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Russell Wilson is a popular American football quarterback who has plied his trade with the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks since he became a professional. Though he started out playing a handful of sports, including baseball and basketball, it was football that made Wilson shine the most as a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin.
But despite his impressive performance in college, Wilson was not highly rated and was only selected in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft with the 75th pick by the Seahawks. With his career on the line, the football player hit the ground running and was able to turn his fortunes around to become Rookie of the Year and one of the most highly-rated players in the league.
In 2019, a juicy contract extension set Russell Wilson apart from his peers as he became the highest-paid player in the NFL. Aside from his earnings, other interesting things have occurred in his life to make him one of the most talked-about sporting figures in the world.
Russell Wilson’s Career Earnings Over the Years
As a high school and college student, Russell Wilson showed great potentials. He broke records and set new ones in both baseball and football before choosing to settle with the latter. When it was time to go professional, he initially had a little setback as most scouts thought his 5’11 height was too small for the NFL regardless of his accomplishments in college football. Luck, however, smiled on the athlete when after five other quarterbacks had already been selected in the 2012 draft, the Seattle Seahawks selected him.
After enjoying a stellar rookie year that saw him lead his team to the postseason, Russell Wilson guided the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory in 2013. The following year, he managed to guide his team back to the Super Bowl where they were beaten by the New England Patriots.
Wilson’s contributions and achievements with the team did not go unnoticed as team executives duly rewarded him. His first contract as a professional NFL player was a four-year deal worth $2.99 million which he penned in May 2012. His new deal, which he put pen to paper on in July 2015, made the first one look like something for groceries as it was worth a whopping $87.6 million for four years. This made him the second-highest-paid player in the NFL that year.
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Russell Wilson continued his exploits on the gridiron, leading the team to several victories, thus, it didn’t come as a surprise that his next contract was almost double of the last one. He signed the contract extension worth an eye-popping $140 million on April 16, 2019. This contract guaranteed four more years of service for the Seahawks and also made him outrightly the highest-paid player in the NFL. The contract further came with a $65 million signing bonus and $107 million in guaranteed money.
Aside from his earnings from salary, Wilson has other streams of income. Since the inception of his booming career, he has bagged endorsement deals and appeared in commercials for big brands like Levi’s, Microsoft, Nike, Pepsi, Alaska Airlines, and Duracell, among others. He has also extended his craft to the business world, partnering with other businessmen on different projects, including joining the ownership group for Seattle Sounders FC. It, therefore, comes as no surprise to find out that he is worth more than $100 million.
List of Accolades and Recognitions Received
In terms of achievements, Russell Wilson has a couple of well-deserved awards that speak of his contribution to his team and the NFL in general. Some of them include the Steve Largent Award (2012 and 2018), and PFWA Good Guy Award (2014), among others.
In his rookie season with the Seahawks, Wilson was named the NFL Rookie of the Year. Thus far, he has been named to seven Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl XLVIII. He shattered previous records to clinch the most wins by an NFL quarterback in addition to being one of two quarterbacks to record a career passer rating of over 100 in the history of the league.
Other achievements include being the shortest quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl and the first black quarterback to start in multiple Super Bowls.
Facts About Russell Wilson’s Family
He Comes From a Long Line of Sports Enthusiasts
Russell Wilson’s father, Harrison Benjamin, and mother, Tammy Wilson, raised him alongside his older brother Harrison IV and younger sister Anna Wilson. The athlete sure doesn’t look like the average black male as he has lighter skin and Caucasian-looking hair. It might interest you to know that he is of a mixed-race. His father is African-American while his mother is Native American.
Wilson’s father was a sportsman who played baseball and football at Dartmouth College before ending up choosing to practice law. His mother, on the other hand, is not known to have played any sport as she now works as a legal nurse consultant. This, however, was not the case for her father, Wilson’s paternal grandfather, Harrison B. Wilson Jr., who played both college football and basketball at Kentucky State University.
Wilson’s siblings are also into sports. His younger sister plays basketball for Stanford while his older brother played college football and baseball at the University of Richmond.
He Has Been Married Twice
Russell Wilson has been married twice. The first marriage was to his high school sweetheart, Ashton Meem in 2012. The pair stayed married for two years before calling it quits in 2014. No details were given as to why they had parted ways, with Russell asking for privacy and refusing to comment any further on the issue.
Notwithstanding, rumor has it that Ashton was cheating on him with his teammate, Seahawk’s wide receiver Golden Tate. Though this claim has not been officially confirmed by Russell, many believe the story considering how suddenly their union ended.
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Russell found love again in the arms of American R&B singer Ciara. They started dating early in 2015 and fell deeply in love with each, thus, the decision to take it a step further. Their engagement was announced on March 11th, 2016 and they tied the knot on the 6th of July 2016, at the Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, England.
Together, the couple has a daughter named Sienna Princess Wilson. She was born on the 28th of April 2017. Before marrying Russell, Ciara was once married to rapper Future with whom she has a son, Future Zahir. Future Jnr. has since been adopted by Russell.
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