One of the more head-scratching situations from the 2023 NFL season was the Denver Broncos benching of quarterback Russell Wilson in Week 17. At the time, Denver was still in the playoff hunt at 7-8, and eventually, it was leaked that the decision was being made, not due to Wilson’s performance on the field but for financial reasons.
Wilson was acquired by Denver ahead of the 2022 NFL season and was promptly signed to a five-year, $242.588 million contract extension. The Broncos thought they had found their franchise quarterback, but after an unsuccessful 5-12 2022 campaign, changes began being made. Former head coach Nathaniel Hackett was fired, and the team traded for the rights to longtime New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. Wilson and Payton struggled to get on the same page early, and the Broncos finished the 2023 season 8-9 but in second place in the AFC West.
Denver was coming off a Week 16 three-point loss to the New England Patriots when reports started swirling that Wilson was being benched. It was assumed that the team was looking for a spark to the offense, and they thought that backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham could provide that. It turns out that Wilson had an injury guarantee worked into his deal that if he were to get hurt, it would guarantee the remainder of his contract. Denver wanted him to remove it, but the quarterback refused, so they ended up benching him for the final two games of the season.
It all ends there, right? Wrong.
Wilson joined the I AM ATHLETE podcast to discuss his rise in the NFL and how he has gotten to this point in his career. Host Brandon Marshall asks him about his 2023 season and the controversy surrounding his contract. Wilson reveals that the Broncos’ front office actually approached him during the team’s Week 9 bye week about removing his injury guarantee on his contract and threatened to bench him if he didn’t. The quarterback refused, saying that he didn’t want to set that precedent of removing injury designations for players. He went into Week 10’s Monday Night Football game against the Buffalo Bills unsure of his season-long outlook as the starter, and it wasn’t until Week 17 that he was actually benched.
Russell Wilson says Courtland was the only person who knew about it in the building pic.twitter.com/spmO57X0t1
— Football Feen (@f00tballfeen) February 26, 2024
We, the public, didn’t learn about this situation until late December, right before the official decision was made to bench the QB. Wilson and Marshall discuss how the NFLPA got involved, but that seemingly only delayed Wilson’s benching for two months until the switch was made.
The Denver front office seems determined to get out of Wilson’s contract. His $39 million 2024 compensation is already fully guaranteed, per Spotrac. Wilson’s $22 million option bonus and $37 million 2025 salary would be due/become guaranteed on March 17. They can trade him, but it seems highly unlikely that another team is going to want to pick up this contract. Either way, they do it, the Broncos are going to eat a hefty chunk of change in releasing Wilson, which seems imminent. Payton added that a decision could come in the next two weeks when speaking with media during the 2024 NFL Combine.
The most likely outcome would have Denver designating Wilson as a post-June 1 release, which would have them take a $53 million cap hit in 2024 and a $32 million hit in 2025. It gives them a horrible cap situation for 2024, but since it seems like they are going to have to do a little bit of rebuilding anyway, it frontloads the damage to make 2025 more manageable.
Wilson would be free to sign for the veteran minimum with whatever team wants him in free agency. He has been linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders, who could all use the boost under center. Despite the off-the-field chaos with the franchise last season, Wilson still finished with 3,070 passing yards and 26 touchdowns with eight interceptions over 15 games.