Doug Flutie thinks the NFL has a bias against short quarterbacks, but Seahawks rookie Russell Wilson has yet to see anything like that.
(Maybe he needs to get on his tiptoes first.)
In the latest edition of our pal Michael Robinson’s The Real Rob Report, Wilson talks to the Seahawks fullback about Wilson’s (lack of) height, after being goaded a bit by the host.
“What do you say about people who say you’re too short, Shorty?” Robinson said. “Because you are short. Let’s just honest. You’re a short little dude.”
“I don’t worry about the critics,” Wilson said. “I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to play in the National Football League, and I know that I’m just going to push my talents as far as I can go. And then wherever the Lord takes me, and I know He’ll take me a long way, it’ll be great.”
If there’s a bias, the Seahawks don’t have one. They selected the five-foot, eleven-inch Wilson with the 75th overall pick in the draft, and they’ve thrust him into a three-man competition for the starting quarterback job.
Still, Wilson doesn’t see the situation as a competition with his teammates.
“I think the best way is you’ve got to realize who you’re competing against,” Wilson said. “We’re not competing against the Seahawks, we’re competing against other teams and competing against ourselves to be the best. We’re competing against all the other great quarterbacks in the National Football League to win a lot of games. That’s what we’re about, we’re about winning the Super Bowl.”
We love the kid’s attitude. And we think that a lack of height can be overcome by a quarterback with the overall skills to do it.
Flutie didn’t get a fair shake at the NFL level until he showed multiple times over that he could dominate the CFL. Wilson looks to be getting an NFL opportunity from Day One, and it’ll be fun to see what he does with it.