Outside of the pocket, Russell Wilson excels.
It's a fortunate thing for the ultra-talented signal-caller, as his time in the NFL has seen him sacked more than any other quarterback.
Since joining the league in 2012, Wilson has been sacked an alarming 347 times -- more than anybody else, per NFL Research.
Thus, one of the prevailing questions for Wilson and the 'Hawks in 2020 is whether a restructured offensive line can do a better job of protecting one of the game's finest players?
Coming off a season in which he was sacked a league-high 48 times, the Seahawks have revamped, redone, rebuilt, re-whathaveyoued the offensive line in hopes of keeping their superstar standing.
Left tackle Duane Brown is likely the only lock to return to the starting lineup with three or four new starters expected on the Seahawks offensive line.
Next to Brown at left guard, Mike Iupati will be battling for his job with Phil Haynes. At center, B.J. Finney is replacing Justin Britt; at right guard, Haynes, Damien Lewis and Ethan Pocic will compete to replace D.J. Fluker, and at right tackle, Brandon Shell is set to take the place of Germain Ifedi.
The task at hand is trying to keep Wilson from another hard-knock campaign. The six-time Pro Bowl quarterback has thrown for better than 30 touchdowns in four seasons, including three in a row, but he's never had a greater number of touchdown passes in a season than he's been sacked. Wilson has been sacked more than 40 times in seven straight seasons, including last year's league-high 48 and a career-high 51 the year prior.
The rush is problematic for Wilson, too, as evidenced by his 40.6 completion percentage under pressure last season, per Next Gen Stats -- which was 27th in the league. Wilson is, however, quite phenomenal when he gets beyond the tackles, as his 171 completions, 2,308 yards and 21 touchdowns outside the tackle box over the previous three seasons are all tops in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats.
Wilson's surely shown he can make special things happen when he's forced out of the pocket, but behind an improved line, one can only surmise how much greater he could be -- and for how much longer he can lead the Seahawks.
