Russell Wilson is in his ninth year as a quarterback in the NFL. During that period, his team, the Seahawks, have played 118 regular-season games, and 13 more in the playoffs. Wilson has been the starting QB in 131 of those games.
That's right. All of them.
This is true even though Wilson has run the ball 744 times in his career, for an average of 5.6 yards. Some of those were scrambles away from the pass rush when no receiver appeared to be available. Some were designed runs called to take advantage of his speed and elusiveness. Some were concluded by Wilson taking a hard hit from a defender, some by Wilson dashing out of bounds or sliding like Maury Wills swiping second.
None of these plays on its own, nor all of them in totality, has dissuaded the chorus of NFL reporters, analysts and even coaches and executives from singing their favorite old song: The quarterback who runs too often puts himself in too much jeopardy for an NFL franchise to afford the risk.
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The bias against the running quarterback has endured from Bobby Douglass nearly posting 1,000 rushing yards in 1972 through Randall Cunningham’s four Pro Bowls in the 1080s and ‘90s, from Michael Vick’s dazzling (though abbreviated) stay in Atlanta to Cam Newton's MVP season in 2015.
Any injury to a quarterback with genuine running talent is treated as proof of his fragility — even if it occurs while he is performing the acceptable quarterbacking task of throwing from the pocket. Any injury to a pocket-based quarterback while he is in the pocket is summarily ignored.
No less an authority than Patriots superstar Tom Brady, who once tore his ACL on a hit that occurred while he was passing from the pocket, told radio station WEEI he believes it’s important for a quarterback to remain available to a team, implying that's why he rarely runs with the ball: about one run for every 19 throws.
"A lot of quarterbacks who do run, they’re trying to make yards and it’s great," Brady said. "At the same time, you’re susceptible to big hits."
Earlier this season, Newsday’s Tom Rock wrote while discussing Giants rookie Daniel Jones, "Every time a quarterback runs with the ball in the NFL, he's putting himself in peril."
There is some logic to this.
"I mean, you are going to be getting more hits. There's no question about that," NFL analyst John Clayton of the Washington Post and 710 ESPN Seattle told Sporting News. "That’s why it’s going to be amazing to see how Lamar Jackson does because he’ll end up having more carries than Cam Newton’s 135 a few years ago. And he's not as big as Cam Newton."
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It’s not entirely scientific, though. Research on NFL quarterback injuries compiled by injury coordinator John Verros at Sports Info Solutions shows the risk of a quarterback being injured on a designed run is remote — only one for every 236 plays.
The risk for a scrambling quarterback is almost equal to the quarterback who is sacked: once every 91.7 plays for the scrambler, once every 92.5 plays for the guy getting sacked.
The most dangerous play category Verros discovered is the knockdown; the quarterback who is taken to the ground while unleashing a pass, as when the Jaguars’ Nick Foles suffered a broken clavicle after being struck while releasing a pass against the Chiefs. That player is hurt once every 67.3 plays.
"I believe the risk of a running QB being more prone to injury in comparison to a pocket passer is overstated by many analysts," Verros told SN. "One caveat would be that a running QB will attempt so many rushes per game that the sheer volume will still put him at an increased risk."
We have seen numerous examples of passers in the past couple seasons injured while performing the most basic duty of a modern quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers damaged his elbow while, apparently, throwing the football. He’ll miss the entire 2019 season recovering from surgery. Drew Brees of the Saints was struck on the thumb by a Rams defender while attempting a pass from the pocket. He already has sat three games, half of the original projection.
We have seen quarterbacks injured while vulnerable in the pocket. It can be difficult or impossible for a QB to brace himself to survive a pass rush, depending on how he is positioned when the rusher arrives. Alex Smith of Washington suffered a gruesome broken leg while being sacked by two Houston defenders last season.
Even Newton, who missed only six games in the previous eight years, just missed his fifth game of the 2019 season because of a foot injury that occurred while he was sacked by New England. He has run with the ball nearly 1,000 times in his career, and the costliest injury he received occurred while trying to avoid rushers in what was left of the pocket — in an exhibition game, no less.
Jackson has been the Ravens’ starting quarterback for 14 games, including one in the playoffs, dating back to the latter third of the 2018 season. He has answered the bell every time, has barely shown up on the injury report. He is even more run-oriented than most quarterbacks who are viewed as dual threats.
“You never want any player to get hurt, but it does happen. Your quarterback, that’s certainly something to keep in mind,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters in September.
He has quarterbacks coach James Urban working with Jackson on a variety of techniques to minimize the possibility of injury, including how to slide, when to slide, when to battle for a first down and when to emphasize survival.
"These guys are just tremendously talented, gifted guys. Just to get to this level is such an accomplishment,” Harbaugh said. “They’re great, great athletes. You don’t want to stifle their creativity, but the fundamental, sound way is always what we’re striving for."
Clayton points out quarterbacks who have played baseball extensively already have the training and habits that can help protect them when they arrive in the NFL, with rules that allow quarterbacks to give themselves up and avoid severe contact.
Wilson played two seasons of minor league ball in the Colorado Rockies' organization before deciding he could make in it pro football. Kyler Murray was a first-round pick of the Oakland A’s. At Texas Tech, Patrick Mahomes did not give up baseball until his sophomore year.
"The game is getting more mobile quarterbacks, guys that can move around. With RPOs and stuff like that, there now is more of a demand for it," Clayton said. "I think one of the keys is: Who has the baseball background? In the case of Russell, Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes, the fact they played baseball — they know how to slide. Saves a bunch on the injury front. It’s one that really helps."
This has been a criticism of Newton in the past, that he doesn’t slide often or comfortably enough to manage risk.
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Nearly every quarterback in football is going to find himself on the run at some point, whether it’s the plan or an emergency. Brady, Philip Rivers of the Chargers and Andy Dalton of the Bengals most often will release the ball before they must deal with the rush, even if that means tossing it out of bounds to avoid a sack. Each has more than 10 pass attempts for every run. Rivers has more than 20.
Wilson, though, has played in two Super Bowls, won a ring and has positioned himself as an early 2019 MVP favorite by taking off when the opportunity presents itself — not so much to escape a rush as to defeat it. He ran 6 times for 22 yards in a September road win at Pittsburgh. Two of those runs covered 25 yards on the game-clinching drive as the Seahawks, after the Steelers closed to a 2-point deficit, chewed up the remaining 5:34.
"We just have more quarterbacks now that can move," Clayton told SN. "And it’s not like they’re conditioned to run, but they can run and somehow avoid getting the hits as much as they can. And it can be OK."
