here dude look Campbell's not getting square look look at what you can throw he's going to come in right here hit him on this logo juny continues to pull this safety this is the explosive play hit him in St he goes this is the explosive play that Russ refuses to give you he just chooses we did we did a play shoot on this in like week two of 2022 with him and goino Smith Russ refuses to give you this explosive play which is like integral to every offense that is stealing stuff from Shan he just won't give it to you he just looks looks left the whole way takes anzelone to the check down gives it Devonte Williams and and it's a two- yard loss look at s dude right here if you just Rhythm and drive just hitch and put on him and stride like it you cannot say no to this route man you can't when I watched Russell Wilson over the last couple Seasons with the Broncos like this is what I see like the the incredible Mo shots are certainly still there there's tight window throws there's some Escape some pressure but in general I see a player who takes good pockets and ruins them takes open receivers open Concepts and ruins those like he is a drain on the design of and the success of the offense and now he's going to Pittsburgh where like that's really going to be an issue from a talent perspective like the Denver to Pittsburgh transition actually has some nice through lines right George Pickins can do a lot of what Portland Sutton does for you outside of the numbers vertical jump balls he also runs you good in Breaking routes you can make big physical catches in the tight area short underneath stuff you have Deontay Johnson Nai Harris and Jaylen Warren can be part of a good running game they can both catch the ball out of the back field rust through the ball a lot to The Backs this year like there are some connections however the new offense coordinator in Pittsburgh is Arthur Smith who is the previous Falcons head coach and before that he was the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator and and this guy lives on on Center play action which is good for Russ to throw to the intermediate middle of the field which Russ will not do all three of Smith's starting quarterbacks with the Falcons Des r at 23 Marcus marota 22 Matt Ryan at 21 were top 10 in the league in Intermediate Middle throat rate right like these guys threw there at an above average rate say was true of Brian tayor Hill his two seasons when Smith was the offensive coordinator this offense the whole structure the whole point is to yank the backers down and throw intermediate mle and Russ has shown us time and time and time to get that he won't do that Smith has has tried to like solve these problems and done some different stuff and with Mariota he rolled him out a lot and he would throw a lot of deep bombs the problem is is that like all that sounds good on paper for Russ he isn't what he's been athletically this is an old he's a mid-30s quarterback he doesn't get away from pressure the way that he used to last year against Houston they're going to go hard play exra roll out they're going to leave will Anderson unblocked Rush tries to make a miss and he can't right and you can say oh like Ben this is super unfair Will Anderson is's such a good athlete yeah this is the guy that teams play they play Young 20 something Edge rushers who are good and fast and long and if you're going to be a rollout team you need your quarterback to be able to beat that guy in space sometimes Endzone view so much of rust with the caw was like he's a he's a thick bill right he's a dense guy so you can survive contact like this he's not surviving anymore against the Jets free rusher Quincy Williams Russ isn't running away from these guys anymore right he loses the football there this gets picked up scoop and score a touchdown we got all Bend and it's not fair it's it's really hard to run away from quit Williams yeah man but like the Russ made his career out of getting away from these guys out out of being able to to conjure these magical escapes he's not doing it the way that he used to endone view watch how L Fair Russ is with the ballman like like just just watch him try to get you up watch him try to try to explode and accelerate he just doesn't he doesn't have juice like he used to and the the big problem and this goes back to the Josh uch sack is that he doesn't know it hard action again the bills there's the fake all right get outside of the pocket that's nice what what no like this is Kyler Behavior this is like maybe Lamar Behavior gets away with this and the thing is like look look like okay no one's open like absolutely like like concept wise this is chocked I mean I say no one's open there's a guy in near me middle of the field you could probably try full football too but I understand why he doesn't right this one I think is a very defensible turn down you have the safety driving on this that that's I get it whatever like this is not this is it would be a bad idea to throw this given the way that Rustin will throw the middle of the field what is a way worse ideas doing this Russ is not elusive anymore he's not he doesn't survive contact to get away from guys anymore so okay let's be a roll out heavy team blacks heavy team yeah he's going to lose in space for you and so athletically he isn't what he used to be but he's still play style wise is the same light and that's just a recipe for disaster so you could argue that like just get getting away from Sean Payton getting away from like all the expectations in Denver the big tradeit the huge contract like Russ just beond a minimum deal he can just kind of like play more free I guess I would not want him to play more free but just with like fewer expectations with less pressure you can argue that's going to be good for him and I hear that I I do and I also think that like even with all of his issues last year I think he's a better starting quarterback than Kenny P I think he's he's a better quarterback than Kenny P was and the steel has improved quarterback that's great the problem is this is that these games are so marginal right like between ticket and Russ you you're just hoping that one guy breaks into like the top 20 quarterback rankings next season like I think R like in the best world Russ is the 15th best quarterback in the league and like all right you added him for super cheap but Kenny fot was already super cheap it's not like you you really need it to cut Corners at the quarterback position the Steelers are the fifth cheapest team right now at quarterback after the commanders and the Patriots draft a guy in April they're going to be the third cheapest team at quarterback you weren't you know like like struggling for run year you already had a cheap guy who was probably not that good in Kenny picket you add just another cheap guy who's probably not that good in Russell Wilson yes he's a little bit cheaper yes he's a little bit better but you're going from eight wins to eight and a half wins man I don't that that doesn't move me doesn't move my spirit I'm sorry now the bigger swings that were available were also far for Perfect Right KT hin is 35 coming off an Achilles injury get a demand $45 million a years what he got for Falcons and hey like he's probably not a top 10 quarterback Justin Fields has the same pocket management run around scramble around cause problems issue that Russell Wilson does and he gives you much better Peak plays but he also has you have to trade for him and he's more expensive you might have to extend him like there were problems with the other guys but at least they represented like higher tail outcomes like if you hit on them it is Meaningful to your team and right now that's what that's what Steel's head coach Mike tomin needs there is like vocal frustration and and and a little bit of irritation with the fact that all the steelos ever do with Tomlin is go 9 and8 up here in the Wild Card round and then lose emphatically to a team that's way better than them right this this team hasn't want to play game in a while there is urgency for Tomlin to not just you know overachieve with a mid roster and show up in January but actually win one of these soccers Russell Wilson is not moving the needle enough for that Russell Wilson is the most wor trying to go 500 quarterback that ever existed right okay he's super cheap he's acceptably mid most of the time we're going to go 9 and8 again like this is same old same old for a Pittsburgh team that seemingly like didn't want to be same old same old I don't get it at all it's a risk move right like it is $1.2 million for guy who's going to start it for a decade so like it's tough to get too mad about it to get worked up about it but it is extremely tough to get off the couch for it I mean like this is as milk toast as beige of a move as I can remember I don't think this is going to meaningfully help the Steelers at all in 2024 and that'll do it for us here on the playy welcome to the 2024 NFL offseason we're going to be back on our weekly Cadence we'll be doing episodes breaking down free agency and the best fits and some of the meaningful quarterback moves we're talking about draft prospects you our quarterback evaluations like we did last year you should check those out we got them all right it's going to be fun so subscribe and thank you Cory mcconell for producing the episode and I don't remember how to do these outros kind of so just like the video

Channel: Ringer NFL

Views: 8,329

Keywords: The Ringer, Ringer NFL, National Football League, NFL, Football, Russell Wilson, Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos

Id: rQbhMvXBank

Length: 15min 44sec (944 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2024