History Hints at a Coming Russell Wilson Revenge Tour

The Russell Wilson onslaught of hate is seemingly never-ending. It's unfortunate that the media outlets are choosing to focus on his personality rather than his play as quarterback of the Denver Broncos.

Taking shots at Wilson when he is down is a despicable tactic, but it generates traffic, retweets, and shares. He's an easy victim because he doesn’t retaliate, and his poor season in 2022 gives these hit tactics a great excuse to pile on.

Guess what? A quarterback's sudden decline is not unprecedented, nor is his propensity to bounce back and return to earlier form.

Will the same media outlets heap praise on Wilson with the same vigor when he does return to form? It's unlikely because that won’t garner as many clicks or retweets. However, the Wilson revenge tour could be spectacular for Broncos fans.

Predicting a valiant comeback is not too improbable because this sudden drop-off and return to form has happened many times to other great quarterbacks of the past. Make no mistake, Wilson established himself as a great quarterback.

He is one of only 35 quarterbacks since 1945 to produce at least four era-adjusted seasons in the 80th percentile (top 400). Almost all of those who did, and are eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, have a bronze bust in Canton. That's quite a distinction and a solid list of peers.

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Of those 35 quarterbacks, more than a third had a significant drop-off in play in the middle-to-late eras of their respective careers, only to have a significant bounce back. For four of those quarterbacks had an incredible slingshot effect. They ended up having the best seasons of their respective careers and some of the greatest quarterback campaigns of all time in that bounce-back season.

Wilson is likely to return to form. The Broncos were a mess last year, to say it bluntly. The team was riddled with injuries, had an incoherent offensive scheme, and a head coach that was so far in over his head he could go down in history as the worst head coach ever for the club. Wilson’s return to form could be triumphant, and it could quite possibly be a historic turnaround like some of those Hall-of-Famers of old.

The interesting piece of information is that Wilson’s decline is exaggerated. When looking at the numbers, 2022 was only a 16% decline from his average. That's not good, but it's in line with several of the other regressions by those aforementioned great quarterbacks.

It's not a stretch to project that Wilson can at least get back to his average. That average equals a pretty darn good quarterback. In order to have a season as good as his best season, Wilson would only need to increase production by a tad over 30% over 2022.

The Broncos now have an experienced, offensive-minded, and Super Bowl-winning head coach in Sean Payton, who has a track record of getting the best out of his quarterbacks. One doesn’t have to ponder long to understand that Wilson could thrive under the new regime, even more so than he did when he was in Seattle.

If the Broncos can address their weaknesses on the offensive line and Payton can put players in position to succeed as he has in the past, that 30% increase from last year doesn’t sound so daunting. It's a big hill to climb for sure, but the list of quarterbacks who did it had an increase between 25% and 75% over their decline season.

If Wilson can do the same, it will be a glorious comeback that can be rubbed in the face of those who have been relentless in disparaging the quarterback and raking his name through the NFL mud.

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