Russell Wilson is going to have a chance to join a very exclusive club this year: The Broncos QB could become just the fifth quarterback in NFL history to beat all 32 teams.
Over the course of his career, Wilson has beaten 30 of the NFL's 32 teams and thanks to the March trade that sent him from Seattle to Denver, Wilson will now have a chance to cross every team off his list. In 2022, the Broncos will be playing the two teams that Wilson has yet to beat: The Seahawks and Chargers.
Thanks to the way Denver's schedule turned out, Wilson might not have to wait very long to join the exclusive club and that's because the Broncos will be facing both the Seahawks and Chargers within the first six games of the season.
- Week 1 (Sept. 12):Broncos at Seahawks, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Week 6 (Oct. 17):Broncos at Chargers, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)
That's right, both games are on "Monday Night Football." If Wilson beats the Seahawks, but loses to the Chargers, he could still join the 32-team club this year and that's because he'll get a second chance to beat Los Angeles in Week 17.
If Wilson can beat both teams, he'll join Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks who have beaten all 32 teams. It's one of the most exclusive clubs that a quarterback can join and Wilson could be getting his membership in 2022 (Joe Montana and Fran Tarkenton are also kind of in the club. Even though they haven't beaten 32 teams, they did get at least one win against all 28 teams that were in existence during their careers).
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The one notable aspect of Wilson joining the club is that he would be the youngest player to ever gain membership. Wilson could join the club at age 33 or 34. The quarterback's birthday is on Nov. 29, so if he beats the Seahawks in Week 1 and Chargers in Week 6, he'd be 33 when it happens. On the other hand, if if he loses to the Chargers in Week 6, but beats them in Week 17, he'd be 34. Either way, he'll set the record. The youngest QB to join the club was Manning, who did it at age 38. Brady didn't join the club until last season, when he beat the Patriots at age 44 to complete the 32-team gauntlet.
If Wilson does beat both the Chargers and Seahawks this year, it could be a while before we see another quarterback beat all 32 teams. As things currently stand, there's only one active quarterback who's beaten 31 of the league's 32 teams and that's Aaron Rodgers. The only way Rodgers can hit 32 is if he somehow finds a way to beat the Packers, which isn't going to happen as long as he's in Green Bay.
Besides Wilson, there's only one other quarterback who's even beaten 30 teams and that's Joe Flacco. To get to 32, Flacco needs to beat both the Ravens and the Seahawks and the crazy thing is, that could theoretically happen this year. The Jets play the Ravens in Week 1 and the Seahawks in Week 17, so if Zach Wilson gets hurt or if Flacco shockingly won the starting QB job, then he could have a chance to join the club.
Wilson, Rodgers and Flacco are the only three active quarterbacks who have beaten at least 30 teams. Over the past two years, we've seen two quarterbacks -- Alex Smith and Ben Roethlisberger -- retire after beating 31 of the NFL's 32 teams. Smith had yet to beat the Chiefs and Big Ben never beat the Steelers.
