National Football League

Russell Wilson tackles domestic violence in Jeter website's first post

Published Oct. 2, 2014 1:34 p.m. ET

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Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson contributed the first post to Derek Jeter's Players' Tribune website and tackled the issue of domestic violence.

The website was recently established by the retired Yankees shortstop as a forum for athletes to publish first-person stories and give fans the real "voice of the game."

In the website's first post, titled "Let's Talk About It," the Super Bowl winner encouraged readers not to close down channels of communication on domestic violence, a thorny issue which has plagued the NFL after video of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-girlfriend surfaced.

While he did not mention Rice specifically, Wilson wrote of "recent incidents of domestic violence have forced The League, its fans and the players to take a hard look into our collective conscience."

"As NFL players, we do not play a gentle game," he said. "But our hits, our anger, our aggressive behaviors need to be regulated and confined to the field."

In his essay, Wilson admitted to being a bully when he was younger -- "I had a lot of anger that I didn't know what to do with" -- and reminded that violence is not restricted to his league.

"This issue is much bigger than NFL suspensions," he wrote. "Domestic violence isn't going to disappear tomorrow or the next day. But the more that we choose not to talk about it, the more we shy away from the issue, the more we lose."

The 25-year-old Super Bowl winner encouraged readers to donate to domestic violence organizations, including his foundation's Pass the Peace initiative, to raise funds and awareness to the issue.

"If we start being honest about our pain, our anger, and our shortcomings instead of pretending they don't exist, then maybe we'll leave the world a better place than we found it," Wilson concluded. "For those of us in the NFL, there's no excuse for violence off the field."