As Russell Wilson walked easily to the podium on Tuesday to talk to the media, his dark hair was spilled out of each side of a ball cap and his trademark grin came as easy as always.
In his back pocket is a mega four-year, $140 million extension he inked in the offseason.
Upon his resume are a quintet of Pro Bowl selections and the one and only Super Bowl title in Seahawks chronicle.
And yet, as the smile refuses to leave his face, these might be the best of times for Russell Wilson.
His coach certainly believes that to be so.
"Russell is off to a really good start," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday via team transcripts. "He's playing great football, it's the best he's ever been."
When Wilson was asked if he was playing better than he ever was, he shrugged, though his smile held strong.
"I think I'm playing good," he said. "I think there's some more things out there you can always try to do. I wish I could've found a way to win the game, the game we lost against the Saints. I wish I had that one back, somehow. There's things that you want to do to figure out how to execute and just find a way to win. My goal is to ultimately put us in the best position to win every game and to try to be lights out when we need it and facilitate the ball to the right guys at the right time. I feel locked in for sure. You're asking me how I feel, I'm definitely locked in ready to roll."
A locked-in Wilson has been a sensation seemingly overlooked and hidden in the Pacific Northwest so far in the infant season.
As the Seahawks find themselves tied for second in the NFC West at 3-1, Wilson's completion percentage is a glistening 72.9 that leads the NFL. His 118.7 QB rating is second in the league and the best his career has seen as he's tossed eight touchdowns to no interceptions. The touchdowns are tied for the most he's thrown through four games, though he's never been without an interception this far into a campaign. On his way to 1,141 yards so far, he's averaging 8.6 yards an attempt. His 285.3 yards per contest are enough to be impressive, but in today's NFL still a slight enough tally to be the overlooked jewel of the Emerald City he's seemingly been for eight seasons strong now.
Since the dawn of his days as a Seahawk, he's never missed a start, about to make his 117th in a row when Thursday quickly comes and offers a showdown versus the Rams.
During Tuesday's presser, Wilson chatted for a while about his ability to recover being aided by swimming and time in a hyperbaric chamber, one in which he's deftly avoided any foot injuries.
Right now he's healthy and playing spectacularly. And if this is, indeed, the best version of Wilson, he credits it to the all the times that came before.
"All those experiences, all those games you've played, all the games you've been in, all the tough matchups, all the tight moments, all the come-from-behind moments, as well, it prepares you. It prepares you throughout your career," he said. "It allows you to continue to get better."
"I think it's just about this year. It's about this moment, it's about this time," he said. "We're all fighting for the same thing; we're all fighting to be great."
Great has long been an overused adjective. In the case of Wilson though, it's wholly accurate when describing his decorated career thus far. And stunningly, this might very well the greatest that the former Super Bowl-winning, beautiful-deep-ball-throwing, hyperbaric-chamber healing, always-ear-to-ear grinning Russell Wilson has ever been.
