Russell Wilson will be released by the Denver Broncos next week, the team said on Monday. This is just 18 months after the Super Bowl-winning quarterback was signed to a five-year, US$242-million contract extension.
Wilson’s 2024 salary of US$39 million is still owed to the Broncos, less whatever contract he signs with another team, which is expected to be the US$1.21 million minimum pay.
Pittsburgh is one possible landing place. Denver will host the Steelers during the upcoming season.
Over the next two seasons, the Broncos will also incur a record-breaking US$89 million in dead cap costs.
Under new head coach Sean Payton, Wilson had a breakout season the previous year, throwing for 26 touchdowns with eight picks in 15 games.
However, Payton benched him for Jarrett Stidham in the final two games because it wasn’t good enough. The Broncos completed 8-9, their seventh consecutive losing season and eighth consecutive one without making the playoffs, with Stidham going 1-1.
Speaking about Denver’s lengthy history of mediocre quarterbacks, Payton alluded to a potential split last week at the NFL scouting combine, stating that his responsibility was to ensure that “the next one” was the perfect quarterback to get the Broncos back into the playoffs.
At Payton’s request, Wilson had been virtually quiet on social media for a year. However, over the weekend, he deleted all mentions of the Broncos from his X (previously Twitter) page and started posting videos of his workouts again.
Wilson was obtained in 2022 from the Seattle Seahawks, where he was the 2013 Super Bowl champion, in exchange for a variety of players (Drew Lock, Noah Fant, and Shelby Harris) and draft picks (two first-rounders and two seconds).
Before he played a single down in Denver, he inked a nearly quarter-billion dollar agreement. His first season under head coach Nathaniel Hackett ended in 4-11 defeat; Hackett was sacked after 15 games.
A year ago, Payton asked Wilson to be less social media active, and a focused, fit Wilson arrived at training camp 20 pounds lighter.
Before being benched, he went 7-8. Wilson argued that if he didn’t accept the US$37 million injury guarantee spelt out in his contract, the Broncos had threatened to bench him for the next nine games.
Refusing to modify his contract, he went on to start seven more games before being benched—a move Payton said was motivated by football, not money.
If Wilson had been with Denver on March 13, the first day of the league’s new season, his US$37 million contract for 2025 would have been assured.
