Russell Wilson's time with the Denver Broncos didn't last nearly as long as we thought it would, with the team informing him they will release him, making him a free agent. In fact, it didn't even last the full five years of his $242.6 million dollar deal the team gave him. He only played two seasons, but didn't even complete that, as he was benched by head coach Sean Payton for the final two games of the 2023 season.
Since Wilson joined the Broncos, the question on everyone's minds is how did the former third-round pick go from one of the biggest surprises in the league years ago, to once again surprising the league all over again, although in the complete and opposite direction?
Wilson was never supposed to be as good as he was when he became the starter for the Seattle Seahawks. He was certainly never supposed to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, yet he, ironically enough, helped lead the Seahawks to their very first championship with a win over Peyton Manning and the Broncos in only his second year in the league. And if not for a highly debated call that led to Wilson throwing the game-ending interception in the end zone, the Seahawks may have been repeating champions.
Only twice in Wilson's Seahawks tenure did the team not make the playoffs. But they also never made it past the divisional round after their last Super Bowl appearance in 2014. Wilson, however, was always consistent. In his 10 years in Seattle, he posted over 315 total touchdowns, 37,059 passing yards, 4,689 rushing yards, and held an average passer rating of 101.8, completing 65 percent of his passes. Wilson made teams rethink their strategies and their perceptions of dual-threat quarterbacks.
Though Wilson's final year in Seattle ended in a dud with a 6-8 record, it essentially paled in comparison to his first year in Denver, where the Broncos went 4-11.
Russell Wilson's rocky road with the Denver Broncos
Essentially all the promise that the Broncos had, where it felt like they were a new head coach and quarterback away from competing, never came close to panning out. Now, in just two years, both Nathaniel Hackett and Wilson are both gone.
While Hackett is still trying to find his groove as a play-caller once again in what will be his second year with the New York Jets, Wilson is in search of a new home. But all signs point to Wilson still being able to succeed, and that should all be thanks to Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
At what first seemed like an intriguing pairing of Payton and Wilson, quickly dissipated as the 2023 progressed. It was a clash of personalities, where Payton's shrewdness and Wilson's over-positivity seemed to always be at odds. While the overall results were not there that led to more Broncos wins, Wilson, however, made a bit of a resurgence.
At 34 years old, there was bound to be at least a little drop-off for Wilson, although the quarterback had always put himself in pristine condition. But to have the type of drop-off he had in 2022 under Hackett as head coach was mind-boggling.
The Broncos' offense was one of the worst in the entire league, scoring just 16.9 points per game. Wilson posted some of the worst stats of his career. He threw for just 16 touchdowns, completed just 60.5 percent of his passes, posted a quarterback rating of 38.7, passer rating of 84.4, and was sacked 55 times.
No wonder everyone thought he was washed up. And no wonder the Broncos were having the greatest buyer's remorse in NFL history.
But with Hackett out after just one season and the Broncos giving Payton a hefty salary to fix their situation, he more or less did his job, first being helping improve Wilson. The Broncos' starting quarterback may not have fully returned to his old self from his Seattle days, but he was much more reliable and consistently better in 2023.
Russell Wilson had a career revival under Sean Payton
Wilson took a great turn statistically under Payton. His touchdown passes went from 16 to 26, his interceptions from 11 to 8, while his passer rating went from 84.4 to 98.0 and his quarterback rating from 38.7 to 50.7, per Pro-Football-Reference. His touchdown passes were best for top 10 in the league, and his passer rating was better than Jalen Hurts', Justin Herbert's, and Trevor Lawrence's. Those are more or less gigantic leaps in improvement, and signs that he can still be a productive starting quarterback in the NFL.
The Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos experiment could go down as one of the biggest disasters in NFL history. And Payton certainly didn't alleviate that; in fact, he probably exacerbated it. Although, in a weird way, Payton and the Broncos gave Wilson the best opportunity to revive his career without them. With his hefty salary that the Broncos are willing to eat in dead money over the next couple of years, Wilson can be very attractive to a lot of competitive teams that are needy for a quarterback because they can essentially offer him league minimum.
Who knows, maybe in the end, Russell Wilson will finally give Sean Payton a hearty thank-you letter of his own, unlike his final to the rest of Broncos country.
Thank You Broncos Country 🙏🏾 – #3 pic.twitter.com/3IoVheYVyI
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) March 4, 2024
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