Broncos GM George Paton Publicly Addresses Russell Wilson Rumor
Although it feels like the Russell Wilson experiment is all but over, Denver Broncos GM George Paton says the door is still open. Paton held court with local media on Tuesday for his end-of-season press conference, following head coach Sean Payton.
The general manager emphasized multiple times throughout a litany of various Wilson questions that both the Broncos and the player are open to continuing on. The unspoken caveat on a return appears to be whether Wilson is willing to renegotiate his contract.
“The door remains open with ‘Russ,'" Paton said. "I’ve had good conversations with Russ, and Sean has had good conversations. The door is open. We’ll get through the process, and we’ll visit with the coaching staff and scouting staff. We’ll visit with Russ and his people, and we’ll go from there.”
Back on December 29, Wilson said that he wanted to remain a Bronco. He talked about how it was supposed to be a seven-year tenure in Denver (the two years that remained on his Seattle contract plus the five-year extension the Broncos gave him).
"I want to be [here], but I don’t know," Wilson said when asked about his future in Denver. "I came here for a reason, and that’s to win more championships. That’s still my focus to this day. I’m under contract, and I want to do whatever it takes, and that’s why I’m going to practice the right way, and do everything the right way, and try to do it the right way.”
Wilson said he was unwilling to renegotiate the injury guarantees in his contract, which doesn't necessarily mean he's unwilling to reapproach any aspect of his deal, but it's a pretty good indicator. If that's the caveat for the Broncos, then Wilson is as good as gone, especially when you factor in the indignity of being benched for the first time in his NFL career.
"I wasn’t going to remove and take away [my] injury guarantees," Wilson said. "This game is such a physical game. I’ve played 12 years and all that. It matters to me."
As for Paton, while he didn't explicitly deny threatening Wilson with being benched if he didn't acquiesce to the team's request to alter his injury guarantees, he certainly made it seem like it never happened. When asked why Wilson perceived it as a threat or ultimatum, Paton said, "That's a good question."
“We made a good faith attempt to adjust his contract. We handled ourselves professionally, and I’ll leave it at that,” Paton said.
Upon intense questioning from the local reporters in the room, Paton also made sure to iterate more than once that Coach Payton had nothing to do with the Broncos' overtures to Wilson and that he does "the negotiating." Paton said his counterpart Payton was too busy "getting ready for Buffalo" to be involved in contract negotiations with Wilson's agent Mark Rodgers.
“Sean was not part of the negotiations," Paton said. "Sean was getting ready for Buffalo. We handle the business—[V.P. of Football Administration] Rich [Hurtado] and I. In season, Sean is in prep mode, and he was preparing for Buffalo."
During his presser on Tuesday, Payton revealed that he met with Wilson the day prior. It was a day marked by the Broncos' players cleaning out their lockers, bidding each other farewell as they each go their separate ways for the offseason.
"I spent half an hour with ‘Russ’ yesterday," Payton said. "I told him, ‘I don’t think it will be a long, drawn-out process,’ but it hasn’t been decided, relative to what our plans are. As soon as we know something, he would be the first to know.”
Payton also emphasized that Wilson could still be a Bronco next year. Otherwise, his Monday meeting with the quarterback would have included a "Hey, goodbye" type of send-off. Both Denver's general manager and head coach stuck to their guns on the subject that no final decision has been made "relative" to Wilson's future.
"We’ll look at all the scenarios and try to do what is best for the Broncos," Payton said. "Communication will be important. That final decision hasn’t been made.”
If the Broncos do release Wilson, it'll come with a Year 1 dead-money cap hit of $85 million, which would be a single-season NFL record. It would more than double the current single-season record for the biggest dead-money hit.
If it comes to that, Paton made it clear that the Broncos are prepared to roll with those punches relative to roster building. It helps having six draft picks this year, including a first-rounder (No. 12 overall) for the first time since 2021.
“This would be extreme," Paton said of the looming dead-money hit. "We’ve prepared for any scenario with Rich Hurtado, who runs our [salary] cap. We’ll have flexibility either way to do what we need to do. We won’t be in on the first wave of free agency like we were last year. You can’t do that every year. We’ll be very strategic and very specific on what positions and what players we try to sign. Obviously, we have to hit on the draft. We’re picking high, and we have six picks. We could have more. You know we like picks. We’ll go from there.”
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