Since the start of the 2022 season, not much has gone right for the Denver Broncos. They did recently manage to hire Sean Payton to be their new head coach in hopes that he can help Russell Wilson revive the Broncos offense, but it looks like he wasn't even their top choice, and it cost the team even more draft picks after they sent a massive haul to the Seattle Seahawks for Wilson last offseason.
Despite that, there's not really anywhere else the Broncos can go other than up after their miserable 2022 season, and Payton's hiring should prove to be very helpful for Denver. Payton underwent a successful tenure with the New Orleans Saints, which was highlighted by him leading them to Super Bowl XLIV.
Payton will have his work cut out for him, and while there is some skepticism surrounding him right now, especially given the price that the Broncos just shelled out for him, chances are he will help this team improve, particularly when it comes to Wilson. In fact, after being unplayable in fantasy football leagues in 2022, Wilson's fantasy stock is trending upwards for the 2023 season now that Payton has officially taken the reins.
Why Sean Payton is good for Russell Wilson's fantasy stock
There's really no beating around the bush when it comes to Wilson's 2022 campaign; he was horrible. His numbers are easily the worst of his career (292/483, 3524 YDS, 16 TD, 11 INT, 55 CAR, 277 YDS, 3 TD) and he looked nothing like the quarterback he was in Seattle. Considering how much the Broncos invested in Wilson, they need to get him to figure things out, and fast.
In fantasy football, Wilson was selected as a top ten quarterback by many folks with hopes that he could have a big first season in Denver. After all, he was wildly effective with the Seahawks, and was joining an offense that had top options such as Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and Javonte Williams at his disposal. It seemed like Wislon had everything he needed to succeed.
Wilson finished as the 16th highest scoring fantasy quarterback in 2022, but his average of 15.05 points per game (using ESPN's standard scoring for quarterbacks) saw him come in at 20th. Wilson really wasn't even serviceable as a backup quarterback, because if you truly needed someone to fill in, there was almost certainly a better streaming option available than him.
Adding Payton certainly won't make Wilson immediately become a starting caliber option again, but it does help make his stock trend upwards a bit. Payton had a lot of success turning the Saints into an offensive powerhouse during his stint there, and he will hopefully be able to have a similar effect on the Broncos.
As previously mentioned, the Broncos have a handful of good weapons on their team for Wilson to utilize. Losing Williams on the ground early in the season hurt, but we saw Wilson have stretches where he looked very in sync with Sutton and Jeudy. The problem was that those stretches never came at the same time.
Denver definitely needs to fix their offensive line, as Wilson was sacked a league-leading 55 times. Part of that was due to Wilson just panicking and sitting in the pocket when he couldn't find anything, because he's played behind subpar offensive lines before and managed to piece things together, but that simply never happened this season.
Giving Wilson a competent coach in Payton will also help, as Nathaniel Hackett had literally no idea what he was doing as the head coach of this team. Payton knows what it takes to build a winner in the NFL. Hackett was a mess from the first snap of the season, and it was genuinely surprising that he lasted as long as he did as the leader of the team.
It's not going to be as easy for Payton, but the pieces to lead this offense to big things are already in place. A big part of the plan, though, involves him getting Wilson back on track. Wilson was struggling to identify coverages and get the ball out in a timely manner all throughout last season. Building an offense that's designed for Wilson will help, but he's going to have to be able to take advantage of it from time to time.
It's still extremely early in the offseason, but Wilson could find himself being a sleeper quarterback pick heading into the 2023 fantasy football season. His stock is obviously very low, and drafting him as a starter is a horrible idea, but stashing him on the bench and seeing how he does to open the season could be worthwhile. Wilson shouldn't be counted on immediately, but who knows, maybe Payton can help him become a relevant fantasy football asset again in 2023.
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