Russell Wilson "Fired" - As the QB Turns
Mates,
The Russell Wilson experiment, all $242.6 Million (!!!) of it, is over. They have informed him he will be released:
The Denver Broncos have informed nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson they plan to release him, a move that ends a tumultuous two-season run with the team.
Wilson was 11-19 in two years. The team has to figure out how to deal with $85 Million (!!) in dead money over the next two years. Unbelievable.
Wilson did issue a pretty honorable 'Good bye', though notably leaving out the HC (Payton) and management.
Link to the article: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39654399/broncos-cut-russell-wilson-take-85m-dead-money-hit
So does this move JJ up the line in the draft? Will another team try to pull Wilson off the wire?
Happy Monday,
XM
Probably will go down as one of the worst trades in league history
Seattle still laughing all the way to the bank. But in Denver’s defense, I don’t think anyone could’ve possibly seen Wilson being this bad in Denver. He’d won a Super Bowl, should’ve won two, and had plenty of success in the league otherwise.
Couple that with Denver being atrocious at the QB spot since Manning left, it’s no wonder they were willing to break the bank to make this work.
As a seattleite, I can say I saw this coming. The last couple years, Wilson’s success was a function of Carroll and great receivers. He often held on to the ball too long, took costly sacks, and played “Hero” ball. While he was not a bad quarterback, he wasn’t a top 5qb either. He was more likely an aging top 10-15 qb (stats support this). He was worth about half of what Denver gave up.
Yeah, his performance has basically been inline with his last few years as a Seahawk, but it was in the context of a garbage team rather than a fringe playoff team.
Do you think it had to do the fact that the man only took one shit a week?
Seconded 👆
Most Hawks fans saw it coming, then you add on his corky way of going about things and he is a tough pill to swallow
im sure he is crying and wiping away his tears with hundos
As much as he did for the Seahawks during their Super Bowl runs, in the years since his quickness has left him. As many Seahawks fans will tell you, it was nice while it lasted but once he couldn't Tarkenton as consistently to buy time, it was all downhill. It didn't help that Seattle's OLine has not been good for most of his years there either, forcing him to run for his life more than perhaps he should have.
Good luck RW3!
Has a giant trade like that ever ended up benefiting the team that gave up everything? I honestly cant think of one that did.
Rams giving up tons of picks plus Goff to get Stafford. Won them a SB in year 1.
Herschel Walker trade was nuts
Regarding "should have won two", I'm not going to argue for or against that statement, but I'm going to make an observation: If we watch the last moments of the game, we remember Malcom Butler's interception and the obvious question of why didn't they run it in with Lynch. But the long pass play that got them inside the 5 was pretty flukey too. With 1:15 to play, a pass from Wilson to Kearse takes them from the 38 to the 5, is tipped by Butler, tipped by Kearse, bounced off Kearse's knee, he tips it again and then he finally secures it while lying on his back. It's not as extreme as the helmet catch that cost Brady another Super Bowl, but it's a play that, if it had it cost him this one, people would have pointed to as an example of pretty bad luck. If you take away both (arguably) flukey plays, who wins? We'll never know.
I'd hate to be a QB coming in or starting my career in Denver.
From the ownership group all the way down to the 35 year season ticket holder in section 525, row 30, seats 19 and 20 - the expectations year 1 are for you to be the next Elway or Manning.
The Walmart owners think throwing money at anything will fix things.
Yikes.
The last thing JJ wants is to be on a team that is financially hamstrung with that much dead money. They won't be able to pay for skill players around the QB nor the OLine needed to protect the position.
Realistically, there are very few situations where a rookie QB can land with a chance to start AND a chance to contend right away. For every QB like Mahomes, Jackson, or Purdy who experiences almost instant success due to the right system, there are far more who land on a team that either needs to build along with them, or where they won't get a chance to play right away (in which case the current state of the team isn't relevant).
Denver will be out from under Wilson's dead money in two years, and they have all their own picks going forward. The bigger question is whether Denver's front office is capable of building a good team, but the Wilson trade shouldn't be a huge consideration for an incoming rookie QB.
I live in Denver, so selfishly, I would love to have JJ here.
The expectation for Manning was that he would win instantly (he did). After Manning there was a string of poor QB play (Siemien, Lynch, Osweiler, Keenan, Flacco, Lock, Allen, Driskel, Rypien, Bridgewater). The defense was good through this time, so there was a perception that Denver was only a QB away from being good. They tried to get Aaron Rodgers, but that didn't happen, so they got Wilson. The old regime traded away the farm to get him and then hired Nathaniel Hackett. Bad upon bad.
The expectation for JJ would be more in line with a young John Elway. The early Elway teams were not great. Jarrett Stidham could be JJ's Steve DeBerg. They rose to the top of the AFC and then the NFL. There are no illusions that the Broncos are only a QB away from being a contender at this point.
The Walmart ownership thing has worked out for the Nuggets and Avs.
Just curious, are you the season ticket holder? It's been a rough few years since 2015.
As long as it's not the Cowboys or an NFC North competitor, I'd be happy anywhere he goes.
Backup for Goff? I’m sure he’d come cheap.
I like that idea. Please, get on that.
At this point, Holmes could bring in a member a senior bowling league to be backup QB and I'd say, "Well, the dude has shown he clearly knows what he's doing."
dude has a 173 average in his thursday night league. you don't question that kind of performance!
Saw some meme comparing Geoff’s stats to Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and some other white dude and his stats are much better. I don’t want Goff looking over his shoulder but if Wilson were willing to be a back up….
He's not a good scheme fit, and he's a horrible culture fit.
But Team 3-1-3 just works too well! Ford Country.... Let's Drive.
He's a halfway crook. Keep his Clarence from Cranbrook ass away from the Lions.
Send Russell to Atlanta and get Ciara back home to the ATL shawty.
Cranbrook. You mean that private school?
Will JJ be available at 12?
Not according to the latest, post-combine mock draft from CBS.
I sure hope they don’t trade up for JJ. Even though it probably won’t happen I’ve been hoping that JJ falls to the Rams at 19. He needs to sit for one to two years and learn behind a quarterback like Stafford. JJ has a lot of work to do on the outside route and the deep ball. The Broncos would probably have him start from day 1 which would be a disaster for his career in my opinion.
as i've thought about this a little, i am firmly convinced that unless there is some serious, underlying and unknown injury for JJ, i think he is a franchise QB and worthy of being taken in the top 3 or 5 draft slots. was told JJ did great on the drills, excepting that he didn't run the 40. best QB time in the 3-cone drill in the last 5 years, etc.
Yeah, I'm sure his interviews only enhanced his draft stock.
Yes, definitely worth it in terms of talent, but for his sake, I hope he drops a little into a more stable situation ala Aaron Rodgers, minus going insane.
I think the best situation any QB has been drafted into in the past generation is Pat Mahomes. He landed on a team with an excellent coach and an experienced veteran QB who was good, but not great. He didn't play until the final game of his rookie year and took over as the unquestioned starter in his second year in a great offensive scheme with good weapons.
I'm onboard with this. In fact, back in November and December I said he could be the first QB off the board, and probably the best of this class long term, and Sal Quattro (among others) shat all over me for that opinion. Well, well, well... Look where we are now...
Well, I would happily shit all over Sal Quattro to even things up.
It would ultimately be best for JJ to not go in the top 10. Get with a decent team. Sit for a year or two. Don’t get broken.
Atlanta wouldn't be a bad spot. Otherwise, I agree.
For the sake of JJ, I really hope he doesn't get drafted by the Broncos.
Denver is a mess. From top on down.
Harbaugh dodged a bullet when Denver hired Sean Payton. They will be saddled with $85 million dead money over the next two years with nothing to show for it. Add the two first draft picks and two second round draft picks Denver traded to get Wilson and they are screwed for years to come.
And Peyton is a jack ass. And he made Wilson his scapegoat.
Seconded. Payton oversaw a bounty program in which members of a union were monetarily incentivized to intentionally injure other members. Which, considering he was a scab during the 1987 Strike, is 0% surprising.
Fuck that dude.
He shouldn't even be allowed in football because of that. But, of course, money trumps everything, including the NFL's 'commitment' to player safety.
Truly, though, only the B1G is committed to player safety.
And Disney made a movie about the story . . . starring Kevin James as Sean Payton!!
If Marshawn Lynch thinks you are one unlikeable dude…I believe him. in an interview, Marshawn claims that Russell would not give his Cell Phone number out to his teammates, and that they had to go through his agent to try and contact him.
when did dude become a jerk? he was a legend in Wisc for his one year as a badger
a quarter billion dollars can do that to a guy,....
What's the saying? Money doesn't change who you are it just makes you a lot more of what you already were.
^ this is 100 % correct ^
And Ciara
It all goes back to this.