Russell Wilson opened training camp 2020 in a similar way to how he started camp last year, and the year before, and the year before, and so on, which means he started camp by looking the way he is: one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Practically every throw is on target, deep balls hit receivers in the pass, and the ball explodes out of his right hand, again, just like it does every year. But while all of this now feels familiar upon watching the seven-time Pro-Bowler, Wilson feels in many ways like he’s just getting started.
Over the past few years, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has indicated on several occasions that he, as well as Wilson has been, is still growing. Unlike many positions in the NFL, quarterbacks can beat their prime in the 30s and often, and so for all that Wilson has already accomplished, he still learns the position. Wilson comes off of a season in which he was a second-team All-Pro, and an offseason in which he appeared at or at the top of just about every player you could find, including rank no. No. 2 on the NFL Network’s Top 100 list of the 2020 list, but he hardly feels like all of his accomplishments as recent distinctions represent the highlight of his career.
“I think I’m really in the zone, and also, from a game standpoint, any game I want on a performance,” Wilson said Thursday. “Every play, every exercise, I want to be great. I wake up to be great today, it does not let your mind wander. Everything I do is purposeful. There are no wasted moments, no wasted energy.”
Wilson talks about how some of that greatness comes from the way he prepares and studies the game, joking that the recent birth of his and Ciara’s son, Win Harrison, means he needs to be more efficient than ever. And he also pointed out that, despite the wear and tear that comes with playing every game of an eight-year career, he also feels great physically after his ninth season.
“I feel great,” he said. “I feel like I’m just hitting at the beginning of my prime of my career, and I feel like I have a lot more ball to play, 10, 15 more years of playing. I want my best years to be for me. That is what I’m excited about; the best years are for me … For me personally, I feel the best I’ve ever been, but I feel like I’m only at 70 percent capacity. ‘I have a very ‘nother 30 (percent) more in me.
“When I step on the field, I want the other team to know they’re in trouble. It does not matter if it’s the first game or the 25th they play the game, every time I want to feel my mentality is to make up it is difficult to defend. “
While not denying Wilson’s individual greatness, he’s also quick to point out that his success is also the product of the people around him – he mentioned about two-thirds of the receivers and tight ends of Seattle while he did that. point made – and that’s why he held offseason workouts with a number of attacking players this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic meant Wilson could not organize one of his summer camps this year, but he found time to work safely with colleagues on a one-to-one basis, and as Carroll noted Wednesday, that paid off when it comes to newcomers Greg Olsen and Phillip Dorsett II, and second-year receiver DK Metcalf.
“He worked his tail off and he had a great offseason,” Carroll said of Wilson. “He was so disciplined about it. The effect he has on other players is really obvious, because over time he went with a lot of guys, got along with a lot of guys. You can just see the performance. see – they “We speak all our language. The work he has done with Greg Olsen and DK in particular, and Phillip Dorsett, we roll. DK had a young room to grow with as a young boy; (Wilson) had to teach Greg and Greg had to teach Russ, and the same with Phillip, and those guys fly in here. They look great, they look like they know what they are doing. They show all the kind of detail work you have to work to earn, and Russell was really in the middle of making that event happen. “
