There is no denying the greatness of Russell Wilson. A career already inching towards Canton, Wilson has totaled 25,624 passing yards, 196 touchdowns and a passer rating at 100.3 not including his one Super Bowl victory and two total appearances.
The Seahawks rewarded Wilson with a four year, $140 million contract extension with a $65 million signing bonus making him the NFL's highest-paid player per ESPN's Adam Schefter. The deal finalized after the midnight deadline Wilson set, was announced via Wilson himself on Twitter.
A surprise out of Wisconsin, Wilson was never meant to become a franchise quarterback. Seattle was fresh of signing Matt Flynn to a three year, $26 million deal. Wilson beat out Flynn in training camp and was a key piece in turning the Seahawks around.
Wilson burst onto the scene his rookie season by making the Pro Bowl. He followed up a stellar rookie campaign in which he totaled 3,118 passing yards and 26 touchdown on his was to leading the Seahawks to the playoffs, with another Pro Bowl appearance and Super Bowl victory in 2013.
A main piece of Seattle's first ever Super Bowl victory, Wilson's new contract is well deserved but was it the right move.
The immediate answer is how could it not be. Seattle has their franchise leader locked up for the next four seasons and now has the ability to add players in order to build upon last season's Wild Card appearance.
When digging into the history of deals like Wilson's $140 million contract, history turns its ugly head. In fact, if history repeats itself, the Seahawks have just doomed their franchise for the foreseeable future by resigning one of the league's best quarterbacks to a contract fit for a player like Wilson's market price.
Wilson joins Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Cam Newton, and Andrew Luck as the eight quarterback to currently have a contract above $100 million. Of the other eight men, four have been to the Super Bowl (Rodgers, Ryan, Newton, Wilson) with only two securing victories (Rodgers and Wilson).
On the surface Wilson finds himself in good accompany. Two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and arguably the greatest dual-threat quarterback since Michael Vick. Behind what seems like the perfect deal, Wilson also finds himself in the company of failure.
Of the other seven quarterbacks to receive $100 million extensions, none have won a Super Bowl since signing the big contract.
Ryan and the Falcons blew the infamous 28-3 lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl 51. Newton has never reached the same heights as his MVP season in 2015 nor has he made it past the Wild Card round since. Rodgers' sole Super Bowl victory came in 2013, five season prior to his then record-breaking $134 million extension.
Including the other four men, only one made the playoffs in 2018 and the total combined records of $100 million quarterbacks in 2018 was 40-56. Since signing their extensions, Andrew Luck is the only quarterback to win a playoff game.
Signing a quarterback to a $100 million contract is more curse than blessing. The teams suffer as seen through none of the previous seven quarterbacks winning a Super Bowl, and all but Ryan, seeing their teams' record decline.
The quarterbacks that have been able to eclipse the $100 million mark are talented but only a few have a history of winning. Multiple factors go into how an NFL team works but the $100 million quarterback has a history of backfiring.
Teams have little to no money once signing their quarterbacks to large extensions. In return, this forces the team to miss out on free agents or star homegrown talent to leave for more money elsewhere. Josh Norman in Carolina being the biggest example of this.
Rather than paying quarterbacks $100 million, teams should look to remain under the mark.
The last five quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl have been Nick Foles, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson. The closest one to $100 million was Manning's $96 million and the only reason the hobbled Manning won, was due to having the number one ranked defense.
It seems once a quarterback reaches the $100 million mark, his career and teams' trajectory takes a hit. Wilson can live the luxurious life but when it comes to football, he better hope he can break the curse that is the $100 million quarterback.
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