Former NFL executive has an insane idea for Wisconsin legend Russell Wilson’s next step
It is rare we write up the comments made on ESPN’s ‘Get Up,’ ‘First Take,’ or other similar shows.
First, the shows don’t talk nearly enough about college football for our taste. But second, the stupidity rarely crosses into the threshold of Wisconsin Badgers athletics.
Well, on Monday it did. Former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum shared the following idea on Get Up for former Badger Russell Wilson’s next step after leaving the Broncos.
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“I think he would be a great fit with New York [Jets], and here’s why,” Tannenbaum said. His partners on the show reacted with appropriate disgust before he continued to say “pay him a million dollars and let him resurrect his career. I actually have experience with this, Vinny Testaverde got cut by the Baltimore Ravens, we signed him in June and went to the championship game that year. So, if you’re Russell Wilson…where else is he going to go? He has to resurrect his career, so if you have to sit for a year why not sit for a year behind one of the greatest of all time and then be a free agent again. Where is he going to go? He’s 36 years old. Nobody’s going to hand him a starting job. He’s going to have to be a backup somewhere.”
Here’s the full video, for context:
Dan Graziano was incredulous over Mike Tannenbaum's suggestion that Russell Wilson could be backing up Aaron Rodgers on the New York Jets next season. That led to Bart Scott checking his coffee mug as well. pic.twitter.com/TOOPiqfjPk
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 19, 2024
It’s easy to dissect why this is a terrible idea.
First, Tannenbaum said it, Wilson is 36 years old. He only has a few years of football left, so it would be foolish to spend one of them on the bench. Look around the NFL, there are far worse quarterbacks than Wilson starting for teams — Tommy DeVito, Derek Carr, Sam Howell, Josh Dobbs, Mason Rudolph to just name a few. The Wisconsin legend should get one final shot at leading a team under center.
Second, and more important in my eyes, who wants to back up Aaron Rodgers? Of all the starters in the NFL, Rodgers might be the one I’d want to back-up the least if I were Wilson. The only positive is he may get injured again, leading to quicker playing time. But Rodgers is a challenging person to work with by all accounts, which would make life tough on someone like Wilson looking for another shot.
Tannenbaum was an NFL executive for more than a decade, so there is some basis behind his opinions. I think he’s way off on this one — which the football community on ‘X’ agrees with. Wilson needs to find a starting job to try to resurrect his career, not a backup job behind a quarterback like Rodgers.
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