Wilson Addresses Being Ruled Out Despite Clearing Concussion Protocol

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson cleared the league’s concussion protocol on Friday after leaving last Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs with a head injury.

Despite clearing the protocol, the Broncos plan to hold him out of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals in favor of Brett Rypien. Denver coach Nathaniel Hackett addressed the decision with reporters on Friday.

“Russ is one of the ultimate competitors in our game,” Hackett said. “He’s unbelievable. We informed him of the decision, and he’s not happy with it. He wants to get out there and play. He’s competitive, as we all know, and wants to compete for his team and be out there. We, as an organization, after discussing and talking through this entire week, have decided it’s best for our organization, best for Russell. We talked about this from top all the way to the bottom, looked at every single thing and just want to give him another week to get ready.”

Wilson discussed the decision for the team to hold him out of the lineup with reporters on Friday.

“Obviously, we had a little incident last week,” Wilson said. “I thought the training staff and everybody did a great job and went through all the testing, all the protocol stuff. Did a great job through it, [passed with] flying colors. Everything went great. I got to practice this week, but they wanted to give me another week to recover and all that.”

Wilson clearly understood the organization’s decision, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t disappointed that he’ll be watching from the sidelines on Sunday. 

“Obviously for me, I always want to be out on the field. I believe in competing and being out there on the field no matter what the circumstances are. I’m an old school quarterback in that sense, and you have to be out there. I think at the same time it was a collective decision by the organization. They wanted to let me get some extra rest. I think Ryp’s going to be ready to rock and roll and our team. Guys had a great week at practice. …I’m going to be doing everything in the game, on the sideline, in the locker room and everything else to make sure we get a win.”

The Broncos host the Cardinals on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET.