Russell Wilson is a very good man, and his kind-hearted stories are everywhere nowadays. His soft-spoken attitude and ability to maintain a great relationship with the fans by preaching the necessity of God regularly keeps him in the limelight. However, he wasn’t always like this. The veteran is actually a recovering bully. He used to throw kids against the wall and treat his peers quite ferociously. In a past interview, the signal-caller had narrated a story about his inner demons and how much he had to pay for them.
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The 34-year-old Broncos star has come a long way to earn the success he enjoys today. One of the prime hindrances in his journey was to control his anger and start living for others. Gradually, the veteran imbibed the lessons of humanity by following the path of religion. Now it makes sense why he shares biblical quotes online and asks people to replicate them in their lives.
Russell Wilson was a bully growing up
The Wisconsin product entered the NFL arena in 2012 as a third-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks. Two years down the line, he made his franchise proud, winning a championship title. Numerous other accolades followed, and his brand value skyrocketed in the sports fraternity. However, what many people don’t know is that Wilson had a dark past before all this fame and success.
It started during his school life when he was a teenager. The entire incident was narrated by Wilson in an article for Derek Jeter’s ‘The Players’ Tribune’. Wilson stated that he literally used to beat people up.
“Many of you readers probably think I have been Mr. Goody Two-Shoes my whole life, but honestly, I was a bully growing up. In elementary and middle school, I threw kids against the wall. I rubbed their heads in the dirt at recess. I bit them. I even knocked teeth out.” Wilson said, per Tyler Brooke of Bleacher Report.
“I had a lot of anger that I didn’t know what to do with. Thankfully, I was saved by my faith when I was 14 years old, and was able to start living for others instead of just myself,” he added. The quarterback also shed some light on the adversities of this mindset.
He mentions that people, who have a similar attitude don’t harvest success in life but instead end up in jail. Some of the past NFL suspensions have been on similar grounds, where athletes mistreated people off the field and broke the player code of conduct.
NFL suspensions in the last two decades
It is essential to maintain decorum, especially when an athlete is playing in the NFL. Whenever this conduct is broken, the NFLPA and league management slap the perpetrators with disciplinary actions in the form of suspensions or indefinite bans.
In recent times, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was made to serve an 11-game suspension in 2022. He also paid a $5 million fine for alleged s*xual misconduct during the therapy sessions in 2020.
Former cornerback, Chris Cook had to undergo a 10-game suspension in 2011 after being charged with domestic assault. Former Bengals star Adam Jones was in fact suspended for the entire 2007 season due to an altercation at a strip club.
These are just a few of the many incidents where things didn’t end well for footballers as they crossed the line. All these cases throw light on the need for a balanced approach in life to stay away from distractions and succeed in one’s professional career.
