Jesse Reed
Russell Wilson isn’t keen on getting walloped by 300-pound NFL defensive linemen, so he’s reportedly dropping weight and working on getting faster to combat the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line problems.
Already saddled with 18 sacks through four games, it’s clear something needed to change. And, because it’s not possible to clone elite offensive linemen in this day and age, Wilson is doing what he can to give himself the best chance to succeed.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports Wilson and his trainer are focusing on “cutting weight ands speed training” to help him evade the insane amounts of pressure he’s facing this year. He notes Wilson is trying to get “as close to his college weight of 208 as he can.”
Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has Seattle as its third-worst pass-protecting team, and Wilson was pressured on an astonishing 48.6 percent of his dropbacks in Week 4 against the Detroit Lions. Interestingly, according to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus, Wilson’s ability to evade pressure has gotten worse this year compared to the 2014 season.
Odd stat for Russell Wilson:
25.4% of his pressured dropbacks have turned into sacks.
Last year that number was 15.9%
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) October 8, 2015
The Seahawks are struggling to replace Pro Bowl center Max Unger, who was shipped off to New Orleans this offseason in the move that brought tight end Jimmy Graham to Seattle. Things are so bad that La Canfora reports an in-game switch isn’t out of the question if Drew Nowak doesn’t shape up.
Regardless of the team’s offensive line woes, it does fall to Wilson to make it work. He’s the face of the franchise now, and after getting paid like a top NFL quarterback he needs to start producing like one — despite any other shortcoming the team is working with.
Clearly, Seattle’s offensive line issues are a big problem, and it’s not a given the problems are going to go away any time soon. Therefore Wilson’s focus on cutting weight and gaining speed seems to be the only recourse he has to improve his chances of success.
