Russell Wilson ranked #5 QB age 25 and under at NFL.com

[kearly]

He's ranked behind Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Andrew Luck, and RG3.

I know this is a dumb ranking written by sports reporters who probably wouldn't make it very far in the talent evaluation business, but I was irked by this.

Wilson's passing numbers over his last 13 games: 212/330, 2875 yards, 24 TD, 5 INT, 8.71 YPA, 109.8 passer rating. You take away the extreme dropfest outlier in SF and his YPA becomes 8.97 while his passer rating rises to 115.2. Keep in mind that only 3 times in NFL history has a quarterback exceeded 115.2 over a full regular season ('11 Rodgers, '04 P. Manning, '07 Brady).

Wilson also rushed for 616 yards and 5 TDs (including playoffs). Over his final 7 games (starting with Chicago when the read-option was implemented) he rushed on pace for nearly 900 yards per 16 games.

Then there are also the intangibles: the leadership, work ethic, polish, and veteran-type savvy/presence. Everything I'm seeing points to Wilson being a monster of a QB.

It seems the argument against him is that he has the best team, while conveniently forgetting that argument somehow when placing Kaepernick two spots ahead. While I'd agree that Wilson has a good supporting cast, Seattle's offense jumped from the 20s to 1st place by Football Outsiders efficiency rankings last year, with the only notable addition in between those seasons being Wilson.

Marshawn Lynch saw his yards per carry rise nearly a full yard over his career average last season. Golden Tate had a breakout season after getting off to a slow start to his career pre-Wilson. The offensive line improved substantially in sack rate. Instead of taking credit away from Wilson, we should be giving him credit for enabling his teammates to be better than they had been before.

I guess the cool thing is, next season will happen and people will figure it out eventually. Truthfully, I am more upset by the pure stupidity of it than because of any kind of slight towards Wilson.

 

[FlyingGreg]

Silly. Newton ahead of Wilson invalidates the whole thing for me.

But we need to understand that there are numerous rankings and it's subjective to the writer, and we will never have 100% agreement with where our guys end up.

 

[Decimation]

Kaepernick over Wilson? HAHAHAHAH! What a joke.

 

[Subzero717]

These rankings are like buttholes. Everyone has one and I'm only intrested in a fraction of them.

The only hard core argument I would make is Cam but whatever. The other three I can get an argument made for them. Not necessarily the one that was made.

 

[HawkEye]

I'll be laughing out loud when Wilson holds up the Lombardi next February

 

[Missing_Clink]

It's just one writer's opinion. NFL.com also had an "all under 25 team" and I'm pretty sure Wilson won the QB spot in that. It's all meaningless.

 

[mikeak]

I think RW is better than RG3, Luck and Kaepernick but I am not going to laugh at someone and call them incompetent just because they disagree with it. Every side can bring up some statline to prove their point so great.

The ONLY thing that matters will be RW's second season in the NFL. I seriously do not care if Luck and Kaepernick prove themselves to be better as long as RW proves himself good enough to win the superbowl next year.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

It said in there that his downside is he holds the ball too long. Maybe he does but it leads to explosive downfield plays like Ben Rothliesburger. Also to be rank behing Keap and Cam Newton? Pure silly.

 

[lukerguy]

Kaepernick will have a tough 2nd full year. He's incredibly gifted but I don't see a spot long term for a 1 read QB.

 

[Hawks46]

I can get the arguments for and against most of the QBs ahead of him on that list, but I would still disagree.

RG3 is actually a really damned good QB. He is too injury prone for me though, but he's a better pocket passer than most give him credit for (everyone blames the ZR for his success as well). He's just not durable enough for me. Maybe he gets better with that, but if you're not on the field, you don't have an impact. We can say it's all his legs but his passer rating is better than Wilson's, and PR doesn't account for rushing.

Luck did a lot with less, but other than a ton of yards, he's really overrated. I think he will be very good, but he didn't live up to the hype last year, and the media just won't let it go. Too turnover prone for me, and I think it will be better, but as of the end of the year, Wilson was the better QB, and it really wasn't all that close.

Cam has probably the best physical tools of any QB in the league. Problem is, his 2nd year in and he's not showing improvement. He still locks onto his primary receiver, he's not great under pressure, and he doesn't throw particularly well on the run (well, at least we don't think he does....when he pulls it down to run, he runs. he doesn't scramble and throw like Wilson). He also lacks the intangibles to make him an elite QB and leader; a true franchise QB has these. I think he'll get better, but I also forsee a meltdown in the future based on attitude.

Kaepernick will be good, but he's still a 1-2 read QB. I didn't see the pocket tools that Wilson possesses, but I do think he has a high ceiling and he can progress. It's my belief that Wilson is more polished and uses more of his tools right now than Kaep does.

 

[Laloosh]

Truth is, we won't know who is actually better for a few more years. These things tend to work themselves out...

 

[RolandDeschain]

I was pissed when I saw that article, too. It's a joke. I'm not saying necessarily that he should be #1, but he damned sure shouldn't be #5.

Whatever, he'll prove the morons wrong this year. I'm especially looking forward to him standing over Kaepernick in pretty much every stat.

 

[NinerLifer]

Kaepernick will have a tough 2nd full year. He's incredibly gifted but I don't see a spot long term for a 1 read QB.

Not sure why you guys believe he is a one read QB.

Wilson misses eyeing wide open receivers down field which is possibly due to his height disadvantage. Kaep has been working on every aspect of his game this off season so far, including his progressions which you guys are way overreacting to. Wilson can't do anything about being short.

One thing can be improved upon by practice, the other can only be fixed by kicking in the knee caps of defensive linemen. Does that mean that Wilson can't hold a #1 spot long term since he will never get taller?

And obviously I am aware that I opened the flood gates since I said something negative about your golden child. The kids good with the potential to be great, just like all the QB's mentioned in that article, but he isn't perfect...just like the rest of the QB's mentioned in this article.

 

[kearly]

It's just one writer's opinion. NFL.com also had an "all under 25 team" and I'm pretty sure Wilson won the QB spot in that. It's all meaningless.

As noted before, I'm bothered more by the stupidity of the opinion than Wilson being slighted. It'd be like saying The Dark Knight was the 5th best movie of 2008.

Truth is, we won't know who is actually better for a few more years. These things tend to work themselves out...

I'm with Colin Cowherd on this topic. Sometimes you don't need four years to know. In some cases you know immediately. Wilson is one of those "you can tell already" cases, IMO.

 

[CHawk]

Out of that group the question should be who would want to be your starting QB. After all the years of rooting for the hawks my honest answer is Wilson. Not be a homer but he makes this team exciting to watch. When is the last time we had an offense this explosive and yes he does make everyone else around him a better player. Can say that about all of the others maybe, but with the games last year after did anyone doubt he would bring us back and win the games. Both playoff game my friends busting my balls during the games, I would say I have faith Russ will bring us back, and he is a robot. Last point why this many free agents want to come play for Seattle? Russelmania

 

[General Manager]

I think all this will change if Wilson can keep playing at the level he was the second half of the season. There's obviously some people out there that aren't sure he can.

 

[QuickLightning]

Kaepernick will have a tough 2nd full year. He's incredibly gifted but I don't see a spot long term for a 1 read QB.

If you watch the videos posted on the page with his ranking, you will see him going to his 3rd and even 4th read on quite a few of the big plays.

Edit: In fact, the 3rd video down is just a single play of exactly that.

 

[General Manager]

I'm not a fan of Kap at all but he has a ton of ability, he doesn't have the accuracy that Wilson does but he has other things in his toolbox.

 

[Blitzer88]

Newton being ahead of Russell is very odd.

 

[General Manager]

Newton being ahead of Russell is very odd.

There's still a minority of people that just can't believe Wilson can keep playing at the level he has because of his height . After they see him again this year that will be crushed once and for all.