Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has held back on announcing if his expected starters for the regular season would get into Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, but it is still likely that most of them are going to get some work in. That includes star quarterback Russell Wilson, who sat out the first preseason game against the Denver Broncos — the first game of any kind in his professional career that he did not participate in.
As more and more head coaches around the league opt to give extended time off to their key players, the question of whether or not Wilson should get anything more than a shot of espresso is weighing heavier than ever.
The NFL sees key players go down before Week 1 every year (Derwin James is perhaps the biggest such name so far) and no position is even close to as important as the quarterback. I posed the question on Twitter as to whether or not Wilson should sit or start and to my surprise, fans voted in favor of giving him another week off.
There is surely a lot of evidence that would make you hesitate towards playing an important member of the offense or defense, but as far as I know, not a single piece that’ll prove it’s necessary to get any work in the preseason. Everything I’ve ever heard on that end is no more than narrative, cliches, and assumptions about “guys need to do this” and “guys need to do that” but it’s not proven. Walter Jones didn’t show up and he’s the greatest.
Russell Wilson, I would say, is also the greatest.
Sunday night preseason week 2 vs the Vikings, Russell Wilson should
— Field Gulls (@FieldGulls) August 18, 2019
At least, so far.
There’s time left to vote and plenty of time to go before the primetime kickoff on Fox.