ESPN Reveals Russell Wilson Benching Left Some Broncos 'Pissed'
In the wake of Sean Payton's decision to bench Russell Wilson with two games left in the season, it would be safe to assume that not everyone in the Denver Broncos locker room loved the move. Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles expressed how "frustrating" it's been to be the blindside blocker amid rampant quarterback instability.
Many key Broncos vets towed the company line publicly at the podium, but ESPN's long-time beat writer Jeff Legwold reported on Monday that many players shared Bolles' frustrations and were "pissed for Russ." Outside of citing wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, who expressed shock when Payton informed the Broncos that he was benching Wilson, no other player went on the record on the subject, but that didn't stop them from sharing their reactions with Legwold anonymously.
Players were also left frustrated. When asked about the reaction to the benching decision, one player said, "Pissed for Russ. Just pissed for Russ, a lot of us.''
Another player added, "We just won five in a row. We're all going to support [backup Jarrett Stidham], but Russ was giving everything he had.''
While it's true that the Broncos went on a romping win streak that spanned five games, by the time Wilson was benched, four games had transpired since the fifth straight victory. Payton didn't pull the trigger on Wilson's demotion until the Broncos' playoff odds had been all but eliminated, which came on the heels of that ugly loss to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.
The Broncos had to have that game, and Wilson, with a lot of help from his teammates, failed to answer the bell against a Patriots team that had won just three games by that point. The bloom was mostly off the rose of that five-game win streak by the time Wilson was benched, and the Broncos had lost all but one of the preceding four games following the streak.
Legwold's article makes it clear that the decision to bench Wilson wasn't simply a short-term move to "spark" the Broncos' offense; it was an organizational turning point that brought the Wilson experiment to a screeching halt. And there will be consequences, in more ways than one.
Off the bat, the Broncos have had to deal with the internal emotions of the locker room seeing its leader, who had bled for them over 15 games, get unceremoniously demoted, as well as the immediate PR blowback on Payton and the team.
Beyond the 2023 season, the Broncos are staring down the barrel of what is poised to be a record-high dead-money hit to the salary cap. The most dead money an NFL team has ever absorbed in a single season is $40.5 million, a consequence of the Atlanta Falcons ending the Matt Ryan era. The Green Bay Packers came close to the record this year with $40.3M in dead money left on Aaron Rodgers' contract after he was traded to the New York Jets.
The Broncos will incur $85M in dead money in 2024 alone if Wilson is released as a pre-June 1 transaction. An anonymous rival general manager put that dead money charge in perspective via Legwold.
"You try to avoid dead money, kicking that can, because dead money is really players you can't have because of players you let go and are still paying for -- the bigger the number, the more players you can't have," a rival general manager told ESPN.
"And you add what it costs to replace the player that's gone, the new salary doesn't replace the old one, it's added on, so in some ways you're paying double for the new guy.''
As a result of the $85M in dead money (just in 2024) the Broncos will absorb, Payton and company will have little choice but to embrace a youth movement across the roster. And let's not forget that the Broncos are projected to be over the salary cap in 2024 already, which means that Payton and GM George Paton were already bracing for some tough personnel decisions beyond the Wilson situation.
"You can deal with dead money, but you better be ready to be young, real young, and it's easier if you're young around a quarterback you want to have for a long time," the anonymous GM told Legwold.
The silver lining is that by losing four of their last six games, the Broncos qualified for the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. While No. 12 might not be high enough to secure one of the top three quarterbacks in the 2024 class — USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye, and LSU's Jayden Daniels — it does put Denver within striking distance, which would make a trade-up scenario a little bit more plausible and perhaps not quite as costly — depending on just how high the team needed to move up.
There's also the possibility of quarterbacks like Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Michigan's J.J. McCarthy being there at No. 12 overall, and almost certainly, Oregon's Bo Nix. Sitting on six selections in this year's draft, the Broncos will have some options, but when it comes to securing a bonafide franchise quarterback of the future, nothing is guaranteed in an NFL draft that is governed by the inviolable laws of supply and demand.
It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. The Broncos, publicly, haven't ruled out the possibility of coming to some accord with Wilson that would move back the date of certain contract guarantees kicking in, or even the off chance of the veteran QB willingly renegotiating his deal to provide the team with some cap relief.
If the past is the best predictor of the future, don't count on either happening. Wilson claims he wants to remain with the Broncos, but after suffering the indignity of being benched for the first time as a pro, and knowing the team is legally bound to pay him the guaranteed money left on his deal, there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.
Payton and the Broncos knew that when they benched Wilson. And soon, the dominoes will fall. Only time will tell if they fall in a way that's ultimately favorable to the Broncos.
For now, the Walton-Penner ownership group is betting on Payton being able to solve the quarterback problem and lead the Broncos back to the promised land. After improving the team by three wins in the standings in Year 1, and considering his 15-year resume in New Orleans, there's plenty of reason for fans to continue holding the position #InPaytonWeTrust, much like the Walton-Penner family.
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