Huard: Relating to teammates isn’t easy for top QBs like Russell Wilson
Feb 13, 2017, 1:46 PM
What’s your biggest concern about the future of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson?
710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard and Mike Salk discussed multiple thoughts when debating this question, including Wilson’s red-zone efficiency, the pieces surrounding him, and the idea of being “held back” by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Huard mentioned one that isn’t Xs-and-Os-related, saying that whether it’s Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning or Wilson, one of the toughest parts of being a franchise quarterback is being able to relate to the rest of the team.
“You start to naturally separate from a team. You just do,” said Huard, a backup quarterback for six seasons in the NFL. “You’re paid a whole lot more. You get a whole lot more of the credit and the glory. You’re looked at as management. I was around it with Peyton Manning. I lived that experience, watching the elite of the elite and one of the best of the best do it. And there is just, and can be … an inability to relate. A chasm of relatability would be the better way to say it. That, for me, is more important than anything.”
The four-year, $87.6 million contract extension Wilson signed in the summer of 2015 made him the second-highest-paid player in the NFL at the time. Meanwhile, with the exception of a recent Facebook Live video in which Wilson opposed President Donald Trump’s executive order on travel, Wilson has generally stayed away from controversial subjects, which has not been the case for some other Seahawks stars like cornerback Richard Sherman, defensive lineman Michael Bennett and wide receiver Doug Baldwin. Wilson has been criticized for being too cheesy.
Huard and Salk noted that Wilson recently made a change to his Twitter account, which has more than 3 million followers. He un-followed all but 23 accounts, sticking only with family members and the companies/nonprofits he’s connected with, but no teammates past or present.
Both Huard and Salk said that they would hold off any concerns about Wilson’s Twitter change until they had more information about his rationale.
“It doesn’t bother me until I know more about it,” Salk said of Wilson’s Twitter dump. “Russell’s relatability is always going to be in question; we’ve had that question since Day 1. But it sure didn’t seem to affect them much when they were going to back-to-back Super Bowls.”
