Getty Image / Thearon W Henderson
Russell Wilson’s first year with the Denver Broncos couldn’t have gone much worse for him.
He struggled.
The team was a mess.
They won just 5 games and their head coach didn’t even make it through his first season with the team before being fired.
Despite the disappointment of his first season with the team, there are many expecting Wilson to bounce back this year.
He is once again surrounded by a lot of talent, especially with Javonte Williams returning from injury, and the team now has Sean Payton as their head coach.
It turns out that there is one former NFL GM who is not among those expecting a resurgence from Russell Wilson this season.
On today’s episode of “Get Up” on ESPN, former New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum revealed that he believes Wilson will get benched at some point during the 2023 Denver Broncos season.
"I would be shocked if Russell Wilson was the starter for 17 games this season. … If Russell Wilson has the smallest bump in the road, he will be benched."
—@RealTannenbaum pic.twitter.com/F75rMMJias
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 24, 2023
Russell Wilson getting benched would be a pretty shocking outcome to this season.
The Broncos are heavily invested in him and don’t have an easy way out of his contract for the next couple of years.
The last thing they can afford to do is upset Wilson and end up having to trade him at a big discount from what they paid a year ago.
The team also doesn’t really have any options to turn to that are worth benching Wilson for.
Their backup is Jarrett Stidham and their 3rd stringer is Ben DiNucci.
The Raiders benched Derek Carr this past season to play Stidham, but he wasn’t even impressive enough in his two starts for the Raiders to bring him back this offseason.
Russell Wilson should have a better year this year now that the Denver Broncos have a capable head coach and even if he doesn’t improve, it seems very unlikely that he’ll get sent to the bench.