Denver Broncos to Cut Russell Wilson Despite Record Dead Cap Hit

Highlights

• The Denver Broncos will be releasing Russell Wilson on March 13 at the beginning of the new NFL year.
• Wilson and head coach Sean Payton never got along, leading to many sideline outbursts from Payton throughout the season.
• Denver looks destined to rebuild in 2024, but may try to swing a trade for one of the top QB prospects in the upcoming draft.

The paradise destination Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos believed they’d be reaching together was merely a mirage of epic proportions.

Late Monday afternoon, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Broncos would be releasing Wilson after two underwhelming seasons with the club. The move, which won’t officially occur until the new league year begins on March 13, has been widely anticipated, as rumors of Wilson taking the veteran minimum on his next contract began circulating over a week ago.

Wilson started 30 of 34 possible games (half of those four missed games were due to his controversial benching at the conclusion of the 2023 campaign) with Denver the last two seasons, going just 11-19 in those outings.

Sean Payton and Russell Wilson were constantly at odds

The facade they displayed fell apart halfway through the year

The true nature of the Payton-Wilson relationship was the NFL’s worst kept secret. The Broncos won just one game in the first six weeks of 2023 and would have lost their first four home games for the first time in their 64-year franchise history if not for Wil Lutz’ 52-yard game-winning field goal in their 19-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers in Week 7.

Even in the midst of a five-game winning streak during which Wilson tossed eight touchdown passes and no interceptions, things were far from ideal. After defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8, Denver threatened to bench Wilson after the Week 9 bye if he wouldn’t remove his contract’s injury guarantee.

Payton was also seen ripping into Wilson on the sideline repeatedly throughout the second half of the season, potentially in an effort to get him suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

Wilson, a nine-time Pro-Bowler and four-time top-four finisher in Offensive Player of the Year voting, had the worst campaign of his career under Nathaniel Hackett in 2022. He played much better under Payton last season, but clearly was not ever going to produce at a high enough level to be under Payton’s consideration to start beyond the most recent campaign.

Denver has a massive rebuild on tap

Wilson’s contract takes up a large percentage of their 2024 cap space

Due to offset language in Wilson’s contract, the Broncos are set to pay him $39 million minus the salary another team gives him for 2024. They are also eating the largest dead cap hit in NFL history, whether they designate him a post-June 1st cut or not. If they elect to bite the entire bullet next season, the $85 million charge would take up nearly one-third (33.3%) of the new record-high salary cap.

Denver now has to navigate an increasingly tough AFC West with that immense saddle, and no apparent franchise quarterback on the roster.

They are on the outskirts of the requisite range to secure one of the top QB prospects in the loaded 2024 NFL Draft, but a trade to get their hands on Caleb Williams, who Payton deemed “generational” when working as an analyst for FOX in 2022, would be even more prohibiting toward a return to contention.

In 2019, the San Francisco 49ers—residing in the same No. 12 slot the Broncos currently occupy—traded three first-round selections and a third-round pick for the Miami Dolphins’ No. 3 overall selection, where they took the raw but unproven Trey Lance out of FCS-level North Dakota State. The price to make such a leap up the draft board this year would seem to be even heftier.

Source: Adam Schefter

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.