Broncos Country, let’s ride… out of the Mile High City.
Russell Wilson is no longer a Denver Bronco. The writing’s been on the wall for a while. This was inevitable. Now it’s official, as the team released a statement to confirm Wilson is gone.
The veteran quarterback posted his own farewell to Denver, too:
Once one of the most electrifying players in the sport, Wilson became a shell of himself during Nathaniel Hackett’s failed tenure, and quickly wore out his new coach, Sean Payton. The Broncos executed a historic trade and gave Wilson a historic contract just to get him to Denver. To say the Broncos’ blockbuster acquisition backfired is putting it in far too delicate of terms. Full-blown disaster.
With all that dead money arises an opportunity, though. Wilson may not be viewed as a top-tier starting QB anymore, yet teams in need of a serviceable veteran under center could do far worse than him. That’s mainly because he can sign anywhere for a little over $1 million and suddenly be the biggest bargain-bin signal-caller in the sport. It’s not like Mr. Unlimited played terribly in Denver during the 2023 campaign, either. Wilson registered a 98.0 passer rating, completed over 66% of his throws, and had a 26-8 TD-INT ratio.
It’ll never make sense to me if the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t jump all over this and sign Wilson. They have an excellent defense, and Arthur Smith is their new offensive coordinator. He’s obsessed with running the ball. All Wilson would need to do in that situation is be a game manager. With Kenny Pickett as his only prospective competition among Steelers QBs currently under contract, that looks like the cleanest path to a starting gig and playoff football. Wilson has made it known that he wants to win two Super Bowls in five years. That’s not remotely realistic anywhere but Pittsburgh among the suitors who ought to be interested in his services.
PS: Yours truly was right again.
You can probably guess what the general vibe is across the NFL Twittersphere right about now. I often give Russ a lot of grief because he presents himself in such a phony way. Plus, he’s now going to be paid many millions of dollars to not play for the Broncos. Don’t know if I can say I truly feel bad for him, but maybe a little bit. Used to root like crazy for this guy. Then, he got on my nerves. That’s reflected in the reaction to Monday’s big news.
