IT’S SHOCKING HOW QUICKLY RUSSELL WILSON BURIED THE DENVER BRONCOS
Never has a team paid so much and invested so wildly as general manager George Paton did in landing Wilson, whose cooking was nightmarish in two seasons when all the Broncos could do was cut him
The combined sales figures are $61 million. Russell Wilson and his wife, Ciara, will cash their income eagerly and seek a new destination. They are selling homes in Denver and Seattle and should live very well forever, as she sings from her hit, “This beat is automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, funky fresh.”
What they should be humming is “Taps.” No player in the confounding history of quarterbacking ever has ripped off a team like the man formerly known for the rally cry, “Let Russ Cook.” In an era when Brock Purdy makes a collective $3.7 million as the 262nd pick in the draft — and directs the 49ers to the Super Bowl — Wilson was paid a guaranteed $124 million to win 11 games in two Denver seasons. If a contract wasn’t signed, this would be embezzlement. We love romanticizing any soldier who turns snaps into glory, but this is how you fundamentally destroy a franchise.
In the antithesis of where the Broncos were in the John Elway days, the Broncos handed the Seahawks two first-rounders among five draft picks and three players, including Drew Lock, who did more in one victory than Wilson accomplished. Then they gave him a $242.6 million deal for five seasons. He quickly contributed to the demise of a rookie head coach, Nathaniel Hackett, and almost led Sean Payton to bury his face in an avalanche. When they cut Wilson this week, the Broncos were left with the NFL’s largest salary crusher ever, an $85 million dead cap, meaning they’ll pay him $39 million guaranteed next year even if he and Ciara go far, far away.
They are left at the most important position in sports with Jarrett Stidham as the new starter, in a division where Patrick Mahomes runs the dynasty Chiefs and Justin Herbert runs the Jim Harbaugh-led Chargers. And to think Wilson recently appeared on a podcast where he said, “For me, it’s about winning. Over the next five years, I want to win two.”
Meaning, Super Bowls.
What happened in the life of Russell Wilson is that he sucks as a preparer of food. After an extraordinary push in the last decade to win one championship and coming close to another, while throwing 292 touchdown passes, he was pummeled too often by defenders and lost his groove. His head coach, Pete Carroll, saw it and so did his teammates. When pressure was applied, Wilson went to Seahawks management and wanted Carroll and general manager John Schneider to be fired. Instead, they pulled an all-time trade and made a blast with journeyman Geno Smith at QB, which led to one playoff berth and nearly a second.
In Denver, where Elway eventually won two titles and earned the respect of the football world, Wilson turned off everybody by wanting his own personal office and elevating himself above the crowd. Payton arrived for $18 million a season, ripped Hackett as one of the lousiest coaches ever, then realized Wilson was behind his demise. The front office went to him in midseason and asked him to waive a $37 million injury guarantee. “They definitely told me I was going to be benched and all that,” said Wilson, who went public with the claim.
They sat him in Week 17 and visited the co-owner and CEO, Greg Penner, who is married to the granddaughter of Sam Walton. He founded Walmart and can deal with football screwups, but the rest of us are beyond alarmed. The Broncos overpaid and overinvested for the right to have Wilson ruin their team for years to come. Now, they may have overpaid Payton to see if Stidham — unless they can move up in the draft for J.J. McCarthy, who will need time — can win eight games. And to think general manager George Paton, who made the trade and somehow keeps his job, said at the time of acquiring Wilson, “It’s just unique that you can trade for a quarterback — a franchise quarterback — in his prime, and we just felt we had to take that chance.”
Now, with Payton, Paton says, “On behalf of the Broncos, we thank Russell for his contributions and dedication to our team and community while wishing him the best as he continues his career.”
Or, as Penner said: “The main message for Broncos Country that I would have is, we’re just as impatient as you are to win here. We understand that we have a lot of work to do this offseason to get better.”
Suddenly, we wonder if Wilson has been so bad in recent years that he has thrust himself out of Hall of Fame consideration. He should have at least one more chance as another team realizes the Broncos will pay most of his contract. If Kirk Cousins heads to Atlanta, Minnesota might take a shot. The Las Vegas Raiders have no real quarterback and coach Antonio Pierce might gamble with Wilson. Pittsburgh? Mike Tomlin might seek help if Kenny Pickett isn’t the answer.
In his mind, with his bank account overflowing, Russell Wilson deserves another opportunity. He is the only one. “Tough times don't last, but tough people do,” he said. “God's got me. I am excited for what's next.”
He should sit on the bench and watch a better player. He should live in a smaller house than the ones selling for $36 million and $25 million. And Ciara? She could bring back, “I'm not goin’ home with you. You won't get no nookie or the cookies.”
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.