Russ benched

[OrangeGravy]

It will increase the 2024 cap hit for Wilson from $35.4M to $85M. It's a short-term $50M wrecking ball. However, they have 9 other players who are due $10M or more in 2024. The Broncos could restructure some/all of those contracts to be under the 2024 cap figure before they have to consider any potential cuts. Pain before gain.

That 85 can be $37 2024/$47 2025

 

[Scout]

Here is the truth.

SP has worked with QBs with less talent than R. Wilson and has guided them to 3k passing yards (Wilson, Testaverde, Bledsoe). The problem is Wilson doesn't do what SP wants him to do which is why he is willing to start a QB with lesser talent.

The point being is that it isn't going to work out because SP wants his QB to run his offense the way he wants to run it and R. Wilson is going to do it his way. We speculated about this in the off season but it is reality now as the season draws to a close.

 

[OrangeGravy]

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

He's not near the top of anything. Denver is doing the exact same thing that Vegas did to Carr last year and Jimmy G this year. The only difference is Russell's and his team are turning a normal contract request, in his situation, into a "threat". Denver is well within their rights to ask and RW was well within his rights to decline. Any nonsense after that is pure PR posturing.

 

[HomerJHawk]

I was fine with it when we let Russ go. It was time, he wanted to move on, and we got a hell of a deal.

He's getting raw dogged by the Broncos right now. That ain't cool. I watched a very recent presser where he kept answering the difficult questions in the most Russ way.
He is a consummate professional and will always try to say the right thing.
Sometimes I wish he could say 'I'm here so I won't get fined', but that won't happen.

I hope he ends up on a team that gives him a chance to just be him. He deserves that.

 

[RiverDog]

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

I tend to agree with this.

Considering the way Russell left Seattle, I can completely understand why people don't trust what he says, so I'm not going to call out posters who claim that he's lying as being "haters". I, too, don't consider him as being a credible source of information. I do not accept what Russell says as fact unless it can be validated. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

But in this particular situation and although I'm sure he's putting his own spin on events, IMO the basics of what Russell's saying lines up with the known facts and is believable.

 

[Lagartixa]

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.

Well... officially, yes, but he and Team 3 were simultaneously leaking to their friends in the media. That's how "Let Russ cook" happened.

 

[flv2]

That 85 can be $37 2024/$47 2025

If he leaves on or before Jun 1 2024 all of the $85M cap hit will accelerate into 2024. They could move him after Jun 1 2024, but that would result in his $37M salary for 2025 becoming fully guaranteed.

 

[Jville]

Depending on what side of the fence one is on, does Mark Rogers get all the credit or blame he has earned?

 

[Dvl Dug]

I just cannot like a person that says publicly that he wants to be in Seattle, then waives his "no trade" clause behind the sceens, and forces the team to trade him. I'm calling RW a liar. This is the town that made him, and he stabbed us in the back. Shame on him!

 

[Seahawkfan80]

I hope Stidham goes nuts. 3 tds, no picks, 300 plus yards in each of his two games.

That will make that last nail a rusty, gnarled one.

Take your pick......

 

[LastRideOut]

Depending on what side of the fence one is on, does Mark Rogers get all the credit or blame he has earned?

And he he has own Me3 branded private jet.

And he's playing the victim card. GTFOH.

 

[keasley45]

And he he has own Me3 branded private jet.

And he's playing the victim card. GTFOH.

That's the thing that gets me. Still now, he has support from fans that consider him to be the misunderstood, maybe slightly misguided good-guy.

His behavior goes all the way back to the LOB days. His lack of awareness and accountability was the reason the lockeroom fractured. And is lack of coachability is why the years that followed the LOB all looked the same. So much so that when an OC came in to do things entirely differently (per his PR request) he refused to go along with it. Then he threw a fit when he found out JS wasbtrying to trade him, became a malcontent, requested (or agreed to) a trade and denied doing so. And then when he was traded, denied he knew it was happening. And then threw the organization under the bus and claimed to be the victim in the whole deal.

All the while he still waltzed around as if he was better than everyone.

Then he helps to get his coach in Denver fired by playing just about as bad as you can at the position last year (30-32 / 32) and seems to have zero genuine self reflection to acknowledge what he needed to do better.

And now, he waltzes into Payton's offense and can't hang:

27th in punts per play
25th in yards per attempt
24th in yards per completion
26th in 3rd down conversions
26th in passing yards per game
26th in sacks taken
And near league leading in self inflicted sacks.

Bottom 5th in 3 and outs if I recall correctly

31st in plays per game (despite an inordinant number of additional possessions)

Almost 40% of his passes went to rbs (SF threw to them legitimately)

So they legitimately ask him to soften his contract so the franchise isn't so completely hamstrung by his poor play when he starts poorly, and then actually bench him when his poor play continues after the team wins a few games in the back of the defense.

Seriously? All of the above occurred, and all of the above is an obvious pattern of self delusion, lack of awareness, and an uncanny ability to paint one's self as a victim (thanks to help from his agent).

Russ will no doubt ride the donkey he's been on now for a bit right out of the league, with no fanfare. No celebration. And still he will inexplicably manage to garner sympathy from folks for somehow being shafted for his house of cards falling in on him. I mean, somebody had to blow on it, right?

 

[Ozzy]

even Sherman is now coming out defending Russ and we know how he feels about Russ

 

[Welshers2]

even Sherman is now coming out defending Russ and we know how he feels about Russ

Is there a video or something you can link me to? I'd be interested in watching it

 

[Cyrus12]

Sherman has to watch what he says now that he's on the big shows that are all scripted in advance. One guy takes one side when the other host does the other. I doubt Sherman gives two shits after what went on here with Wilson.

 

[hawk45]

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.

The best part is that Russ winning the PR battle and once again spinning a narrative of being held back is going to sucker some lackwit NFL team into trying him on for size, and I get to hatewatch him in yet another uniform.
The OL of his new team will “mysteriously” be deemed dogshit by the hordes of Russ stand descending on the new team, fans won’t understand how their offense looks so constipated when the stats are okay, and another HC and OC will go under the bus.
I hope this never ends.

 

[knownone]

Sherman is on the NFLPA's executive board. I would expect him to side with Russell, given how the Broncos handled the contract situation. Does he think Russ gives the Broncos the best chance to win, though? Because ultimately, that's what all these ex-players coming to Russell's defense are running up against. If Stidham plays well, they can be critical of how the Broncos handled the situation, but Payton will have ultimately done the right thing in a difficult situation.

 

[Scout]

Can't fault Russ on this one regarding the contract. The Broncos want to have it both ways but they are the ones that offered the contract that Russ signed.

Long term view SP knows that he can find a QB that can check down to RBs off the street and do hand offs. The question is can he find a QB with talent that can do much more than that to elevate his offense?

Time will tell.

 

[IndyHawk]

Depending on what side of the fence one is on, does Mark Rogers get all the credit or blame he has earned?

You got to be shitting me! There is a team3 logo below the window.
Ha Ha

 

[Lagartixa]

If he leaves on or before Jun 1 2024 all of the $85M cap hit will accelerate into 2024. They could move him after Jun 1 2024, but that would result in his $37M salary for 2025 becoming fully guaranteed.

That was what I thought too, because like you, I applied logic. I assumed that the Broncos would have to choose between designating Wilson as a post-June 1 release and having him off the roster before St. Patrick's Day.

It turns out logic doesn't apply to the NFL.

Based on what I've read in a bunch of places now, the Broncos can designate Wilson as a post-June 1 release, but do so before March 17 and therefore have him considered not to be on the roster on that date. In this way, they can avoid being on the hook for the additional $37M while simultaneously being able to split the dead money between 2024 and 2025.

EDITED 35 minutes later to add
Well, according to this article I just saw on the ESPN web site, it looks like our logic was right, and my "correction" of you above was wrong. I really did see a bunch of articles and videos some time back saying that the Broncos could designate Wilson as a post-June 1 release, but I'm now assuming that the people who wrote that article on ESPN went and did the research and talked to people to find out about these things.