Russell Wilson $100 Million ‘Exit Strategy’ Plan by Broncos after Seahawks Trade?
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Remember when your elementary school teacher used to tell you with her red-ink scribble in your margins, “Show your work!”?
We say that now to ESPN as the network is reporting on a possible “exit strategy” for the Denver Broncos - assuming their continued buyer’s remorse following their 2022 trade for the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback. Dan Graziano of ESPN writes: “If Wilson struggles the way he did in 2022, the Broncos are going to be looking for an exit strategy to get out of that big contract extension they gave Wilson last summer."
Fine idea. But ... what about “Show your work!”?
Wanna dump him now? That would mean the Broncos would have $107 million in dead money.
Wanna dump him after 2023? We believe the "easiest'' (as we use that word advisedly) path would be to make him a post-June 1 cut ... and even still, the Broncos would be bogged down with $35.4 million in dead-cap money for 2024 and $49.6 million more in dead money for 2025.
The media too often plays too loosely with numbers here. Critics of the Dallas Cowboys are presently doing the same thing, with Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com offering the advice that the Cowboys should simply "start over'' and dump Dak Prescott ... but as we write here, failing to mention among the many components that make the idea non-viable the $59.4 million penalty for doing so.
All of this is why Seattle "won twice'' in its blockbuster trade. One, because of the treasure chest won in return, highlighted by three players, two first-round picks and two second-round picks. But two, what is sometimes forgotten now is that Seattle could've tried to patch things up by offering Wilson the five-year, $245 million extension he got in Denver.
And that might be the Broncos' biggest loss of all year. ... and the reality is, there is no "exit strategy'' that comes even close to being as viable as new Denver coach Sean Payton "fixing'' Russ. (And, back to Dallas, same goes for coach Mike McCarthy trying to keep Dak from leading the NFL in interceptions.) And on that subject, ESPN writes, "Can Sean Payton save Russell Wilson? … The way Wilson played in his first season in Denver, you could forgive Payton for wondering what he has gotten himself into."
We will pick a bone here as well. The Broncos made this trade in 2022 having no idea "what they were getting themselves into.'' But Payton? He just signed on in Denver. And we're quite sure he knew exactly "what he has gotten himself into'' ... and in regard to Russell Wilson, how difficult it will be to exit it.
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