Getty Image / Justin Edmonds
When Denver made a blockbuster trade for former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson a few years ago, it appeared that they had found their franchise quarterback. Instead, the Denver-Wilson marriage turned into an absolute debacle, and they’re heading for divorce after year two.
But, if you watch a lot of NFL football, you know that there was plenty of bad quarterback play this last year. Wilson would be an upgrade as a starter for a lot of teams, and he wants to start.
How badly does he want to start? He’s willing to take a huge pay cut to be a starter in the 2024 NFL season.
That’s according to analysis by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. Here’s an excerpt.
When the Broncos benched quarterback Russell Wilson and it quickly became obvious that they’ll cut him before his 2025 salary of $37 million becomes fully guaranteed on March 17, a sense emerged that Wilson will take the league minimum elsewhere ($1.21 million) and stick the Broncos with the balance of his $39 million fully-guaranteed compensation package for 2024.
However, Wilson won’t be doing that as a backup. He’ll want, in exchange for his willingness to take so little, a commitment that he’ll be the starter.
The Broncos gave Wilson an eye-popping $165 million guaranteed after they acquired him. Obviously, all of that money hasn’t been paid out in terms of cap hit and real dollars yet. But, the Broncos seem willing to eat that money. Many expect Wilson to be cut if they can’t find a trading partner.
It’s not even that Wilson has been that bad. 2022 was not great, and was the worst year of his career.
Wllson completed 66% of his passes for just over 3000 yards to go along with 26 touchdowns against 8 picks last season. Is that great? no. 3070 yards in 15 games isn’t exactly the Greatest Show on Turf. But, this is a league where Zach Wilson started a bunch of games last year. The Steelers are still planning on starting Kenny Pickett next year despite MUCH worse numbers than that through two seasons.
If a team can truly get Russell Wilson at a cap hit of just over a million, it’s hard to see how that wouldn’t be an attractive option for a multitude of teams. The first big quarterback domino to fall this offseason will be unrestricted free agent Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. There will be a few guys taken in the NFL Draft with first-round picks, too. But, Wilson is still one of the better options for a quarterback-needy team.
Russell Wilson will turn 36-years-old in November. He doesn’t have a lot of good years left, you’d have to assume. But, again, there are a lot of teams who don’t have any good options at quarterback. Wilson is certainly better than a lot of those bad options, especially at that reported price.