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The Broncos could find themselves in the middle of a messy lawsuit with Russell Wilson.
Last week, Wilson revealed that the Broncos had threatened to bench him weeks ago if he didn’t rework his contract.
“They definitely told me I was going to be benched and all that,” Wilson said. “That whole bye week I didn’t know what was going to be the case. I was going to be ready to play, I wanted to go to Buffalo and beat Buffalo. … I wasn’t going to remove the injury guarantee, this game is such a physical game, I’ve played 12 years and all that.
“I want to be able to play, I want to be able to help this team win. … I know every time I step on the field it’s a physical game. I never play timid; I never play scared.”
Asked Russell Wilson if he wanted to talk. @ParkerJGabriel asked him as well as we talked with Russell. He agreed. He was very candid about his disappointment about #Broncos approaching him about adjusting contract during bye week. He said he still would like to stay in Denver.… pic.twitter.com/Kplo1iAUlg
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) December 29, 2023
According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the NFLPA told the Broncos that the threat to bench Wilson, if he didn’t rework his contract, was illegal and could lead to litigation.
Via Washington Post
The NFL Players Association told the Denver Broncos in an early-November letter that the team’s threat to bench quarterback Russell Wilson if he did not agree to adjust his contract was illegal and violated the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA, creating the possibility that the union would initiate an arbitration proceeding or litigation against the team and the league.
The letter continued: “If the Broncos follow-through on the Club’s threat, the Club will violate, among other things, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Mr. Wilson’s Player Contract and New York law. And, we are particularly concerned that the Broncos still intend to commit these violations under the guise of ‘coaching decisions.’ ”
Broncos head coach Sean Payton has already come forward to say that benching Wilson was to get a “spark offensively’ and not due to financial reasons.