Well That Was A Mistake
Russell Wilson’s career high point came at the expense of the Denver Broncos. As of right now, his career low point has now also come at the expense of the Denver Broncos. Maybe Russ just really hates the Denver Broncos, man.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This was one of the worst trade disasters in all of football history. It’s not only up there with the great disasters of football, it’s up there fighting for a spot in the pantheon of all sports trade disasters. Now that Russ is officially set loose we can begin looking at the real legacy of this mess.
This isn’t the worst trade of all time, yet. Herschel Walker being misused by the Vikings while the Cowboys turned their draft into a dynasty is still worse. Seattle isn’t a dynasty yet, and the past two years may have been more of a stopgap anyway. The chances Seattle turns into a Cowboys is pretty low. Still an absolute steal. The Russ contract isn’t the worst contract of all time, either. That honor is going to stay with Groper Cleveland for a long, long time. But there’s no doubt that the Russ gamble is a top 5 front-office blunder of all time.
The weirdest part is nobody thought it would end up this bad. Yes, the Broncos gave up a ransom for him. Yes, the contract was enormous from the get-go. Yes, Russ had already started to slip during that final year in Seattle. The red flags were there and there was some skepticism. But this? None of us expected this. Russ didn’t just take a step back, he stepped backward into the Grand Canyon. This was a guy on a hall-of-fame career trajectory. It went so badly that his credentials are now being second-guessed.
30 games. 11 wins, most of them ugly. An embarassing catchphrase (Broncos Country: Lets Ride). A waste of a coach in one season. A stupid Subway sandwich. Stories and rumors about how cringe and unrelatable he was from former and current teammates. And after the one solid winning streak he had this season, a scandal story about how the Broncos tried to blackmail him into adjusting his contract or get benched. He leaves the Broncos with a 85 Million dead money hit spread out over the next two seasons, twice the amount of the previous highest dead money hit. Let me embarrass Denver further. The money the Giants are stuck paying Daniel Jones this season is less money than the Broncos will be paying next season to have Russell Wilson not be on the team anymore.
So where does this leave the Broncos? Well they don’t have a Quarterback. I don’t see them taking on a decent free-again QB like Kirk Cousins because they can’t afford one, so they are either going to be forced to roll with a Gardner Minshew or Jacoby Brissett at best, or draft somebody. They pick 12, high enough to grab someone in the second tier of QB prospects. Williams, Maye, and Daniels will be gone by 12. Possibly one or two more with the Vikings, Falcons, Giants and Titans drafting before Denver, though those teams are more wildcards. So unless they sign a stopgap journeyman for cheap (I’d look at Jameis Winston, has a history with Sean Payton) you have to assume Bo Nix, Penix, or McCarthy ends up a Bonco. The Broncos are probably doomed to languish for at least a year or two in mediocre purgatory.
As for Russ himself? Well he could play for free somewhere now with that Denver contract paying his bills. Russ has an ego though and I don’t see him settling for a non-starting role. The big interest point right now is Pittsburgh as Russ is still probably an upgrade over Kenny Pickett. Outside that, maybe Tampa if Baker leaves? The Raiders? Maybe he will Flacco that shit and hang out on his couch getting mad money for free until mid-way through the 2024 season when someone’s franchise QB bites the dust. The absolute funniest possible place he could land is right back in Seattle, playing behind Geno for peanuts. Life isn’t fair enough to give me that outcome.
And thus ends the Wilson era. It did not go well. May the futures of all involved continue to be as funny as this was.
Is that Brandon Perna?
That was my immediate thought, as well. That dude has SUFFERED.
Lol, It’s clearly Perna.
His video after the 70 Point Miami game is one of my all time favorite sports rants of all time. Just a thing of beauty.
I bet his views have skyrocketed through the Broncos being terrible, at this point I always check in on him after something bad happens to the Broncos, just like I do with Eisen whenever something happens to the Jets.
The funniest thing about the Wilson trade is that he was very obviously Denver’s second choice. They were trying to snag Aaron Rodgers and didn’t expect him to lean fully into his Brett Favre arc by demanding a trade to the Jets. So instead they settle on Russ and pair him with a terrible coach in way over his head. Dude was beyond cooked by the time Sean Payton got to him.
The fact you used Brandon Perna for this is just the cherry on top.
If I were the Broncos, I’d be talking with Chicago about Fields. Trade their #12 pick and maybe a second to the Bears for Fields, Sean Payton gets a reasonable QB, Fields gets out of Chicago, Bears pick up Caleb Williams and still have the #12 pick to get him a weapon. Seems reasonable.
The Bears currently are looking to get a 3rd that becomes a conditional second for Fields at this point. However as a Bears fan, I’d definitely sit down at your discussion table.
Keep in mind that the Bears also have their own pick, which is #9, so they can use that pick to get a new weapon. I’m hoping they use that pick on Nabers, Odunze, Bowers, one of which should be there. Personally, I’d like to see Odunze, especially after being the top prospect to perform at the combine; he balled out in 2023 with a broken rib & punctured lung. Sounds like a Bear to me.
Oh man, seeing Brandon Perna there was a total flashback to late-2010s youtube. His content back then was amazing. Glad he’s secured the bag with the modern day “NFL influencer ecosystem” stuff but it’s just not the same.
That has to be Brandon Perna, poor guy
I don’t know if it’s just me, or if it’s even all that true, but I’m suddenly learning a lot about how Russ could never see the middle of the field. Maybe that’s just the funniest Achilles’ heel to explain why his career went so far off the rails and Im keying in on it.
It’s absolutely true, Russ’ biggest strength was always scrambling to keep the play alive and finding that shot downfield/outside the numbers. Seattle was rarely ever able to create a consistent, rhythmic offense centered around Russ passing. Now that he’s slowed a hair, the weaknesses just glared.
Honestly still skeptical if the blackmail story is even true. The team was already on the way to benching him because he sucked ass, and after that story suddenly the media guys who were roasting him from day one are on his side and pretending the Broncos didn’t give him the keys to the kingdom in exchange for being Tim Tebow if Tebow won fewer games.
I 100% expected this. It was clear Russ was cooked in January of 2022. It didn’t make sense for anyone to get him as their starter.
So I’m utterly unsurprised that it didn’t work out.
Ok to be fair he wasn’t the bad he got better over the year (still underperformed) but he got benched over a contract dispute not because he sucked but I would not want the Steelers to sign him I think we give Pickett one more shot and if that doesn’t work draft a guy