Russell Wilson: Starting Nod Shows That Money Is Irrelevant to Pete Carroll

Russell Wilson is now the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. It's the right move and shows that Pete Carroll doesn't care how much money someone makes; he will start the best players for the job.

This offseason, Matt Flynn signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract to be the starter for the Seahawks. However, the former Green Bay Packer hasn't been able to justify his contract this preseason. He posted passer ratings of just 57.4 and 53.0 in the first two preseason games.

Russell Wilson, the team's rookie third-round pick, stepped in at quarterback for Games 2 and 3 this preseason. He didn't just have two okay games. He had two games where he came in and dominated the opposition. 

In those two games, he went 23-for-36 for a 63.9 percent completion percentage. He also had 340 yards for a 9.44 yard-per-attempt average. In addition to that, he had four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

In short, he didn't just look like a solid quarterback. He looked like the best quarterback in a weak division posting passer ratings of 128.3 and 134.8.

So the Seahawks decided that it makes sense to have the better player play despite the lack of money being thrown his way. ESPN analyst and former NFL head coach Jon Gruden was quoted about the change (h/t Bob Wolfley of the Milwaulkee Journal Sentinel):

"

I think the surprising thing that goes along with Russell Wilson being a starter is they went out and gave Matt Flynn a big contract. There were some people who probably thought Flynn was the guaranteed starter because of the money he was given. But if you look at the body of work of what Russell Wilson did in college and what Matt Flynn did in college (at LSU), it's, to me, not even close.

"

And it's hard to disagree with Chucky here. In college, Russell Wilson had a career 60.9 percent completion percentage, over 11,700 yards and a 109-to-30 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his four seasons as a starter.

Wilson also had a very unique situation. He graduated in four years from North Carolina State but didn't want to go there for his Master's Degree program.

So he decided to transfer to Wisconsin. Unlike most college quarterbacks, he had to learn a completely new playbook in just one offseason and be effective in it. 

Having to learn the playbook in such a short period of time likely endeared him to head coach Pete Carroll as he probably replicated that feat with the Seahawks. Wilson's intelligence in picking up the offense combined with his ridiculously good preseason performance has earned him the starting role. 

It's a shame that his contract is a four-year deal that is worth just $180,000 more total than Matt Flynn's base salary in 2012. By making this move, coach Carroll proves that he wants the best players on the field, not just the most expensive.

Scott Carasik is a Featured Columnist and Trends and Traffic Writer for Bleacher Report. As a Featured Columnist, he covers the Atlanta Falcons, NFL and NFL Draft. He is also the Falcons analyst at Drafttek, runs the NFL Draft Website ScarDraft.com and hosts Kvetching Draftniks Radio.

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