The Denver Broncos sat quarterback Russell Wilson down for the last two games of the season amid news breaking that the franchise tried to strong-arm the signal-caller into renegotiating his contract to take out injury guarantees in October. These moves seemed to signal the end of the Wilson era in Denver, but now general manager George Paton says the QB could still be in the Mile High City when the 2024 campaign kicks off.
“The door remains open with Russ. I’ve had good conversations with Russ. Sean’s had good conversations. The door is open,” Paton said on Tuesday (h/t Andrew Mason fo DenverSports.com). “So, we’ll just kind of get through the process. We’ll visit with the coaching staff, the scouting staff. We’ll visit with Russ and his people, and we’ll go from there.”
While Paton says the door is still open for Russell Wilson, it’s hard to imagine that is true without a renegotiated contract.
The Russell Wilson contract
Russell Wilson has a monstrous contract, which Broncos general manager George Paton knew when he traded for him. And he also knew that if things went south, the team may have to take a historic dead cap hit, per Spotrac.
Next season, the Broncos will carry a $35.4 million cap hit for Wilson, which is not bad. That number is on par or even a little lighter than the cap hit for many of the top veteran QBs in the NFL. However, if Paton and Sean Payton don’t want to start Wilson, that number is onerous.
What is more onerous is Wilson’s dead cap hit in 2024, though. That is S85,000,000.
If the Broncos cut Wilson before March 17, the fifth day of the NFL league year, the team will take a $-49,600,000 cap hit. If they cut him between March 17 and June 1, it will cost a staggering $-71,600,000 against the cap. If the franchise cuts Wilson after June 1, Paton can spread the hit over two seasons, costing them $35,400,000 in dead cap in 2024 and $49,600,000 in dead cap in 2025.
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