Broncos Country: The Ride Is Over, Steelers Sign Wilson
Last night, Russell Wilson announced on Twitter that he’d be joining the Pittsburgh Steelers for his thirteenth NFL season. Quick turnaround, considering a week earlier, on March 4, he’d been released by his former team, the Denver Broncos. The team’s poor performance since acquiring Wilson, combined with his hefty contract, made this decision somewhat predictable yet still surprising.
In pro sports, when a player who is no longer with the team still gets paid by them, it is known as “dead cap”. Not only is it a huge waste of money for the team, but it also takes away from the budget they have to spend on active roster players and future acquisitions.
Typically, teams avoid doing this in order to remain financially flexible in case of injuries and constantly changing team needs. However, in this case, the Denver Broncos felt they didn’t have a choice, and smashed the record for largest dead cap hit in NFL history, when they released Wilson.
In fact, it's so BIG, that it is worth more than the previous TWO records combined - Matt Ryan $40.5 million dollars (Atlanta Falcons) Aaron Rodgers $40.3 million dollars (Greenbay Packers). With the release of Russell Wilson, the Broncos will incur a staggering dead cap hit totalling $85 million dollars over the next two seasons, all for a player no longer on their roster.
Before being traded to the Broncos, Wilson played the previous ten seasons of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. Despite earning less, his time in Seattle was probably a lot happier than it was in Denver. Between 2014 and 2015, the team made it to both Super Bowls, winning the first and narrowly losing the second to the New England Patriots. Since losing that second Super Bowl, the team hadn’t made any deep playoff runs, leading the organization to not want to give Wilson the massive extension he so badly desired.?
Luckily for the Seahawks, Denver came calling and decided to offer them a boatload of assets for one they no longer wanted. Seattle got a king’s ransom in return for their former franchise quarterback, which consisted of quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, two first-round draft picks, two second-round draft picks and one fifth-round pick.
At the time, this seemed like a win-win deal for everyone - Denver got it’s franchise quarterback, Seattle got a ton of assets in return for a star they didn’t want to pay, and Wilson got his payday a few months later, when the Denver Broncos signed him to a 5-year, $242.5 million dollar deal ($161 million guaranteed) in September of 2022.?
During his time in Denver, Wilson only threw for over 300 yards in three games, all of which were defeats, including one of the most humiliating losses in NFL history where they allowed the Miami Dolphins to score 70 points on them (second most points scored by a team in a regular-season game).
Since signing Russell Wilson, the Broncos failed to make the playoffs in both seasons and had a record of 11-19 in games he started. In 2022, the team only won four out of the fifteen games he started, and in 2023 he lead the team to a 7-8 record in fifteen starts before being benched. That second year, both Wilson and the team showed improvements with impressive wins over strong teams like the Buffalo Bills and Greenbay Packers.
Most surprising of all, and probably the highlight of his time in Denver, was the Broncos Week 8 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs (who would only lose one more game that season en route to claiming their second consecutive Super Bowl championship). Up until that game, the Broncos were on a twenty-one game straight losing streak to the Chiefs, which made the victory that much more significant.
Some say he didn’t have enough time, some say he didn’t have the right tools around him, and others will point fingers at the coaching staff. Although in hindsight it was a terribly bad trade for the Denver Broncos, Wilson did show that he is still a competent NFL quarterback.
If you think losing his job and being criticized by many as one of the worst trades in NFL history has affected Russell Wilson's confidence, you are mistaken. In a recent interview on the I Am Athlete podcast, Wilson told host, Brandon Marshall, that his goal was to win two more Super Bowls in the next five years, before retiring. No matter how unlikely you think that is, it will be interesting to see if the nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback can get closer to achieving his goal of winning two more Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.?
For those who enjoyed reading about this record breaking release, fans of the NFL, as well as sports enthusiasts in general, check out my previous article where I wrote about Isiah Pacheco's journey to the NFL and the tragedies that motivate him to run as hard as he does. Click here to read about his inspiring story.
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