Russell Wilson just hit a first in his 14-year NFL career: he was a healthy scratch. The Super Bowl–winning quarterback who once started 149 straight games for the Seattle Seahawks watched in street clothes as the New York Giants lost 33-15 to the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football.
Instead of dressing, Wilson, 37, was designated the Giants’ emergency third quarterback behind starter Jaxson Dart and backup Jameis Winston.
Russell Wilson Is a Healthy Scratch for Giants After Seahawks Ironman Run
The headline play from the Giants’ loss came on special teams, when kicker Younghoe Koo aborted a 47-yard attempt, appeared to kick the turf and never touched the ball before holder Jamie Gillan was tackled for a huge loss.
Buried in that special-teams meltdown was an equally jarring line on the game-day roster: Wilson inactive, listed only as the emergency No. 3 quarterback. NFL rules allow that designation, but it means the veteran can only play if the first two quarterbacks are injured.
It’s the first time in 14 NFL seasons that Wilson has been a healthy scratch, according to the New York Post. He missed games in Seattle only after a 2021 finger injury ended his streak of 149 consecutive regular-season starts, the sixth-longest run by a quarterback in league history.
For Seahawks fans who watched him become the franchise’s all-time face of durability, seeing him inactive on Monday Night Football for a struggling 2-10 Giants team was a stark visual of how far his role has changed.
What It Means for Russell Wilson’s Future, and for Seahawks Fans
After the Seahawks traded Wilson to the Denver Broncos in 2022 in a blockbuster that helped jump-start Seattle’s reset, his career has traced a downward arc through Denver, Pittsburgh and now New York.
He signed a one-year deal with the Giants worth up to $21 million, brought in as a short-term answer while the franchise reset at quarterback. Jameis Winston and first-round pick Jaxson Dart eventually passed him on the depth chart, and Wilson has been benched since early in the season.
Now comes the healthy scratch, which some around the league have already framed as “rock bottom” for a player once viewed as a lock for Canton. An NBC Sports report noted that Wilson’s emergency-QB status gives Hall of Fame skeptics a simple talking point: for at least one night, a likely Hall candidate wasn’t considered worthy of one of 48 active-roster spots on a bottom-tier team.
From a Seattle perspective, it’s another reminder of how thoroughly the trade worked out for the Seahawks. They turned Wilson into multiple first- and second-round picks, plus tight end Noah Fant and quarterback Drew Lock, a haul that’s widely described as a nightmare outcome for Denver in hindsight.
At the same time, many Seahawks fans still have a soft spot for the quarterback who delivered the franchise’s only Lombardi Trophy and re-wrote the team’s record book. Monday’s image — Wilson in Giants blue, watching in street clothes as Dart took hits behind a shaky line — added a complicated new chapter to that legacy.
Stats, Streak & Context for Seahawks Fans Tracking Russ
Wilson’s Seahawks tenure remains the defining stretch of his career: 199 regular-season starts across Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh, including nine Pro Bowls and a 43-8 Super Bowl win over the Broncos with the Seahawks. He opened his time in Seattle with 149 straight regular-season starts, a run that helped define the Pete Carroll era.
Since leaving, the numbers — and now his game-day status — have slipped. Denver cut him after an 11-19 stretch, Pittsburgh brought him in on a one-year flyer, and the Giants signed him this spring as a bridge while drafting Dart.
Wilson is expected to become a free agent again in March, and it’s unclear what kind of market will exist for a 37-year-old quarterback who was just made a healthy scratch.
For Seahawks fans, the football impact is long gone — Seattle has moved on at quarterback and continues to cash in pieces of the original trade. But moments like Monday night keep Wilson squarely in the conversation in the Pacific Northwest, turning a bizarre Giants-Patriots special-teams lowlight into another reminder of how much the NFL world has changed since his prime in Seattle.
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