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Why Russ Wilson is worth the money

The protracted contract negotiations between Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks finally came to a conclusion last Friday, with the Seahawks doing what they had to: paying the going price for a good quarterback. We have seen inferior quarterbacks to Wilson get bigger deals than this (Wilson’s four-year, $87.6 million deal leaves him outside the “$100 million quarterback” club), but on a per-year basis Wilson will be making nearly as much as Aaron Rodgers.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to make the argument that Wilson is as good as Rodgers, and if so, that person wouldn’t want to cite our numbers. Rodgers is the No. 1 QB in the NFL in terms of our PFF rating heading into 2015, while Wilson ranks ninth.

But the commonly used argument that Wilson is someone who merely benefits from the talented Seahawks roster around him isn’t true, either. The truth is that it is a mutually beneficial relationship, and Wilson has been very productive since his rookie season in 2012.

Wilson’s production on the ground has been well-documented, but he also uses his legs to open up the passing game when his offensive line lets him down (which happens all too often). No quarterback was forced to scramble more often than Wilson last season (115) and he collected 569 passing yards on 70 attempts on scrambles.

And while Wilson is not a conventional quarterback in the traditional NFL mold, he has finished inside the top 10 in PFF’s adjusted QB rating in each of his seasons in the NFL, and was a top 10 passer in PFF grade until last season when he ranked 19th.

Wilson may not be Rodgers, but he doesn’t have to be in order to make this a good deal for Seattle. The team made the right move in locking him up for the long term.

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