Russ benched

[Ozzy]

Just goes to show that Russ never was, and never will be, a team player.

Yesterday, the PR battle against the Broncos was by way of tweet likes and the god tweet.

Today, it's the on camera comments about the injury guarantee.

Just goes to show he isn't about football. Never really was. All about the image, the brand. All about that.

Yeah I don’t get this. Almost universally people are killing the broncos for how they handled this. You’re untitled to your opinion I just respectfully disagree. The NFL is a tight nit group and they’re all supporting him. Broncos are at fault here

 

[chrispy]

...sounds like he's protecting the brand to me...

We'll have to wait for the article next year in the Athletic to find out how much this is complete BS.

 

[Welshers2]

He's always been good at playing the victim or looking like the good guy. That's his game.

He has millions already in the bank. So, he lost a chance at another 37 million. Oh the humanity! Oh let the tears flow.

Zero compassion from me.

Yeah hes getting paid 150m to sit around, but still, that's pretty classless of the broncos org to handle the situation that way

 

[warden]

Well Russell got tired of carrying the Seahawks. Now the Broncos have got tired of carrying Wilson

 

[Welshers2]

Yeah I don’t get this. Almost universally people are killing the broncos for how they handled this. You’re untitled to your opinion I just respectfully disagree. The NFL is a tight nit group and they’re all supporting him. Broncos are at fault here

Pretty much this. I happen to think russ is a selfish egomaniac but he handled this way better than the broncos. They made an embarrassing demand of him and he kept it under wraps and kept playing hard. Payton probably thought he could get away with telling everyone he did it for performance issues but Team 3 leaked the real story and I don't blame them because it's extremely unprofessional of the broncos. What qb is going to want to go there knowing the team will ask you to waive injury garuntees and the head coach will publicly humiliate you

 

[LastRideOut]

Wilson has a good PR team. He used them heavily here and is doing the same there. A good PR team muddies the water, like they're doing right now.

Of course, if Wilson was playing up to his contract, none of this would be an issue, But, here the Broncos are, in almost the exact same spot Seattle was a couple years ago, waging a PR war with the me3 team.

The common denominator? Russell Wilson.

 

[Cyrus12]

Russ screwed Russ and he can look in the mirror and know that...

 

[Ozzy]

Wilson has a good PR team. He used them heavily here and is doing the same there. A good PR team muddies the water, like they're doing right now.

Of course, if Wilson was playing up to his contract, none of this would be an issue, But, here the Broncos are, in almost the exact same spot Seattle was a couple years ago, waging a PR war with the me3 team.

The common denominator? Russell Wilson.

I just don’t get this: they threaten him with benching even though at the time he was near the top of the league statistically and just beat their rival the chiefs which they haven’t been able to do for years. They didn’t threaten to bench him for his play because the backup has zero chance of doing what he was doing but because they wanted to take back the injury claus they agreed upon. Again there is a reason the entire league is like WTF are they doing? Take Wilson out of the equation and just insert any other player so it’s not personal. It was a terrible way to do business and this will hurt them with trying to sign players moving forward, guaranteed

 

[Ozzy]

I just don’t get this: they threaten him with benching even though at the time he was near the top of the league statistically and just beat their rival the chiefs which they haven’t been able to do for years. They didn’t threaten to bench him for his play because the backup has zero chance of doing what he was doing but because they wanted to take back the injury claus they agreed upon. Again there is a reason the entire league is like WTF are they doing? Take Wilson out of the equation and just insert any other player so it’s not personal. It was a terrible way to do business and this will hurt them with trying to sign players moving forward, guaranteed

I’d add good on Wilson for playing his ass off in spite of this. You can hate him, think he’s selfish or whatever but the dude does play hard and he continued to.

 

[LastRideOut]

I just don’t get this: they threaten him with benching even though at the time he was near the top of the league statistically and just beat their rival the chiefs which they haven’t been able to do for years. They didn’t threaten to bench him for his play because the backup has zero chance of doing what he was doing but because they wanted to take back the injury claus they agreed upon. Again there is a reason the entire league is like WTF are they doing? Take Wilson out of the equation and just insert any other player so it’s not personal. It was a terrible way to do business and this will hurt them with trying to sign players moving forward, guaranteed

It's pretty likely that Wilson and his PR team are lying through their teeth on the threat to bench. Like I said, his PR team likes to muddy the waters.

Russ isn't a football player. He's a brand ambassador, for himself.

 

[Ozzy]

It's pretty likely that Wilson and his PR team are lying through their teeth on the threat to bench. Like I said, his PR team likes to muddy the waters.

Russ isn't a football player. He's a brand ambassador, for himself.

It’s already been confirmed. He’s not lying.

 

[LastRideOut]

It’s already been confirmed. He’s not lying.

It's confirmed that he is benched, yes. It's also confirmed that the Broncos asked Wilson if he could delay his injury guarantee to 2025.

What is NOT confirmed is the threat to bench. That's all coming from Wilson.

Wilson: Broncos said I'd sit if no contract change

Russell Wilson said both the NFL and its players' association "got involved" after the Broncos approached him to adjust a salary guarantee in his contract following a late-October win against the Chiefs.

www.espn.co.uk

Russell Wilson says Broncos gave him ultimatum after beating Super Bowl champs: change contract or get benched

Wilson was eventually benched for Jarrett Stidham leading into Week 17

www.cbssports.com

Broncos asked Russell Wilson to delay transformation of injury guarantee to full guarantee

The specific communications between the Broncos and quarterback Russell Wilson regarding his injury guarantee have generated much interest in recent days.

www.nbcsports.com

Russell Wilson: Broncos told me in bye week to change my injury guarantee or get benched

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson said today that his benching was weeks in the making, with the team telling him during the Week Nine bye that he would be benched if he didn't agree to alter his contract so that the Broncos wouldn't have to pay him beyond this season if he suffered a serious…

www.nbcsports.com

Not a single one of those articles has a link to an official statement of any kind, stating that the Broncos threatened to bench him if he didn't delay his injury gaurantee.

No statement from the NFLPA too.


It's a PR blitz from the me3 team. Russ is lying.

 

[LastRideOut]

I'll give Russ credit though. He's better at the PR game than at playing quarterback. Hats off to Russ. He'd make the perfect politician.

 

[IndyHawk]

I'll give Russ credit though. He's better at the PR game than at playing quarterback. Hats off to Russ. He'd make the perfect politician.

He would because he's such a snake in the grass but his speaking would
be his downfall in politics.

 

[chrispy]

Same thing as him telling the media in Seattle "they tried to trade me a few times before" but leaving out it was a result of him demanding a trade and giving a list of 4 acceptable teams.

RCW is spinning the situation to make himself the victim and try to get the benefit of the doubt from a QB-needy team this off season. He pulled the wool over the media's eyes before and sold Denver a bill of goods. Why would he do anything different now? It'll all come out eventually, but he's hoping he's got another fat contract before everything is public.

I don't like Payton either, but that doesn't make RCW more honest than he was 2 years ago.

 

[chris98251]

They are protecting themselves against his contract, if they were planning on him being part of the organization going forward they would not worry about it, Payton was done with him, sure they started winning but Wilson was not running Payton's offense the way he wanted it to run. He went and got Stidham early and with this scenario in mind. It was up to Wilson to play himself into Drew Brees type of a player. Also Wilsons drama and entourage just doesn't fit Payton's type of player nor was Wilsons leadership of the team evident in the way a guy who the team respects and will sell out to play with and for.

 

[Ozzy]

It's confirmed that he is benched, yes. It's also confirmed that the Broncos asked Wilson if he could delay his injury guarantee to 2025.

What is NOT confirmed is the threat to bench. That's all coming from Wilson.

Wilson: Broncos said I'd sit if no contract change

Russell Wilson said both the NFL and its players' association "got involved" after the Broncos approached him to adjust a salary guarantee in his contract following a late-October win against the Chiefs.

www.espn.co.uk

Russell Wilson says Broncos gave him ultimatum after beating Super Bowl champs: change contract or get benched

Wilson was eventually benched for Jarrett Stidham leading into Week 17

www.cbssports.com

Broncos asked Russell Wilson to delay transformation of injury guarantee to full guarantee

The specific communications between the Broncos and quarterback Russell Wilson regarding his injury guarantee have generated much interest in recent days.

www.nbcsports.com

Russell Wilson: Broncos told me in bye week to change my injury guarantee or get benched

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson said today that his benching was weeks in the making, with the team telling him during the Week Nine bye that he would be benched if he didn't agree to alter his contract so that the Broncos wouldn't have to pay him beyond this season if he suffered a serious…

www.nbcsports.com

Not a single one of those articles has a link to an official statement of any kind, stating that the Broncos threatened to bench him if he didn't delay his injury gaurantee.

No statement from the NFLPA too.


It's a PR blitz from the me3 team. Russ is lying.

Russ said it in the middle of the locker room do you really think he flat out lied knowing Payton would be interviewed and asked about it? Your hatred of Russ is clouding your judgement. If it didn’t happen and we have every single network, ex players, current players etc talking about it and it was a lie wouldn’t Denver come out and say so? It’s obvious it’s not a lie

 

[LastRideOut]

Russ said it in the middle of the locker room do you really think he flat out lied knowing Payton would be interviewed and asked about it? Your hatred of Russ is clouding your judgement. If it didn’t happen and we have every single network, ex players, current players etc talking about it and it was a lie wouldn’t Denver come out and say so? It’s obvious it’s not a lie

Oh yeah, without a doubt. I wouldn't put it past Russ. He did the same thing in Seattle, saying he didn't want to be traded, that was the public messaging from him. Behind the scenes, he wanted to be traded.

Russ has always been two faced that way. One face for the public. Another face that belies the public messaging.

The fact that the NFLPA hasn't commented is pretty significant, and it does undermine Russ's messaging.

 

[Maelstrom787]

I think most observers of Russell's time in Seattle realize in hindsight that Russ has an insane PR team. Like, insaaaane PR team. The kind Presidential candidates envy.

The narrative has already been set that Russell is a blameless party in this circumstance. That's probably the Broncos fault.

The Broncos are a terribly run organization and I wouldn't put it past them to make such a request at the worst possible time, opening themselves up to this drubbing in the court of public opinion. They likely also revealed their plan to bench him in a hamfisted and shortsighted way, because again... obvious lack of organizational savvy over there.

At the end of the day, though, the facts are simple. Russell Wilson is not worth even half of what the Broncos gave up for him, or what they're scheduled to start paying him, and they need to take any avenue necessary to get out of the devastating encumbrance that he is at his current cost.

Broncos can no longer come out of this looking good in the short-term. They lost the PR battle, and everyone has now forgotten about Russell simply not being who he was thought to be anymore because that image has been replaced by the narrative of an entire organization conspiring to hold him back. Sound familiar? I bet. Broncos will look better on the flip-side when they start having some real promise once they're out from his shadow, and Russell will be competing somewhere else for a job with a still severely-damaged legacy.

It's all PR right now. It's spin.

 

[OrangeGravy]

Maybe I don't remember correctly, but I don't believe I've ever seen Wilson be that transparent with the press before. Usually he's always been willing to keep that kind of info between himself and the organization.

Only because it benefits the narrative he and his team are driving home.