The Denver Broncos have been fighting for relevancy in the 2023 NFL season. They started the year 1-5 but managed to work their way up to a 7-8 record. However, this was too little too late for the Broncos.
A shocking report earlier today revealed that the Denver Broncos were going to bench Russell Wilson for the final two games of the 2023 season. As a result, it has fans speculating that this is the end of Wilson’s tenure with the Broncos.
Does this sound familiar to you? Well, quarterback moves like this have happened a lot over the past couple of years. And it is a disturbing trend.
Denver Broncos Looking to Save a Lot of Money
Let’s take a closer look at Russell Wilson’s contract. Wilson has $161 million out of $242 million guaranteed in this contract. However, a lot of it was guaranteed at the front of the contract.
You see, the guaranteed money covered Wilson’s salary from 2022-24. Since we are just about to end the 2023 NFL season, fans may not understand why this matters right now. Well, the answer is because of specific contractual clauses.
The Denver Broncos would be on the hook for an additional $37 million on the fifth league day of 2024. However, if Wilson were to suffer a significant injury before that day, he would automatically receive that $37 million. This left the Broncos with a difficult decision.
Denver Broncos’ Playoff Chances
The Broncos’ playoff chances took a massive hit on Christmas Eve. Denver lost to New England and their record fell to 7-8. As a result, they have just a 7% chance of making the playoffs. Because of this, the Broncos’ front office appears to not believe that chance is worth the risk of being on the hook for another $37 million.
Disturbing Quarterback Trend
This is not the first quarterback this has happened to. Several teams have done this with expensive veteran quarterbacks over the last couple of seasons.
The first comparison that immediately comes to mind is the Las Vegas Raiders and Derek Carr. Last year, the Raiders benched him early to avoid risking a significant injury that would put them on the hook for tens of millions of dollars. Ironically, Jarrett Stidham is the quarterback who replaced both Wilson and Carr.
Also, the Indianapolis Colts did this with veteran QB Matt Ryan last year as well. He was not living up to expectations and the Colts did not feel like Ryan’s risk was worth the reward considering his performance last season.
Additionally, this happened earlier in the 2023 season. Again, it involved the Raiders. Veteran QB Jimmy Garappolo started the Raiders’ season 3-5. As a result, the Raiders felt like it was time to shut him down to avoid further injury and salary risk. Now, they are rolling with rookie QB Aidan O’Connell.
All of these quarterbacks have made a lot of money throughout the course of their careers. However, they have all been the victims of teams making perhaps immoral moves to avoid paying what they agreed in their contracts. Now, we can add Russell Wilson to this list.
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