Russell Wilson, the 10-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks, introduced that he is joining CBS Sports and “The NFL Today” in a retirement video posted to social media on Wednesday.
Wilson, 37, accomplished his 14th NFL season final yr with the New York Giants. He began the primary three video games, however largely struggled and was benched for rookie Jaxson Dart in Week 4. The Athletic reported last month that Wilson was in discussions to maneuver into tv, and “The NFL Today,” CBS’s Sunday pregame present, was thought of the favourite.
Now, these talks are coming to fruition. Wilson will be part of host James Brown and analysts Nate Burleson and Bill Cowher on “The NFL Today.” The community had been in search of a alternative for the spot vacated by Matt Ryan, who left to turn out to be the Atlanta Falcons’ president of soccer.
Wilson has labored with CBS on a number of events over time, together with throughout a Giants bye week final season.
The transfer marks a attainable finish to what is possible a Hall of Fame profession for Wilson. A 3rd-round draft decide in 2012, the undersized Wilson led the Seattle Seahawks to 2 Super Bowls, successful one in a blowout of the Denver Broncos following the 2013 season. The subsequent season, the Seahawks misplaced to the New England Patriots after Wilson threw an interception late on the aim line.
After 10 profitable seasons in Seattle, the Seahawks traded Wilson to the Broncos in 2022 in a deal that despatched again two first-round and two second-round draft selections and three gamers. But Wilson struggled to recreate the magic he present in Seattle. He performed two seasons in Denver, adopted by one-season stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Giants.
Wilson ranks fifth all time in profession passer ranking amongst gamers who’ve at the least 1,500 makes an attempt.
What to anticipate from Wilson the broadcaster
As a bona fide celebrity quarterback, Wilson was at all times going to have nice TV alternatives forward of him as soon as his enjoying days had been over. His on-field profession may not have ended as he would have wished, however his TV profession might get off to an impressively stable begin.
The latest “former star player” seat on a broadcast studio present is a plum gig; it affirms you’re a star and places you in entrance of thousands and thousands of followers each Sunday with no ton of strain to be overly vital. Clearly, ex-QB is a basic sports-TV archetype — see Ryan on “The NFL Today” most just lately, however the custom extends many years to Terry Bradshaw on Fox, amongst others.
Wilson is some of the well-known quarterbacks of the twenty first century, and he brings charisma, the authority that comes with on-field success (and his Super Bowl ring) and a consolation degree with the cameras to his new gig on CBS. He may not comply with Ryan into an NFL entrance workplace — if something, essentially the most fascinating growth could be if Wilson ever unretires and tries to get again on the sphere — however he definitively provides star energy to the analyst lineup of Burleson and Cowher forward of a jam-packed Sunday NFL schedule for CBS this fall. — Dan Shanoff, sports activities enterprise managing editor