Getty Images

Quarterback Russell Wilson entered the NFL in 2012, as a third-round draft pick who had transferred from N.C. State to Wisconsin. He was too short to be a star quarterback; so short that he was drafted after a punter.

Eight seasons later, Wilson has done something that no other quarterback in the 100-season history of the NFL has ever accomplished: He has led his team to a winning record in each of his first eight NFL seasons.

It started in his rookie year, when Wilson surprisingly supplanted free-agent acquisition Matt Flynn. Regarded as a bold move by coach Pete Carroll at the time, those who were there as it happened insist that the bold move would have been to stick with Flynn, because Wilson was clearly the better option, from the get go.

From 11-5 to 13-3 to 12-4 to 10-6 to 10-5-1 to 9-7 to 10-6 to now 9-2, eight straight years of above .500 football for the Seahawks, and Wilson is the one on-field constant for a team that has been to the playoffs six times and the Super Bowl twice since he arrived.

It’s an amazing accomplishment, one that bolsters a potential Hall of Fame case even if he were to never play another game. But play more and more games he surely will; he has said on multiple occasions that he intends to play until he’s 45. By then, who knows how many more winning seasons he will have authored?

More than enough to get to Canton on the first ballot.