Russell Wilson Quotes
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Wilson played college football and baseball at NC State from 2008 to 2010 before transferring to Wisconsin in 2011, where he set the single-season FBS record for passer rating and led them to a Big Ten title and the 2012 Rose Bowl. He also played minor league baseball for the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2010 and the Asheville Tourists in 2011 as a second baseman. The Seattle Seahawks selected Wilson in the third round (75th overall) of the 2012 NFL draft. He tied Peyton Manning's then-record for most passing touchdowns by a rookie and was named Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year.
Wilson helped lead the Seahawks to two consecutive Super Bowls. He and the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII, but lost Super Bowl XLIX the next year when Wilson was intercepted at the goal line by Malcolm Butler. He holds the record for most wins by an NFL quarterback through nine seasons and is one of four quarterbacks in NFL history with a career passer rating over 100. In April 2019, Wilson signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension with the Seahawks, making him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time. In 2020, he became just the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for thirty touchdowns in four consecutive seasons. Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos in 2022, after which he signed a five-year, $245 million contract extension. His time with the Broncos was marked with disappointment, with the Broncos having the league's worst scoring offense in 2022. Wilson was benched near the end of the 2023 season in a financially motivated move and was released in the offseason, where he signed a one-year deal with the Steelers.
Noted for his philanthropy, Wilson was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2020 and was the recipient of the Bart Starr Award in 2022. Wilson is also part owner of the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). After he purchased his minority stake, the Sounders won the 2019 MLS Cup.