Despite an illustrious career, Russell Wilson hasn’t received even one NFL MVP vote.
Since he was drafted out of Wisconsin in the third round back in 2012, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been nothing short of spectacular. Out of the quarterbacks taken in the draft outside of Nick Foles, Wilson is the only one to have led his team to a Super Bowl while also making a repeat appearance the following season before coming up a yard short.
In his career in the pacific northwest including a 3-0 start this season, Wilson has tossed for 30,659 yards, 241 touchdowns and 69 interceptions while rushing for 4,083 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Entering this season, despite having his team being ranked as one of the best in the NFL, the talk around the league was centered around other quarterbacks such as Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers and reigning Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes being in the discussion for league MVP. Wilson is changing that, though.
Wilson is coming off a performance of back to back performances of five touchdown passes, the first to occur since Ben Roethlisberger back in 2014 with six touchdowns passes in two games. But why has it taken this long for Wilson to get serious consideration?
Russell Wilson is the victim of media and narrative bias.
It’s quite obvious, Wilson and the city of Seattle have often been overlooked by the rest of the country for quite some time. While cameras have finally made their trip out west to the Emerald City, the lack of MVP recognition for the franchise quarterback continues to be palpable. Even if he’s being talked about as a top candidate, the fact that anyone is in the conversation considering what Wilson is doing is disrespectful.
Even leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, the general focus by the national media was on Denver’s top-ranked offense rather than Seattle’s top-ranked defense. It was only after a 43-8 victory by Seattle did Wilson and the team finally receive their due credit.
Wilson has made the Seahawks relevant, largely with a depleted offensive line and especially when the Legion of Boom and several other key pieces began to depart in free agency or retire.
Matt Ryan won NFL MVP only to regress the following season, Tom Brady won the MVP in 2017 only to regress in 2018 while still capturing his sixth Super Bowl championship. Peyton Manning in 2013 won the MVP only to decline the next two seasons before winning Super Bowl 50 and calling it a career.
Russell Wilson deserves the opportunity to hoist the NFL MVP trophy. Although, if you ask him, he’d probably want the Lombardi Trophy more — and who wouldn’t?