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The Russell Wilson Era with the Denver Broncos did not go anywhere near according to plan.
Denver sent the Seattle Seahawks two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, and tight end Noah Fant for the right to give Wilson a five-year, $245 million contract.
Wilson then proceeded to go 11-19 in two years as the Broncos’ starter, though not all of that was his fault. Denver sure wants you to believe it was though!
REPORT, per CBS Sports:
Russell Wilson with the Broncos:
1. Constantly climbed out of the back of the pocket, went off script into bad plays
2. Struggled with snap counts
3. Couldn't manage or handle the playcalling
4. At one point, they had to put a cheatsheet wristband on… pic.twitter.com/plXrtB2Ev2
— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) May 7, 2024
In his first year in Denver, head coach Nathanial Hackett was the equivalent of a coaching terrorist. The Broncos brought in Sean Payton in 2023 and while Wilson wasn’t fantastic, he was significantly better.
Wilson completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns, and eight interceptions before being benched in favor of the demonstrably worse Jarrett Stidham in a clearly contract-motivated move.
Payton tried to claim the move was motivated by Wilson and Stidham’s play.
“Most of you know, we’ve made a change at quarterback. And I understand all the speculation and everything that surrounds a move like that annd I can tell you, look, we’re, we’re desperately trying to win,” he said. “And sure, in our game today, there are economics and all those other things. But the number one, push behind this in, it’s a decision I’m making is to, you know, get a spark offensively.”
Sure.
Broncos Kick Up Dirt On Russell Wilson In Latest Leaks
Denver traded Wilson to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason. And now it appears the PR campaign to blame Wilson for everything wrong with the Broncos is running full-speed ahead.
Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports recently told The Ultimate Cleveland Sports show that Wilson reportedly struggled with many simple tasks.
“He was constantly climbing out of the back of the pocket,” Kinkhabwala said. “He struggled with snap counts (and) he couldn’t manage or handle the play-calling. They went from putting a wristband on [him] to, by the end of the season, all the play calls had to be two words and everybody else was required to know what the play calls were.”
Yikes.
Wilson has his flaws. That much is obvious. But the idea that he couldn’t figure out snap counts or play calls seems ridiculous given his reputation.
But hey, there are two sides to every story.