On November 15, 2022, the world’s population reached 8 billion people, a new personal best in human development for this planet. Since then the surface population has grown to 8,214,939,609 as of today, Friday, March28, 2025. So it says a lot about the supply and demand of NFL franchise quarterbacks that total, by my count, only 22 out of 32 NFL rosters right now and some are even up for debate. What’s even more telling about the level of difficulty and complexity of the position is that of the 32 NFL franchises, there are only three, who’s current starting quarterback has won a Super Bowl with the team that currently employs them as their QB1 (Philadelphia, L.A. & Kansas City).
Because of the low supply of viable NFL quarterbacks, there are two kinds of teams in the NFL: Those that have their long-term franchise quarterback and those that are looking for him, and looking for him, and still maybe looking for him. You can usually tell who the teams are that are still looking for their guy by the number of Super Bowls they’ve won. It is possible to win one without a prototypical franchise gun-slinger but it’s not all that common. Some might say that the Chicago Bears haven’t had a franchise quarterback since 1950, Sid Luckman’s last season as a Bear, until last year when they drafted Caleb Williams with the first overall pick. The jury is still out on Williams as he’s heading into just his sophomore season in the Windy City and he might be the only Bear left from last year’s squad and staff that didn’t either get fired or traded.
Because of the scarcity of that Super Bowl-caliber passer, many teams are forced to turn to “bridge quarterbacks,” passers who arrive with mixed levels of much fanfare, and are only expected to hold the starting role until the next great hope arrives. It is assumed that these chosen human spackle dollops are skilled enough to have a positive impact on the teams that they play for until the team’s franchise guy shows up. Examples of good bridge quarterbacks would be a Ryan Fitzpatrick, an Andy Daulton or perhaps a Cooper Rush. Examples of bad bridge quarterbacks would be a Nate Peterman, Mac Jones or a Carson Wentz.
Russell Wilson used to be a franchise quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. He helped bring Seattle their first Super Bowl Championship back in 2014 and came within a play-calling brain malfunction of winning another. He logged a good 10 good years in Starbuck’s country before getting exiled into bridge-quarterback duty with three other teams in last four years. His latest stop is East Rutherford, New Jersey, the very place where he won his only Super Bowl Championship back in 2014 as he signed a one-year deal with New York Giants Tuesday night for upwards of $21 million with $10.5 million guaranteed. That’s a pretty splashy, splashy upgrade Football Giants to go from Tommy DeVito to Russell Wilson wouldn’t you say? Or is it? Does this big headline-rattling maneuver move the Giants closer to their goal of closing the gap between themselves and the Philadelphia Eagles or does it quite possibly have the Paula Abdul “Opposites Attract” effect of mitigating gains?
For the last three seasons Wilson has been given the opportunity to be the franchise quarterback for the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Mile-High experiment was a colossal failure as Wilson went 11-19 in his two seasons in Denver and in Pittsburgh, the Wilson mission was about as successful as the Apollo 13 moon landing as Russ got off to a 6-1 start but stirred those pesky tanks in early December and the Steelers finished out their season going winless in their last five games including a 28-14 loss to the Ravens in a first round Divisional Playoff Game.
The projected future hall-of-famer has eclipsed 21 passing touchdowns just once in the past three seasons and now finds himself in the same quarterback room as Jameis Winston and Tommy DeVito but Wilson publicly stated on his introductory Zoom call this past Wednesday that he believes he will be the starting quarterback for the G-men when next season rolls around.
“Yeah, I expect to be the starter and come in here and be ready to rock and roll every day,” Wilson said when asked how the situation was laid out by the Giants. “I think this team’s really looking for somebody to lead them in every way.” While that statement couldn’t be more accurate the real question is is Wilson the compass that Big Blue needs to point them in the right direction.
Wilson, 36, started 11 games last season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has been a starter every year of his career, even as a rookie third-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2012. While the Birds have had little trouble beating the Giants over the last 10 years boasting a record of 16-4, New York will now trot out a seasoned, professional quarterback, who, when he was making a name for himself in the Great North West, also became the Eagles’ arch-nemesis, going a perfect 6-oh against Philly in a Seahawk uniform, including a 17-9 playoff victory back on January 5, 2020 at Lincoln Financial Field in Carson Wentz’ only playoff appearance in midnight green. Wilson’s only career loss to the Birds came last year while wearing a Steeler uniform when he and his teammates from the ‘Burgh dropped a game at the Linc 27-13 last December.
The Giants have struggled to replace Eli Manning since he retired after the 2019 season and the boys in Vegas have Big Blue’s over/under win total now at 5.5, up from 3.5 before the signing, for the 2025 season, which still doesn’t instill a lot of hope in a quarterback room that has more bridges than the dentistry division of the Mayo Clinic.
