PITTSBURGH -- Russell Wilson is scheduled to be a free agent this offseason, but the veteran quarterback said he wanted to remain with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"That's the plan," Wilson said Monday at the team's locker room clean out. "I love it here and everything else, and I think we have a great football team.
"Obviously it didn't end the way we wanted it to, and I think there's a lot more to do."
Wilson, though, clarified he hasn't met with the Steelers to explicitly discuss his future.
"I think they've known that I've always wanted to be here and play here, but it is also a process," Wilson said when asked if the Steelers' reciprocated his desire to return. "We haven't had those meetings yet, so we will have those and we'll go from there."
Wilson, 36, signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Steelers a year ago after his release from the Denver Broncos. He was limited for much of training camp and sat out the first six games of the season because of a lingering calf injury. He returned to lead the Steelers to six wins in his first seven starts, but Wilson and the Steelers faltered down the stretch, losing their final five games.
After putting up 28 points and 372 yards of offense in Wilson's first seven starts, the Steelers averaged only 14 points and 263 yards in their final five losses. Wilson finished his 13h season in the NFL throwing for 2,482 yards with 16 touchdowns, five interceptions and 33 sacks.
"I thought I played well," Wilson said. "There's moments I wish I played a little bit better. I feel like I had two plays that I wish I had back, just to be honest with you. The one in Kansas City and the one in the Ravens game. Other than that, those two plays in particular, I competed, and I gave it my all. Obviously felt like we didn't play good enough when we needed to as a team. I hated missing games. I hated missing those first six games. I don't really miss games like that and that kind of was disappointing, but I love how guys made plays."
Earlier this season, Wilson told ESPN's Hannah Storm in an interview he wanted to play for 5-7 more years. Asked if he still had that goal and if he planned to prioritize the length of a contract or was looking for the best deal, Wilson reaffirmed his desire to keep playing.
"That's always been my plan is to play as long as possible," he said. "I've said that since I was a rookie. That's always been my kind of thought process. I feel great physically, mentally, emotionally.
"If you want to play 20-plus years, you got to love it, and I love the process. I love the mentality, and I love competing with my teammates, so that's always been the plan. And so, I just trust the process and trust that we will have those conversations when the time comes."
Wilson wasn't the only player who said he wanted to remain a Steeler on Monday. Edge rusher T.J. Watt, who with a year left on his contract is eligible for an extension this summer, also expressed his desire to stay with the organization that drafted him 30th overall in 2017.
"I want to be at Pittsburgh Steeler," Watt said. "You guys know that. I don't want to leave this place, especially in this -- I want to be part of the solution. I've put so much into it here. I've seen so many guys. I mean I want to help Cam Heyward get to where we need to get.
"I want to be a part of the solution. I don't want to leave this place. I love the people here. And that goes beyond just the coaches, it's the fan base, it's the people, the community, and we owe it to them to get it right. And I want to be part of the solution, not leave here and go somewhere else. That's not my intention at all."
Watt also expressed his frustration at the lack of recent playoff success -- and of the way the season ended over the last five games.
"It's tough," Watt said. "We sit here the same time as last year, the same time as I've been in this scrum and same questions, and I have the same answers. Obviously, I'm very frustrated with how things ended, and that's not just with the last game, that's at the last month of football.
"It's a collection of things, and it starts with myself, and I need to play better. We need to play better. There's not one thing that needs to be fixed here. There's a lot of things, but it starts internally with myself and needing to play better in bigger moments and it'll be a long off season to have to sit with that."