Russell Wilson and the Sophomore Slump

Here's a list of QB's that have gone in the first or second round of the draft since 2007.

2007 QB's
JaMarcus Russell: Lol
Brady Quinn: Lol
Kevin Kolb: Lol

2008 QB's
Matt Ryan: No slump
Joe Flacco: No slump

2009 QB's
Matthew Stafford: He was injured most of his second year
Mark Sanchez: Didn't really have a slump.. but not spectacular
Josh Freeman: I don't know if you can count him, started half way through his rookie year

2010 QB's
Sam Bradford: Threw only 6 TD's in 10 starts. And won only one game.
Tim Tebow: No comment.

2011 QB's
Cam Newton: Made the Pro Bowl his rookie year. But didn't really improve his numbers this year.
Jake Locker: Didn't begin his rookie year as the starting QB, but definitely not have a good 2nd year
Blaine Gabbert: Well, he just sucks. Didn't think he should have been drafted in the 1st round at all
Christian Ponder: He's actually having a improved 2nd year I think
Andy Dalton: Also, having a great 2nd year
Colin Kaepernick: Didn't start rookie year.

At first I was kind of weary about a trend for QB's to have a slump in their second year. Mainly because, well Stafford got injured his second year, Bradford did as well, but really under performed when he did play, and Cam Newton isn't improving. And looking at last year's rookie QB's, only one of them who started last year is going to the playoffs. (Ponder is still up in the air). Gabbert and Locker are disappointments.

It seemed like it was a pattern that QB's hit that sophomore slump. But really, when looking at this list it's not really a pattern. Considering if you go back to 2009. And I think Wilson is way too much of a hard worker to let that happen to him.

And I guess, which rookie QB is most likely to hit the sophomore slump next year? Luck, RGIII or Wilson? My vote is definitely RGIII

If he does, I don't think he'll become a laugher of a QB, and it won't nearly hurt us as much as it did Carolina when Newton was slumping earlier this season due to the team around Wilson. It's not something that worries me, to be honest, and maybe I'm being really naive.

Basing this shit on history is dumb. Russell isn't those guys.

Russell is Russell. Nobody else. Watch. And Witness.

Where's the date on 3rd round QB's who start from day 1 and how they do their sophomore season?

Scottemojo":36p97fur said:

Basing this shit on history is dumb. Russell isn't those guys.

Russell is Russell. Nobody else. Watch. And Witness.

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That's what I think too, Wilson isn't any of them and has too great of work ethic. But I can't help but look at possible patterns in history and speculate.

JSeahawks":3swo03bh said:

Where's the date on 3rd round QB's who start from day 1 and how they do their sophomore season?

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I didn't include them, because I wanted starters. But because you asked

Trent Edwards in 2007
Kevin O'Connell in 2008
Colt McCoy in 2010
Ryan Mallett in 2011

What' Trent Edwards doing now?
And Colt McCoy had possibly the worst sophomore year out of all of them.

Scottemojo":oimbbdky said:

Basing this shit on history is dumb. Russell isn't those guys.

.

Click to expand...

That's the same for ANY comparison made on this site. Therefore, I'm glad you said it. I'm sure you'll refrain from making similar comparisons in the future. :th2thumbs:

Wilson's already avoided looking like a rookie during his rookie season. He has the smarts, physical characteristics, and running game to avoid a severe dropoff.

Somehow, I think the whole 'sophomore slump' meme is a product of how the coaching staffs handle rookie QBs. There seems to be two schools of thought, one being just throw them out there and let them learn under fire, while the other is to 'coach them up' by letting them back up for a year or two for 'seasoning.'

With Wilson, we kind of split the difference where we put him out there from day one, but brought the whole offense up to speed somewhat slowly, letting him grow into the job a bit. Perhaps he could have "done it all" from the first snap but we'll never know. We do know that both Wilson and the rest of the offensive side of the team have shown magical improvement since early September and seem ready for the post season run. The plan may have cost a couple of wins early on, but the results right now are pretty impressive.

I'd say Pete Carroll has done an excellent job with Wilson and I predict there will be no sophomore slump for Russ.

RW won't slump, it's not his way. RW is the kind of guy who obsesses over his craft, not one who will be filled with self satisfaction over a little success.

Russell Wilson is too smart and too much of a work-a-holic to have a sophomore slump. I'm not worried.

Teams now will have ample film of Wilson to peruse over the off season. Inevitably, Russell will begin to see some exotic defenses that are conjured up specifically to stop his scrambling (if possible) or make sure they stay on their man the whole time until the play is over. But for every counter on defense, I believe the Hawks have a good counter on offense since we are pretty damn good in the run game as well. The team is not a one trick pony on offense, which I believe will help prevent any "sophomore slump".

Here is what I stated in a different thread in this subject

I think (no stat to back this up) that sophomore slump usually comes from extremely gifted players. Those players that doesn't have to put in the same amount of work and yet excel at their position. As they get lazy / overconfident in the offseason AND opposing teams gets 16 games on tape they create the sophomore slump. The difference in players like RW and Peyton Manning is that their work ethic is what makes them continue to develop and stay one step ahead continuously.

ask dan marino about his softmore slump

I just don't see Wilson having any trouble in his 2nd yr.Just wondering how many of the players mentioned above had coaching changes or OC changes their sophomore season,different coaches different schemes.Could take some time to get used to.

AwwHellNo...Russell is the TRUTH.

I don't expect Russell to improve immensely next year. He looks pretty darn good now. I do expect teams to adjust and I expect he will be given more opportunities to capitalize on opposing weaknesses.
No Sophomore Slump in Seattle!

Anything short of what he does this year will seem like a slump, but it won't be. #defendingsuperbowlchamp

First off, lets get through the first season first. Second, I am curious what type of person Russell is. If he is motivated to continue disproving those that thought he might be too small or not as good as various other Qb's selected this year than he will try to continue improving himself during the offseason. He will always be linked to this particular quarterback draft class of 2012 so he should want to continue improving.

I am thinking the staff will have to revoke his access to the facilities and lock up the film room when the off season hits just to make him take a break. I bet he is going to set up a work out schedule with his receivers and have a tendencie book on every DB in the league as well as general schemes of every team on the schedule come the first OTA.