Is Russell Wilson’s Decline a Preview of Mahomes, Josh Allen’s Late Careers?

Is Russell Wilson still “that guy”?

The one who walked into Seattle in 2012, dismantled the odds stacked against a 5’11” quarterback, and in two years became the shortest QB ever to win a Super Bowl? Piling up 98 wins in his first nine seasons, more than Tom Brady or Peyton Manning over the same span.

But the version of Wilson we see now in New York is unrecognizable. The fall has been steady and cruel. However, it all started in Denver in 2022.

In 2021, his last season with the Seahawks, he averaged 222.4 yards per game with a 64.8% completion rate. Fast forward to one year later with the Broncos: he is down to just 60.5% completion with 234.9 yards per game. But that number is as good as an illusion for a QB who’s known to hit them moonballs. Russ threw 11 INTs. Only the 5th time in his career that he threw for double digit interceptions.

He ruffled some feathers in Denver with Sean Payton, and the HC made sure to make Bo Nix his no. 1 guy. Out of the starting role, Russ came to Pittsburgh.

Mike Tomlin gave Russell Wilson the keys, and for seven weeks it looked like a revival… 6-1. As long as he let the moonballs fly, Steel City was on a high.

But the crash came quick.

His Pittsburgh stop ended at 6-5, exposing a troubling pattern.

Wilson’s attempts per game have fallen from 8.1 yards per pass attempts in 2018 to just 7.1 in 2025, and his QBR has slid from 63.3 to 33.9.

Here’s his statsheet with the Giants so far. An abysmal 46% completion rate in Week 1, a jaw-dropping 450-yard, three-TD clinic in Week 2, then a 160-yard, two-pick meltdown in Week 3 capped by four straight red-zone failures. None of those throws were even catchable.

The headline is inevitable: Mr. Clutch is Inconsistent.

This is the same QB who once tied Peyton Manning’s rookie TD record, now reduced to making history for wild swings—sub-200 yards one week, 450 the next, back to sub-200 with zero scores right after.

The 36-year-old isn’t washed because of one bad Sunday.

He’s in decline because the style of quarterbacking that made him great—bailing out with legs, hunting chunk plays—doesn’t age well. That’s the brutal reality check.

Will Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have the same fate as Russell Wilson?

Josh Allen is 29 and fresh off an MVP season. He completed 63.6% of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just six interceptions, while adding another 531 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.

That dual-threat danger has kept the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl conversation in the 2025 season. He even passed Patrick Mahomes as the fastest quarterback in history to 300 touchdowns.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about Josh Allen: his game is breathtaking, but it leans heavy on punishment. He lowers his shoulder like a linebacker, drags defenders in the open field, and makes a highlight out of chaos.

It’s why he belongs in any conversation about the greatest dual-threat QBs.

But history has a cruel way of catching up. Russell Wilson once thrived the same way…until the mileage showed, and those escape routes turned into dead ends. What happens when Allen’s legs don’t have the same burst at 34 or 36?

Patrick Mahomes offers a different cautionary tale.

He’s still the league’s marquee star, but the decline in his deep ball is hard to ignore.

From 2018 to 2022, he owned defenses, stacking 192 touchdowns against 48 picks with a ridiculous 106 passer rating.

Since 2023, though, that same rocket has sputtered—his passer rating has plunged to 92.0. That’s not just a dip, that’s a cliff.

And here’s where it gets eerie. If Wilson feels like a fading reminder of what once was, Allen and Mahomes might be staring at their own previews. The very tools that made them unstoppable could turn fragile, and the league doesn’t wait for anyone. The clock is always ticking. Even on its brightest stars.