One man’s trash can become another man’s treasure—until that treasure turns out not to shine so bright after all. That feels like the story of former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson right now. I don’t believe Wilson is complete garbage, but the New York Giants seem convinced he isn’t the guy to lead their team after just three weeks of football.
And honestly, if you’ve watched his career over the last few years, it isn’t all that surprising.
The former Pro Bowler has been battling uphill since arriving in New York. The QB1 role was always something he had to defend rather than something he outright owned. His Week 3 outing against the Kansas City Chiefs might have sealed his fate. Two costly interceptions, one of them backbreaking, essentially crushed his hopes of solidifying himself as the Giants’ leader.
According to Ian Rapoport, New York has named rookie Jaxson Dart as the starting gunslinger moving forward.
What makes it more ironic is that just one week earlier, Wilson had put together one of the most explosive performances of his career. That high point was quickly erased by another valley, and in New York’s eyes, the inconsistency was too much to stomach.
For Steelers fans, this feels eerily familiar.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were right to pull the plug on Russell Wilson
Last season, Wilson was good enough to play on Sundays, but never quite good enough to make you feel entirely confident. Every throw came with hesitation. Every drive carried uncertainty. He still had flashes, but they were just that—flashes. A few highlights mixed into stretches of doubt.
Pittsburgh made the tough call to move on, and seeing how things are unfolding in New York, it’s hard not to feel like they made the right decision.
Now Wilson finds himself in the middle of a quarterback triangle with the Giants, fighting not only for snaps but perhaps for the direction of the final chapter of his career. He’s a former Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl champion, and for a time one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in football.
But the league is unforgiving, and it rarely cares about past résumés. The inconsistencies that hurt him in Pittsburgh seem to have followed him to New York.
I’ll be honest—I sincerely hope Wilson finds a way to carve out success in whatever role he lands in. He’s earned the right to at least write his own ending rather than having it decided for him by front offices and depth charts. But at the same time, there’s something refreshing about seeing the Steelers’ decision validated.
When Pittsburgh cut ties with him, it was viewed by some as cold and maybe even premature. Now, watching the Giants go through the same frustrations, it looks more like a case of Tomlin and company seeing the writing on the wall.
Wilson may not be trash, but he isn’t treasure anymore either. He’s somewhere in between—capable, experienced, but unreliable in ways that can sink a team trying to compete at the highest level. For the Giants, that’s too big a gamble. For the Steelers, it’s a bullet they dodged.