There are those precious few for whom everything instantly changes when they walk into a room. The culture changes, the commitment to excellence changes, the expectations of every man inside the locker room and every fan outside of it changes.

Russell Wilson is one of the precious few.

In recent times, Tom Brady lifted not only the Buccaneerss, but also the entire city of Tampa after he escaped the clutches of Bill Belichick and rode in on his white horse.

Peyton Manning lifted not only the Broncos, but also the entire city of Denver to a Rocky Mountain high after the Colts decided to pass their torch to Andrew Luck.

Wilson has spent a lifetime embracing challenges and ignoring naysayers, and daring and driven to be great. On Monday night, at a raucous blast furnace called Lumen Field in Seattle, the sight of him wearing No. 3 for the Broncos will be jarring, but it should not prevent the fans wearing Seahawks “12s” from celebrating who Wilson was for an entire decade and what he accomplished for the team and for the city of Seattle before brewing, smoldering irreconcilable differences led to this earthquake of a March divorce from Pete Carroll.

Carroll didn’t Let Russ Cook enough, and now he is left with Geno Smith in the kitchen. Since Manning retired following Super Bowl 50, a succession of Denver quarterbacks has fallen off what has mostly been a bucking, sucking Bronco: from Paxton Lynch to Trevor Siemien to Brock Osweiler to Case Keenum to Joe Flacco to Drew Lock to Teddy Bridgewater to out of the playoffs every year. Rookie Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett will Let Russ Cook.

“It was times where he’ll tell me, tell [Quandre] Diggs, tell [Jamal] Adams, like, ‘Go get me the ball back,’’ former Seahawk D.J. Reed told Serby Says in the Jets’ locker room. “I get an interception, Diggs gets an interception, or Jamal forced a fumble, whatever the case may be, he’ll come back and he’ll score, and he’ll come to the sideline like, ‘I told you! Keep feeding me, keep feeding me.’ That’s a quarterback you want to play with, like he’s playing to win.

“That makes you want to go on defense and get a turnover ‘cause you know he’s gonna try to go score.”

Reed played the past two seasons with Wilson.

“When he broke his finger when we played the Rams,” Reed said, “it was throwing finger. He came back in like half the games he was supposed to play, but every day he had like this little hand grip thing, he’s always gripping it during our team meetings. He had like a little hand brace throwing the ball. You could tell he’s literally addicted to football. Like guys like Tom Brady, he’s just one of those dudes that’s addicted to football.”

Addicted to winning, and a legacy of winning. He is a man on a mission to win multiple Super Bowls to add to his Super Bowl XLVIII championship, even if he too has to stalk Lombardi Trophies into his 40s. Wilson will turn 34 in November, and it is folly to believe he will be able to give the Broncos sufficient bang for their 245 million bucks through the end of his contract in 2028 … but you can bet he will damn sure try.

“With him, you’re never out of a game,” former Seahawk George Fant told Serby Says in the Jets’ locker room.

Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, with Atlanta from 2015-20, knows as much.

“He just affects people because his obsession with the game is at a different level,” Ulbrich told Serby Says, “and he’s a guy that holds people accountable and brings people along, and provides such an amazing model of what it can look like, so yeah, he will elevate that entire building.

“I’ve played him a lot of times now, and it’s only been good for me a couple of times. He has that rare ability to put a team on his back and in critical moments be at his best, and it’s the reason he’s been so successful.”

Wilson reeks of success, on the football field and off. He and Ciara form the most harmonious power couple in the NFL today. He told CNBC in 2020 that he spends at least $1 million a year on his body and mind.

“One of the things that he always said when I was there,” Fant said, “was just like, ‘All right, next play.’ Like it didn’t really matter what happened the play before, he was always worried about the next play.”

Wilson’s 113 wins are the most in NFL history in a player’s first 10 seasons. It should come as no surprise that as a gifted baseball player with dual-sport aspirations, his idol was Derek Jeter.

“God put me here for a reason,” Wilson said after he and the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII over the Broncos, “and I cherish that for the African-American community. I cherish it for all the kids who’ve been told, no, they can’t do anything, whether you’re white, black, Asian, Hispanic. … Personally, I cherish it because I’m 5-[foot]-11. Everyone told me I couldn’t.”

Wilson was only a third-round draft choice out of Wisconsin because he was 5-11. Except he showed up to his first training camp as a 5-11 package of savvy, moxie, elusiveness and football IQ, and promptly beat out prized free agent Matt Flynn for the starting job.

“I just try to relax as much as I can — relax my mind, just play football,” Wilson said back then. “I prepare myself in every way possible. I get there early, I leave late. I try to always mentally prepare myself and visualize being successful.”

Now he visualizes it all as a Bronco. Interviews that forever ended with “Go ’Hawks” now end with “Broncos country. Let’s ride.” He has taken the high road since the trade, dodging potholes disguised as questions about what both sides knew and when both sides knew it.

“I gave everything I had,” Wilson said. “I cherished every second of it.”

He dreamed of being once a Seahawk, only a Seahawk, and those who know him as a prideful man and fierce competitor expect him to view revenge as a dish best served cold, you bet, just not for public consumption. Carroll, for his part, has been trying to lower the temperature.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said Thursday. “It’s not like we just changed uniforms last week.”

A liberated, unshackled and highly motivated DangeRuss, surrounded by weapons and a better offensive line than he has had in recent years, could allow him to receive his very first MVP vote and run the MVP race.

“I would be surprised if he got any boos and stuff … that would surprise me if the Seattle fans did that,” Reed said.

From the Associated Press on the night Brady, 20 years a Patriot, returned to Gillette Stadium last October with his six rings as a Buc: “Brady was welcomed with cheers during the pregame before taking the field to a stream of boos on the Buccaneers’ first drive of the night.”

From Brady, after beating Bill Belichick and the Patriots, 19-17: “This has been my home for 20 years, my kids were born here. It’s just a great town, great city, great area. I love it up here. I have so many people that I have relationships with. But this was about this team coming up here to win. This wasn’t about one player.”

But for so many, it was. And it will be for so many again, so many sleepless in Seattle as the hours tick down to Monday night. Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett has implored the 12s to cheer Wilson.

“They ain’t gonna really boo him out there. They’re gonna show love to him,” Fant said.

It’s OK to boo the Bronco. But cheer the man.