Seattle Seahawks Name Russell Wilson Starting Quarterback

The future for the Seattle Seahawks is now. The team made rookie quarterback and third round pick Russell Wilson its starting quarterback as of Sunday, and here is what Pete Carroll had to say about the move.

“It’s been a very exciting competition that has gone on, and Russell has taken full advantage of his opportunities and has done everything that we have asked for on the field and more than what you guys could know off the field in meeting rooms and with our players and how he’s represented. He’s earned this job,” Carroll said on a conference call Sunday night. “It was a legitimate competition as we said from the beginning, and with the opportunity he’s taken advantage of he deserves to start.”

There was an interesting nugget by Peter King in his Monday Morning QB article that, at the beginning of the season it was said that Wilson would have to be head and shoulders above the other QBs in order to take over the starting job. It appears as though he’s done that and then some.

Let me just say, I think this guy is for real. After being named the starter for the game against Kansas City, Wilson responded by passing for 185 yards on 13-of-19 passing with two touchdowns and 58 yards rushing. The Seahawks aren’t necessarily going to be a scoring machine and Wilson will have his share of rookie mistakes, but this is really the right direction for the Seahawks in my opinion.

“He is so prepared. He doesn’t seem like a first-year player,” Carroll said. “He seems like he’s been around. He gets it, he understands and he is a tremendous leader in that way. He doesn’t do anything but the right thing in all of his work and his preparation and his competitiveness has been demonstrated again.”

This year in the NFL must be the year of the quarterback. Five rookie signal callers will be starting on opening day for the first time ever, and I think they are all going to be fun to watch. Wilson may be the most intriguing. He is the only non-first round pick at the position to earn a starting job, though I contend he would have been a first round pick had he been three inches taller than his listed 5’11” ish height.

Pete Carroll has never been afraid to make bold moves, and this may be his boldest yet, just hours after cutting Terrell Owens, he makes Russell Wilson his starting quarterback.