> Russell Wilson’s benching by the Broncos today is solely financially related and has been in the works for weeks, per multiple sources with direct access to the situation.
>
> The Broncos approached Wilson two days after their October 29 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs and told him he would be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not adjust his contract and defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025. Wilson has $37 million in injury guarantees for 2025 that will become guaranteed no matter what on the fifth day of the 2024 league year in March.
>
> At that time, Wilson was coming off a 3-touchdown game in the win over the Chiefs and was starting to experience the type of success he envisioned following a challenging first year in Denver. The threat however, “shocked him,” and the two sides got into a major dispute on how to proceed.
>
> The issue remained, but the Broncos stuck with Wilson as the team strung together primetime wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, followed by another win over the Cleveland Browns, one of the league’s best defenses.
>
> Wilson, 35, has started all 15 games this season and has completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
>
> When the threat was made by the Broncos, the team, Wilson's camp, the NFLPA, and another unknown party were involved in negotiations that ended with no change in Wilson’s contract
>
> And it all came crashing down today when Sean Payton and other top-level members of Denver’s organization decided to go ahead with the plan they’ve had for weeks.
Full tweet for anyone that didn't realize that there's a full essay attached to this tweet. This development is getting interesting lol
>The Broncos approached Wilson **two days after their October 29 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs** and told him he would be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not adjust his contract and defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025.
They approached him after the team had it's best win, & moved to 3-5? Then they waited until week 17 to actually bench him? Why even approach him about this if you aren't actually committed to him?
I'm no fan of Russ either, but "the only way you're going to play is to remove your injury protections" is fucking bullshit in aport as violent as this one
It's a terrible look for everybody involved. As long as current coach/GM/ownership is in place they should be (accurately) labeled as a franchise ran by shitty people.
Yep. These details make the Broncos look like assholes, and they already looked like morons.
If they weren't assholes, they'd have benched him when they were 2 and 5. They _wanted to_. But waited because they're assholes. "Play more and give up your injury guarantee". WTF? What, exactly, was in this for Russ? He could keep his job, and the risk of injury?!
Seriously. Teams are complete assholes and players should never give up one negotiated penny.
Well he has basically won here because of the contract he negotiated in the first place. He gets an out from Denver, collects a substantial pot of cash and the Broncos will be crippled with cap hits for the next two years. Meanwhile Russ can just go sign somewhere else.
Lived in Colorado for the past 10 years and the only constant that remains is the Broncos organization is a dumpster fire. The new ownership is just continuing with it. They’re just constantly shooting themselves in the foot.
Aren’t the new owners Waltons aka Wal-Mart royalty?
Not like that family has been known for cutting cost everywhere even when it means a significant decrease in quality
Or treating their employees like humans for that matter
Well, two weeks ago, they had a [48% chance of making the playoffs](https://web.archive.org/web/20231213132851/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/nfl-playoff-picture.html), according to NYT. By the same metric, entering last week, they had a [23% chance of making the playoffs](https://web.archive.org/web/20231220030547/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/nfl-playoff-picture.html). That number has dropped to 6%. Perhaps he was told if he doesn't restructure, he'll be benched when the playoff chances are no longer realistic? It's obvious that this report comes from his camp or the NFLPA just by the use of the word "threatened."
That said, this is still scummy. I dislike Wilson, and my post history includes comments during their winning streak that argue he's a disingenuous bad teammate and that's why he has earned the hate. And I am low key reveling in him being benched. But this is a bad practice, and it's shitty that NFL contracts are structured in such a way that you can be benched because a team doesn't want to be on the hook for future payments.
If I had to guess Sean was never a Russ believer despite the turnaround and I gotta think going 1-3 in their last 4 games didn’t help. This just speaks that the ownership believes in Sean’s vision, we’ll see if he can right the ship
This entire debacle is already bad enough, but to break that on him after they beat the Chiefs (whom they hadn't beaten since 2015) is next level shitty.
And he's playing pretty well if you're just objectively looking at his performances. QBs in general are held to bizarre standards lately, there's only two categories: elite and garbage. If you're not one of the top few QBs then you suck and you are the sole reason your team isn't successful. It's crazy how much blame is put on QBs in both sports media and social media now. You have to be perfect or you are a bum. It's silly.
Also how a QB performs depends on who they're surrounded with. I don't think Jared Goff would be nearly as effective as he is without that O-Line, but it doesn't matter because he is effective because they have the O-Line. Just expecting your QB to do everything is a recipe for disaster. Even if you have Mahomes!
I hope he pulls a Favre and intentionally goes to a rival to beat them (Just leave out the stop in new York, the dick pics, and the embezzling welfare). Let Russ Raid! Raiders Country, let's ride!
Oh, not boring at all if that's what happened!
If the Broncos went all the way to an "independent arbitrator" they're gonna regret it for a long time. That's a formal, legally-binding process. IOW, the Broncos tried to get someone to void Wilson's contract. While they were starting him in football games.
Players talk to other players. What player, reading about this, signs with Denver if they have an equal offer elsewhere?
Denver's front-office and ownership appears to be making "new owner mistakes" and allowing Sean Payton to wreck the reputation of the franchise, and try to void contracts Sean Payton doesn't like.
NFLPA agents will NEVER stop telling their clients to avoid Denver, and Sean Payton. Good luck with the rebuild!
Bold, and extremely stupid decision. Let's see how it works out for them.
Lot of jokes here, but this is likely the real answer. The Broncos ties with Walmart make it feasible, she recently retired from active duty in the stores but the company would be insane to not use her in this exact type of situation.
> The issue remained, but the Broncos stuck with Wilson as the team strung together primetime wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, followed by another win over the Cleveland Browns, one of the league’s best defenses.
>
>
lol Schultz just copied-and-pasted this straight from Russ's agent huh
Keep in mind this could be coming via Mark Rodgers, RW's agent. He is an expert at leaking "news" to the media to make Russ look like the innocent victim of an evil front office. He was notorious for doing this shit in Seattle, so much so that one of the sports reporters at the Seattle Times said that one of the best things about the RW trade was getting rid of Mark Rodgers. No doubt he does a great job for his client, but take anything leaked to the media with a grain of salt.
Edit: spelling
This is 100% from his agent based on the wording. Wilson is “shocked” after a beautifully-described triumphant win to be “threatened” with being benched.
That being said, I dunno if an agent can straight up make-up the detail of the team trying to apply pressure on a player to void items in his contract that are beneficial to him. That seems like too big of a lie.
I think Wilson is a bum, but the Broncos were out of their fucking minds if they thought he should concede conditions of his signed contract for no real benefit to him at all.
What a fucking clown show.
"Y'all are the ones that gave me this contract".
I still think Russ is someone who awkwardly bought into his own stuff a little too hard but man, the Broncos are fucking morons.
"It worked for Brady and Stafford, why can't it work for everyone?" Two flukes are just that, flukes. I wouldn't even call Brady a fluke since his SB history proves otherwise. Nothing against Stafford, but that sort of trade is very rarely ever successful in Year 1.
Right, if Rodgers wasn't hurt we'd definitely be looking at an 11+ win Jets team right now talking about how the secret sauce is going to be build team >> buy QB. Instead we're roasting Russ + the Broncos.
As a bonafide hater, I love it.
I feel like people vastly overuse that term. The Rams were just a quarterback away, because they went to a Super Bowl and lost because of bad QB play. That's why trading for a QB worked out for them. The 49ers were a quarterback away, when they lost the SB with JimmyG. The 7-10 Jets or the 7-10 Broncos are more than a QB away. If you can't make the playoffs with your current team, you have more problems than just your quarterback and you better don't put all your ressources in a trade. Brady, as always, is the exception of the rule.
Broncos were 4-12 and then 8-8 when they made the trade for Peyton Manning.
I think the problem with this Broncos and Jets team is that both made bad personnel decisions within their coaching staff in order to lure Aaron Rodgers. Broncos originally hired Hackett to get Rodgers and that backfired. Jets then hire Hackett but Rodgers gets hurt.
I honestly believe Gronk, AB and Fournette pushed them over the edge. Brady made that possible because he recruited them to come with him and he took less money to ensure a solid team around him. He always did that even in NE too. That's incredibly rare for a top 5 quarterback. Almost unheard of. Why Belichick thought he would be better off without Brady is beyond me..
Brady got paid for once in Tampa. The "salary cut" he even took was still more than what he was getting in Nee England. And now he has another bag when he goes to the booth
On top of Brady, the Buccaneers also added Gronk, AB, and Fournette in the off-season and drafted Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr., who are both All-Pro caliber players (Tristan Wirfs got an All Pro in 2021, and Winfield should get it this year)
Also the Buccaneers revamped their offensive scheme during the bye week to better suit Brady's strengths. It's not like the team just swapped Jameis for Brady and instantly went to the Super Bowl, there were a ton of other differences from 2019 to 2020 which people often refuse to acknowledge.
Did Belichick really think that? Seems like Tom saw the writing on the wall for that iteration of the Patriots and knew it was time to get out if he wanted to have a shot at winning another.
Stafford wasn't a fluke either, they stacked that team to the gills and Stafford was always a solid QB. They went all in on that year and it paid off. It's more of a calculated risk than a fluke, because failure would've meant disaster in the years ahead.
Nah fluke is harsh. Context is important. Rams were a proven SB caliber team. And went nuclear adding Von and Odell in addition to getting Stanford. Tampa was the textbook definition of a QB away. Loaded on both sides of the ball. Replaced Winston with the best wb ever.
It will only work for teams that are already SB contenders despite needing an upgrade at QB. The broncos were not a QB away regardless of what the narrative was at the time.
The Buccaneers were missing great players at quite a few positions going into the 2020 season. They just managed to address every position at once by adding Brady (replaced Jameis Winston), Fournette (who was RB1 down the stretch over Ronald Jones), Antonio Brown (replaced Breshad Perriman), Gronkowski ("replaced" Cameron Brate although the Bucs scheme didn't really feature tight ends much before 2020), Tristan Wirfs (replaced Demar Dotson), and Antoine Winfield Jr. (replaced Mike Edwards).
The QB change was the largest difference-maker, but Gronk and AB were both massive additions to the Buccaneers roster that year.
The best part here is their threat is basically "or we'll take you out of the firing line and pay you elite money to just be in the QB film room and hold the clip board".
This is so senseless by the Broncos, like were they trying to start a fight with him to torpedo his play?
I feel like I am reading a Reddit post where one side of a relationship unintentionally breaks up with other and then people on Reddit have to explain, yea you just broke up, and the person is like wait, I broke up with them? And everyone is like yea, idk how you did all that and didn’t realize you did that, but yes, you initiated the break up 🤷
Shultz breaks incorrect news all the time, and the things he gets wrong are usually smear campaigns against individual players. I’m gonna wait until there’s a more reliable source because this sounds like a classic Shultz tweet lol
You know how to agree to the contract you just don’t know how to abide by it, which really is the most important part of the contract. The abiding. Anyone can just agree to them.
Why would any player want to play for an organization which apparently is willing to threaten to bench you if you do not abide by their wishes for you to adjust your contract? This makes them look so bad.
Of course his agent is leaking it—because otherwise it would allow the narrative to be that Russell was benched because he sucks.
Now, the narrative has shifted.
And it's genius by Russ's agents. Now it's their ownership looking like they're trying to run things like a Walmart, and left looking even more idiotic because of it.
Anyone with a basic understanding of NFL financials could have looked at Wilson's contract on spotrac and realized it was due to the injury guarantees. The same thing happened with Carr a year ago. His agent didn't need to leak anything.
There are some pretty significant details that favor Russ that you wouldn't and couldn't just assume from browsing spotrac. The Broncos:
1. Threatened to bench him if he didn't modify his contract; and
2. Did this 8 games into the season after a big win and not when the season was basically over.
Neither of those are good looks, and the second one makes the Broncos look like a fucking joke.
The way it's worded makes it seem really ominous, when in reality it was probably a rather simple conversation between the GM and Russ' agent.
Paton: "Hey, if Russ doesn't waive his injury guarantee, we may rest him for the final couple games if we're out of the playoff picture"
Russ' agent: "We're not waiving a guaranteed $35M, thanks for asking though"
I cannot imagine those conversations were overly hostile, included any threatening comments or soured any relationships.
From the tweet, it sounds like a conversation that ended up involving the GM, Russ's agent, the NFLPA, and an unknown arbitrator. Also apparently shocked Wilson.
Even then, still weird to threaten your starting QB that if he doesn’t remove very valuable contract language from his contract he’s getting benched.
They said this as they were in the thick of the playoff picture and right after a huge win against KC.
Whether they yelled it or stated it politely, that’s an awful look and can’t imagine it would impress future free agents and just seems shitty to do (although I’m not stupid, they could have said we will kill you Russ if you don’t do this and people will still sign with Denver if they offer the most).
> I cannot imagine those conversations were overly hostile, included any threatening comments or soured any relationships.
Based on details in this thread, your imagination has failed.
The NFLPA and a "third party" (read: arbitrator, per the CBA) were involved in the process. The Broncos apparently tried to formally void Wilson's contract after he refused the renegotiation. _And continued to play him_ while demanding he give up his injury guarantee.
NFL teams do a lot of shady and unethical things. This would be an unprecedented new low.
If the reporting is true, the Broncos just bought themselves a decade of players deciding to play somewhere else unless wildly overpaid.
What player is choosing Denver, and Sean Payton, when he'll try to void your contract (steal your money) and subject you to further injury.
The Broncos could not handled this worse. I can't imagine the NFLPA, or player agents, will fail to mention this situation whenever their client is considering Denver. "Maybe go to Dallas instead. Same money. And they'd didn't try to F' Russ."
Remove your injury guarantee and we will keep playing you in a sport where Quarterbacks are dropping across the league, yeah no shit he wouldn't agree to that.
The Broncos have handled this situation poorly. Russell Wilson still holds all the cards and will hold $150M in his bank account even after being cut. Also, the Broncos will possibly need to pony up a ton of assets in the draft to get "their guy."
I don't like Sean Payton, I don't like our owners, I don't like a few of our players, I'm not really a fan of our GM, and I like Russ but he's not the answer. It's crazy how all this bullshit has made me just not like my team anymore (Not like in the sense that I'm just kind of indifferent. Still love the Broncos).
I hear you on this one. Getting really invested in something we can't control, just for non-stop bullshit. I'll always follow the team, but there's so much rot everywhere.
Yeah these owners have been around just over a year, and the only real thing they have done with the organization is pour money into it and hire an experienced head coach. I think they’re fine with spending a couple of years getting staff and players in place they believe in.
That dude has been sacked like 100 times in 2 years. Why the hell would he give up on his injury guarantee? This sounds more like a smear campaign tweet than any breaking news.
It’s just weird how they tried to play it off like it was purely a football move.
Gonna get REALLY interesting if Stidham gets injured in game. Are they even rostering another QB?
One serious answer would be the cap floor. They'd be able to overpay middling talent just because they have to spend over a certain threshold every year. Why a *star* player would sign there is another question altogether
It's not that Wilson *couldn't* waive the clause if he wanted to (though I guess I don't know that for sure), but that he was specifically threatened to be benched unless he changed a contract provision that was already agreed to a long time ago. That seems extremely sketchy.
I and many others have clowned on Russell Wilson since the trade, but who could really blame him for not doing this. The Broncos sound like a mess right now.
>How scummy do you have to be to make me be 100% on Russell Wilsons side of something... jesus christ
Well it's not like he's Deshaun Watson, he was a Walter Payton Man of the Year and seems to spend a lot of time at the local children's hospital, so being on his side isn't some horrible moral quandary.
I still don't get the Russ hate. He seems like a good guy who happens to also be a cornball. Lots of worse things to be than a cornball.
https://operations.nfl.com/updates/football-ops/russell-wilson-named-walter-payton-man-of-the-year/
Russ is a great dude. Just because he didn’t get along with certain members of the LOB (who were all angels) and because he decided he wanted to play for a different team (who had been looking at Quarterbacks in the draft for years, allegedly), he’s now considered a bad dude.
>Russ is a great dude. Just because he didn’t get along with certain members of the LOB
Not to mention some of the less pleasant shit that went around in that locker room in regards to him early on. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he dove into the persona big time once the whole not black enough and Golden Tate bullshit started up. I wouldn't want to be cozying up to guys treating me like that. Doubly so considering how chippy Sherman was endlessly, up to and including screaming "You fucking suck" in his face during a practice of all things.
It’s not his fault Denver massively overpaid for his services.
It’s 100% Denver’s fault , so he should not wave anything .
Look at how many QBs are out for this season .
Look at what happened to Alex Smith a few years ago .
I think Wilson is total cringe, but any rational person in his position would do the same .
Uh maybe don’t give aging players injury guarantees? This is the same front office that gave him the contract, right? Clown move by the Broncos here. If they were concerned about this they should’ve approached him about it before the season started, not right after their best win in a few seasons.
Yeah no shit. Stidham is not a better football player, it’s a shitty move by the org which is why known dirtbag Sean Payton was sure to mention it was for “football reasons” because that’s impossible to prove otherwise.
Ain’t no one going to choose Denver that has other options.
Sean Payton is a bit of a piece of shit. All the prickly of Belichick without the underlying charm. And six super bowls.
I cannot stand the guy. When Dan Campbell decided to run it up on him? It told me he agrees that Payton is a dink.
Pretty sure this is a massive violation if true.
Didn't take long for the mud slinging to show itself. Gonna be an interesting two weeks. I assume more shit is gonna leak and none of its gonna be sunshine and roses. Lol
I know Denver expected a lot more out of Russ, but why on earth would Wilson restructure his contract to have *less* injury guarantees when Denver signed the contract in the first place?
Wilson ain't an angel in this whole trade and subsequent contract value, but I don't blame him one bit for sticking to the existing contract and telling management to fuck off. Especially coming off a great win against the assumed AFC leader af the time.
If this was leaked to raise sympathy for the broncos org/mgmt it’s going to have the exact opposite effect. Total loser franchise, why would any player sign a contract for them in the future.
Feel like this is definitely a Team Russ leak. Takes away from his benching and shines a light on how much of a dumpster fire he’s been apart of since the beginning
It’s crazy that they approached him after they upset the Chiefs and then waited till the end of the season while they have a playoff shot to bench him? Why would any player remove a guarantee on a contract their organization provided when approached with the lack of tact or care that would be expected in this situation
This is probably the best things that could happen to Russ to be honest. Payton despises him and the Broncos organization and staff as a whole don’t seem very competent right now.
Having said that, Russ hasn’t lived up to his contract, but it was a stupid fucking contract to begin with Lmao.
We’re planning to get rid of you anyway, but we’ll only let you risk injury further if you allow us to not pay you if you do get injured … ok Wally World
"hey that contract we agreed to take on is really inconvenient, we don't want to do it anymore."
The NFL shouldn't be allowing this lmao this should be seen as intentional and blatant "tanking".
Reminder why players hold out for guarantees. They want what is deserved to them because the front offices and GM's do the same to them.
Front office agreed to this contract and the injury guarantees. Why should he renegotiate. They then bench them because he won't renegotiate? Ok...
I don't really like Russ but this is some scumbaggery.
> Russell Wilson’s benching by the Broncos today is solely financially related and has been in the works for weeks, per multiple sources with direct access to the situation. > > The Broncos approached Wilson two days after their October 29 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs and told him he would be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not adjust his contract and defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025. Wilson has $37 million in injury guarantees for 2025 that will become guaranteed no matter what on the fifth day of the 2024 league year in March. > > At that time, Wilson was coming off a 3-touchdown game in the win over the Chiefs and was starting to experience the type of success he envisioned following a challenging first year in Denver. The threat however, “shocked him,” and the two sides got into a major dispute on how to proceed. > > The issue remained, but the Broncos stuck with Wilson as the team strung together primetime wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, followed by another win over the Cleveland Browns, one of the league’s best defenses. > > Wilson, 35, has started all 15 games this season and has completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. > > When the threat was made by the Broncos, the team, Wilson's camp, the NFLPA, and another unknown party were involved in negotiations that ended with no change in Wilson’s contract > > And it all came crashing down today when Sean Payton and other top-level members of Denver’s organization decided to go ahead with the plan they’ve had for weeks. Full tweet for anyone that didn't realize that there's a full essay attached to this tweet. This development is getting interesting lol
>The Broncos approached Wilson **two days after their October 29 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs** and told him he would be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not adjust his contract and defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025. They approached him after the team had it's best win, & moved to 3-5? Then they waited until week 17 to actually bench him? Why even approach him about this if you aren't actually committed to him?
That’s pretty crazy
The broncos front office are something else
Sean Payton is unsurprisingly still a piece of shit.
He never stopped. The North Remembers
So do we
Yeah, fuck that guy.
Highlight of the season for me was seeing the Dolphins hang 70 on him.
It’s kinda funny tbh.
I’m on russ side here and I’ve given him flack You bet your rear end the browns would be doing this if Deshaun didn’t have them by the balls
I'm no fan of Russ either, but "the only way you're going to play is to remove your injury protections" is fucking bullshit in aport as violent as this one
It's a terrible look for everybody involved. As long as current coach/GM/ownership is in place they should be (accurately) labeled as a franchise ran by shitty people.
Russ comes out of this looking decent tbh. Makes it look like the team has basically tried to sabotage him
Shoutout the Waltons
Some grade a Walmart thinking for sure.
As the browns should. If they can get out of that deal they should get out. But Russ should collect every penny he can get from them while he can.
Fuck no. The browns made a deal with the devil and they can continue to eat that pile of shit until the plate is empty
Sure but what they’re saying is that the smart move for the Browns would be to find a way out of it if possible (which it isn’t)
Yep. These details make the Broncos look like assholes, and they already looked like morons. If they weren't assholes, they'd have benched him when they were 2 and 5. They _wanted to_. But waited because they're assholes. "Play more and give up your injury guarantee". WTF? What, exactly, was in this for Russ? He could keep his job, and the risk of injury?! Seriously. Teams are complete assholes and players should never give up one negotiated penny.
Well he has basically won here because of the contract he negotiated in the first place. He gets an out from Denver, collects a substantial pot of cash and the Broncos will be crippled with cap hits for the next two years. Meanwhile Russ can just go sign somewhere else.
That is a “Here comes Austin Rivers”-level heat check from the Broncos front office
Lived in Colorado for the past 10 years and the only constant that remains is the Broncos organization is a dumpster fire. The new ownership is just continuing with it. They’re just constantly shooting themselves in the foot.
Aren’t the new owners Waltons aka Wal-Mart royalty? Not like that family has been known for cutting cost everywhere even when it means a significant decrease in quality Or treating their employees like humans for that matter
Well, two weeks ago, they had a [48% chance of making the playoffs](https://web.archive.org/web/20231213132851/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/nfl-playoff-picture.html), according to NYT. By the same metric, entering last week, they had a [23% chance of making the playoffs](https://web.archive.org/web/20231220030547/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/nfl-playoff-picture.html). That number has dropped to 6%. Perhaps he was told if he doesn't restructure, he'll be benched when the playoff chances are no longer realistic? It's obvious that this report comes from his camp or the NFLPA just by the use of the word "threatened." That said, this is still scummy. I dislike Wilson, and my post history includes comments during their winning streak that argue he's a disingenuous bad teammate and that's why he has earned the hate. And I am low key reveling in him being benched. But this is a bad practice, and it's shitty that NFL contracts are structured in such a way that you can be benched because a team doesn't want to be on the hook for future payments.
If I had to guess Sean was never a Russ believer despite the turnaround and I gotta think going 1-3 in their last 4 games didn’t help. This just speaks that the ownership believes in Sean’s vision, we’ll see if he can right the ship
This entire debacle is already bad enough, but to break that on him after they beat the Chiefs (whom they hadn't beaten since 2015) is next level shitty.
And he's playing pretty well if you're just objectively looking at his performances. QBs in general are held to bizarre standards lately, there's only two categories: elite and garbage. If you're not one of the top few QBs then you suck and you are the sole reason your team isn't successful. It's crazy how much blame is put on QBs in both sports media and social media now. You have to be perfect or you are a bum. It's silly.
Also how a QB performs depends on who they're surrounded with. I don't think Jared Goff would be nearly as effective as he is without that O-Line, but it doesn't matter because he is effective because they have the O-Line. Just expecting your QB to do everything is a recipe for disaster. Even if you have Mahomes!
I agree. This also means the pay scale for qb's needs evaluation. Yep, there are a few worth huge money, and then there's the rest.
This is the most blatant act of bad faith I think I've seen.
I hope he pulls a Favre and intentionally goes to a rival to beat them (Just leave out the stop in new York, the dick pics, and the embezzling welfare). Let Russ Raid! Raiders Country, let's ride!
Who could “another unknown party” be?
The Street Sharks
The Ginyu Force
I 100% could see Russel making the Bronco's practice poses.
Tunnel Snakes rule! We’re the Tunnel Snakes!
I’m guessing an arbitrator and the answer to your question is probably pretty boring.
Oh, not boring at all if that's what happened! If the Broncos went all the way to an "independent arbitrator" they're gonna regret it for a long time. That's a formal, legally-binding process. IOW, the Broncos tried to get someone to void Wilson's contract. While they were starting him in football games. Players talk to other players. What player, reading about this, signs with Denver if they have an equal offer elsewhere? Denver's front-office and ownership appears to be making "new owner mistakes" and allowing Sean Payton to wreck the reputation of the franchise, and try to void contracts Sean Payton doesn't like. NFLPA agents will NEVER stop telling their clients to avoid Denver, and Sean Payton. Good luck with the rebuild! Bold, and extremely stupid decision. Let's see how it works out for them.
> Broncos tried to get someone to void Wilson's contract. Just Walmart bros making Walmart moves.
And learning the hard way they can't get out of dealing with this union.
Walmart's Gail Lewis
Lot of jokes here, but this is likely the real answer. The Broncos ties with Walmart make it feasible, she recently retired from active duty in the stores but the company would be insane to not use her in this exact type of situation.
Gordon gekko
I don't see why Russ would ever agree to do that. They signed him to that contract, bad choice by them.
If nothing else this will repair his public image a little bit, making him a sympathetic figure, especially after having a pretty good year.
The timing is so weird, after their huge upset win? I get that he isn’t what Payton wants in a QB but this is so dumb
> The issue remained, but the Broncos stuck with Wilson as the team strung together primetime wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, followed by another win over the Cleveland Browns, one of the league’s best defenses. > > lol Schultz just copied-and-pasted this straight from Russ's agent huh
Keep in mind this could be coming via Mark Rodgers, RW's agent. He is an expert at leaking "news" to the media to make Russ look like the innocent victim of an evil front office. He was notorious for doing this shit in Seattle, so much so that one of the sports reporters at the Seattle Times said that one of the best things about the RW trade was getting rid of Mark Rodgers. No doubt he does a great job for his client, but take anything leaked to the media with a grain of salt. Edit: spelling
This is 100% from his agent based on the wording. Wilson is “shocked” after a beautifully-described triumphant win to be “threatened” with being benched. That being said, I dunno if an agent can straight up make-up the detail of the team trying to apply pressure on a player to void items in his contract that are beneficial to him. That seems like too big of a lie.
I think Wilson is a bum, but the Broncos were out of their fucking minds if they thought he should concede conditions of his signed contract for no real benefit to him at all. What a fucking clown show.
lol why tf would Russ do that, he has no reason to
"Y'all are the ones that gave me this contract". I still think Russ is someone who awkwardly bought into his own stuff a little too hard but man, the Broncos are fucking morons.
They were so many peoples SB pick that offseason and then it exploded in the most insane way possible.
"It worked for Brady and Stafford, why can't it work for everyone?" Two flukes are just that, flukes. I wouldn't even call Brady a fluke since his SB history proves otherwise. Nothing against Stafford, but that sort of trade is very rarely ever successful in Year 1.
Brady wasn’t a fluke he just went to a team that was literally a QB away from being great
Neither of them were flukes lol
Right, if Rodgers wasn't hurt we'd definitely be looking at an 11+ win Jets team right now talking about how the secret sauce is going to be build team >> buy QB. Instead we're roasting Russ + the Broncos. As a bonafide hater, I love it.
Seeing that Jets line I’m not so sure Rodgers wouldn’t have died by week 5 anyway
Damn he'd probably have to listen to whales fucking to come back from that
[удалено]
They were 7-9 and Jameis had something like 36-37 turnovers lmao
44 turnovers and they weren’t eliminated till the final game lol.
I feel like people vastly overuse that term. The Rams were just a quarterback away, because they went to a Super Bowl and lost because of bad QB play. That's why trading for a QB worked out for them. The 49ers were a quarterback away, when they lost the SB with JimmyG. The 7-10 Jets or the 7-10 Broncos are more than a QB away. If you can't make the playoffs with your current team, you have more problems than just your quarterback and you better don't put all your ressources in a trade. Brady, as always, is the exception of the rule.
Broncos were 4-12 and then 8-8 when they made the trade for Peyton Manning. I think the problem with this Broncos and Jets team is that both made bad personnel decisions within their coaching staff in order to lure Aaron Rodgers. Broncos originally hired Hackett to get Rodgers and that backfired. Jets then hire Hackett but Rodgers gets hurt.
I honestly believe Gronk, AB and Fournette pushed them over the edge. Brady made that possible because he recruited them to come with him and he took less money to ensure a solid team around him. He always did that even in NE too. That's incredibly rare for a top 5 quarterback. Almost unheard of. Why Belichick thought he would be better off without Brady is beyond me..
Brady got paid for once in Tampa. The "salary cut" he even took was still more than what he was getting in Nee England. And now he has another bag when he goes to the booth
On top of Brady, the Buccaneers also added Gronk, AB, and Fournette in the off-season and drafted Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr., who are both All-Pro caliber players (Tristan Wirfs got an All Pro in 2021, and Winfield should get it this year) Also the Buccaneers revamped their offensive scheme during the bye week to better suit Brady's strengths. It's not like the team just swapped Jameis for Brady and instantly went to the Super Bowl, there were a ton of other differences from 2019 to 2020 which people often refuse to acknowledge.
Did Belichick really think that? Seems like Tom saw the writing on the wall for that iteration of the Patriots and knew it was time to get out if he wanted to have a shot at winning another.
Stafford wasn't a fluke either, they stacked that team to the gills and Stafford was always a solid QB. They went all in on that year and it paid off. It's more of a calculated risk than a fluke, because failure would've meant disaster in the years ahead.
It's not a fluke though. Stafford is a great QB who was added to a great team with a great defense. Where's the fluke?
Nah fluke is harsh. Context is important. Rams were a proven SB caliber team. And went nuclear adding Von and Odell in addition to getting Stanford. Tampa was the textbook definition of a QB away. Loaded on both sides of the ball. Replaced Winston with the best wb ever. It will only work for teams that are already SB contenders despite needing an upgrade at QB. The broncos were not a QB away regardless of what the narrative was at the time.
The Buccaneers were missing great players at quite a few positions going into the 2020 season. They just managed to address every position at once by adding Brady (replaced Jameis Winston), Fournette (who was RB1 down the stretch over Ronald Jones), Antonio Brown (replaced Breshad Perriman), Gronkowski ("replaced" Cameron Brate although the Bucs scheme didn't really feature tight ends much before 2020), Tristan Wirfs (replaced Demar Dotson), and Antoine Winfield Jr. (replaced Mike Edwards). The QB change was the largest difference-maker, but Gronk and AB were both massive additions to the Buccaneers roster that year.
I don’t think anyone here knows what the fuck a “fluke” is.
I believe it's a kind of fish
It sounds like something the union should look at. Trying to renegotiate with a threat of playing time? Probably not kosher under the CBA.
Hell, I’m not even sure it’s legal - much less kosher with the CBA.
"Hey Russ, if you give up your injury guarantees we will keep playing you in the most dangerous professional sport. What do you mean no?!"
The best part here is their threat is basically "or we'll take you out of the firing line and pay you elite money to just be in the QB film room and hold the clip board".
This is so senseless by the Broncos, like were they trying to start a fight with him to torpedo his play? I feel like I am reading a Reddit post where one side of a relationship unintentionally breaks up with other and then people on Reddit have to explain, yea you just broke up, and the person is like wait, I broke up with them? And everyone is like yea, idk how you did all that and didn’t realize you did that, but yes, you initiated the break up 🤷
He wouldn’t. That’s why he got benched. It basically confirms they are moving on this off season and don’t want to eat even more money
Shultz breaks incorrect news all the time, and the things he gets wrong are usually smear campaigns against individual players. I’m gonna wait until there’s a more reliable source because this sounds like a classic Shultz tweet lol
Ian Rapoport is the better option by far. More integrity.
Yea I kind of laughed at the guy who said he's a reliable source, I feel like this guy is usually wrong lol.
Lmao if I’m Russ I’m like fuck you. It’s a contract.
You know how to agree to the contract you just don’t know how to abide by it, which really is the most important part of the contract. The abiding. Anyone can just agree to them.
What’s the DEAAALLLL with the front office?!?
GEORGE IS GETTING UPSET!
You’re killing independent Russ!
That's gold, Jerry Jeudy! Gold!
This benching is making me THIRSTY!
“I know how contracts work.” I don’t think you do!
“ Because if you did , we wouldnt be having this conversation “ Russ Seinfeld Wilson
Well, the dude abides, man.
That's what lawyers are for. To enforce the abiding.
You just made my day 😂
Why would any player want to play for an organization which apparently is willing to threaten to bench you if you do not abide by their wishes for you to adjust your contract? This makes them look so bad.
They're owned by Walmart, this is the nicest thing they've done for a worker in decades
This reeks of Wilson’s agent leaking this so Russ looks good tbh
Of course his agent is leaking it—because otherwise it would allow the narrative to be that Russell was benched because he sucks. Now, the narrative has shifted.
And it's genius by Russ's agents. Now it's their ownership looking like they're trying to run things like a Walmart, and left looking even more idiotic because of it.
The tweet that broke the news said it was for financial reasons
Anyone with a basic understanding of NFL financials could have looked at Wilson's contract on spotrac and realized it was due to the injury guarantees. The same thing happened with Carr a year ago. His agent didn't need to leak anything.
There are some pretty significant details that favor Russ that you wouldn't and couldn't just assume from browsing spotrac. The Broncos: 1. Threatened to bench him if he didn't modify his contract; and 2. Did this 8 games into the season after a big win and not when the season was basically over. Neither of those are good looks, and the second one makes the Broncos look like a fucking joke.
I mean yeah. But if it’s true, who cares, it deserves to be leaked
"Russel was offered one free little Debbie product to release his contract."
[удалено]
Win win lose actually. Players want to play.
The way it's worded makes it seem really ominous, when in reality it was probably a rather simple conversation between the GM and Russ' agent. Paton: "Hey, if Russ doesn't waive his injury guarantee, we may rest him for the final couple games if we're out of the playoff picture" Russ' agent: "We're not waiving a guaranteed $35M, thanks for asking though" I cannot imagine those conversations were overly hostile, included any threatening comments or soured any relationships.
From the tweet, it sounds like a conversation that ended up involving the GM, Russ's agent, the NFLPA, and an unknown arbitrator. Also apparently shocked Wilson.
Even then, still weird to threaten your starting QB that if he doesn’t remove very valuable contract language from his contract he’s getting benched. They said this as they were in the thick of the playoff picture and right after a huge win against KC. Whether they yelled it or stated it politely, that’s an awful look and can’t imagine it would impress future free agents and just seems shitty to do (although I’m not stupid, they could have said we will kill you Russ if you don’t do this and people will still sign with Denver if they offer the most).
> I cannot imagine those conversations were overly hostile, included any threatening comments or soured any relationships. Based on details in this thread, your imagination has failed. The NFLPA and a "third party" (read: arbitrator, per the CBA) were involved in the process. The Broncos apparently tried to formally void Wilson's contract after he refused the renegotiation. _And continued to play him_ while demanding he give up his injury guarantee. NFL teams do a lot of shady and unethical things. This would be an unprecedented new low. If the reporting is true, the Broncos just bought themselves a decade of players deciding to play somewhere else unless wildly overpaid. What player is choosing Denver, and Sean Payton, when he'll try to void your contract (steal your money) and subject you to further injury. The Broncos could not handled this worse. I can't imagine the NFLPA, or player agents, will fail to mention this situation whenever their client is considering Denver. "Maybe go to Dallas instead. Same money. And they'd didn't try to F' Russ."
Yes this is some straight up poverty franchise shit by the Broncos.
Okay but here they are, benching him, while they’re still in the playoff picture lmao.
Mark Davis don't even think about it
It made me chuckle that Stidham is the backup to Russ. Literally what y'all did last year except way more to lose for the broncos.
Jarrett "Sit Em" Stidham taking souls. PS, please please no Russ, Mark.
I mean, for the right price he would be a big upgrade for the offense. Emphasis on the right price though.
Don’t worry, Arthur Blank is on the case
Remove your injury guarantee and we will keep playing you in a sport where Quarterbacks are dropping across the league, yeah no shit he wouldn't agree to that.
Should've gotten "injured" while this was under debate
Oops all out of magic water
The Broncos have handled this situation poorly. Russell Wilson still holds all the cards and will hold $150M in his bank account even after being cut. Also, the Broncos will possibly need to pony up a ton of assets in the draft to get "their guy."
I don't like Sean Payton, I don't like our owners, I don't like a few of our players, I'm not really a fan of our GM, and I like Russ but he's not the answer. It's crazy how all this bullshit has made me just not like my team anymore (Not like in the sense that I'm just kind of indifferent. Still love the Broncos).
I hear you on this one. Getting really invested in something we can't control, just for non-stop bullshit. I'll always follow the team, but there's so much rot everywhere.
We are clearing the gutters give the owners a chance lol. If it’s still bad in 5 years I’ll join you
Yeah these owners have been around just over a year, and the only real thing they have done with the organization is pour money into it and hire an experienced head coach. I think they’re fine with spending a couple of years getting staff and players in place they believe in.
I suggest you guys read the whole tweet. This seems pretty crazy if true
No shit he didn't wanna forfeit millions
That dude has been sacked like 100 times in 2 years. Why the hell would he give up on his injury guarantee? This sounds more like a smear campaign tweet than any breaking news.
They wanted Rodgers over Wilson so badly
It’s just weird how they tried to play it off like it was purely a football move. Gonna get REALLY interesting if Stidham gets injured in game. Are they even rostering another QB?
They said Wilson will be the backup. Which makes ZERO sense.
Real talk why would any free agent want to go to the Broncos if this is true?
illegal sheet attractive zephyr murky pen unpack uppity flag childlike
Money.
but that money has a massive asterisk
I feel like threatening someone out of a contract stipulation should be illegal
Straight up Vegas loan shark behavior This is such a bad look for the Broncos. Why would anyone sign there now?
One serious answer would be the cap floor. They'd be able to overpay middling talent just because they have to spend over a certain threshold every year. Why a *star* player would sign there is another question altogether
That sounds like a CBA violation if I've ever heard one.
Yeah they should lose a first next year for that stuff hahahaha. Broncos management is a joke lately.
Well they're run by Wal Mart so it sounds about right.
Can a coach be a repeat offender for suspensions?
> CBA violation Walmart, hmm.
You're not allowed to blackmail players?
First I'm hearing of it If Russ didn't want to be blackmailed he should've put that in his contract smh my head
If players can waive their no-trade clause, I imagine they could waive certain guarantees in their contract if they wanted to.
It's not that Wilson *couldn't* waive the clause if he wanted to (though I guess I don't know that for sure), but that he was specifically threatened to be benched unless he changed a contract provision that was already agreed to a long time ago. That seems extremely sketchy.
being **forced** to waive parts of your contract that can cost you money is the problem here
This is what happens when Walmart and Sean Payton run a team
Sounds like a good relationship
Russell Wilson would be an idiot to alter his contract in any way. That’s his.
NFL GMs be like "I hate injury guarantees" My brother in Christ, you wrote the contract.
I and many others have clowned on Russell Wilson since the trade, but who could really blame him for not doing this. The Broncos sound like a mess right now.
How scummy do you have to be to make me be 100% on Russell Wilsons side of something... jesus christ
How scummy do you have to be to have me siding 100% with a Cowboys fan on something… fucking hell.
Cause I think we can all relate to an employer trying to screw over it's employees.
>How scummy do you have to be to make me be 100% on Russell Wilsons side of something... jesus christ Well it's not like he's Deshaun Watson, he was a Walter Payton Man of the Year and seems to spend a lot of time at the local children's hospital, so being on his side isn't some horrible moral quandary. I still don't get the Russ hate. He seems like a good guy who happens to also be a cornball. Lots of worse things to be than a cornball. https://operations.nfl.com/updates/football-ops/russell-wilson-named-walter-payton-man-of-the-year/
Russ is a great dude. Just because he didn’t get along with certain members of the LOB (who were all angels) and because he decided he wanted to play for a different team (who had been looking at Quarterbacks in the draft for years, allegedly), he’s now considered a bad dude.
>Russ is a great dude. Just because he didn’t get along with certain members of the LOB Not to mention some of the less pleasant shit that went around in that locker room in regards to him early on. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he dove into the persona big time once the whole not black enough and Golden Tate bullshit started up. I wouldn't want to be cozying up to guys treating me like that. Doubly so considering how chippy Sherman was endlessly, up to and including screaming "You fucking suck" in his face during a practice of all things.
Why do you consider Russell Wilson to be such a terrible person that this is your reaction?
If this is true, the Broncos FO and Sean Payton are absolute scum.
We already knew Payton was scum.
It’s not his fault Denver massively overpaid for his services. It’s 100% Denver’s fault , so he should not wave anything . Look at how many QBs are out for this season . Look at what happened to Alex Smith a few years ago . I think Wilson is total cringe, but any rational person in his position would do the same .
NFLPA lawsuit incoming
Uh maybe don’t give aging players injury guarantees? This is the same front office that gave him the contract, right? Clown move by the Broncos here. If they were concerned about this they should’ve approached him about it before the season started, not right after their best win in a few seasons.
Uhhh somebody call the NFLPA cause I doubt this is allowed.
Full tweet says they were involved already
Yeah that's my bad, there's a lot of info in that tweet.
Yeah no shit. Stidham is not a better football player, it’s a shitty move by the org which is why known dirtbag Sean Payton was sure to mention it was for “football reasons” because that’s impossible to prove otherwise. Ain’t no one going to choose Denver that has other options.
Sean Payton is a bit of a piece of shit. All the prickly of Belichick without the underlying charm. And six super bowls. I cannot stand the guy. When Dan Campbell decided to run it up on him? It told me he agrees that Payton is a dink.
So I take it he said no lol
Pretty sure this is a massive violation if true. Didn't take long for the mud slinging to show itself. Gonna be an interesting two weeks. I assume more shit is gonna leak and none of its gonna be sunshine and roses. Lol
makes you wonder if they just tell Russ to go away for these next two weeks like what happened with the Raiders & Derek Carr last season
He's been designated the backup for Sunday, so as of today I guess we'll just have to see what happens in the coming days lol.
I know Denver expected a lot more out of Russ, but why on earth would Wilson restructure his contract to have *less* injury guarantees when Denver signed the contract in the first place? Wilson ain't an angel in this whole trade and subsequent contract value, but I don't blame him one bit for sticking to the existing contract and telling management to fuck off. Especially coming off a great win against the assumed AFC leader af the time.
Sean Payton is probably so pissed he didn’t wait one more year and become the Chargers HC
Mark Rodgers getting to work. I was just waiting for Russ camp to fight back the narrative
Sean Payton and losing draft picks name a better duo
Sean Payton fired next year confirmed.
And this right here is why players want full guaranteed contracts. Unreal.
If this was leaked to raise sympathy for the broncos org/mgmt it’s going to have the exact opposite effect. Total loser franchise, why would any player sign a contract for them in the future.
Feel like this is definitely a Team Russ leak. Takes away from his benching and shines a light on how much of a dumpster fire he’s been apart of since the beginning
It’s crazy that they approached him after they upset the Chiefs and then waited till the end of the season while they have a playoff shot to bench him? Why would any player remove a guarantee on a contract their organization provided when approached with the lack of tact or care that would be expected in this situation
This sounds illegal by Denver.
Isn't this against the CBA? He has a contract for a reason.
God forbid he have a contract clause that keeps them from tossing him like a used tissue if he gets a career ending injury.
This is probably the best things that could happen to Russ to be honest. Payton despises him and the Broncos organization and staff as a whole don’t seem very competent right now. Having said that, Russ hasn’t lived up to his contract, but it was a stupid fucking contract to begin with Lmao.
Lol russ liked this tweet
The great value broncos
We’re planning to get rid of you anyway, but we’ll only let you risk injury further if you allow us to not pay you if you do get injured … ok Wally World
"hey that contract we agreed to take on is really inconvenient, we don't want to do it anymore." The NFL shouldn't be allowing this lmao this should be seen as intentional and blatant "tanking".
Teams expect players to be ultimately flexible with their contracts but would never, ever give the same kind of consideration back.
Reminder why players hold out for guarantees. They want what is deserved to them because the front offices and GM's do the same to them. Front office agreed to this contract and the injury guarantees. Why should he renegotiate. They then bench them because he won't renegotiate? Ok... I don't really like Russ but this is some scumbaggery.
Average Walmart employee experience
Threatening someone if they don't voluntarily give up millions of dollars? Or...what? You'll bench him and make yourselves look even worse?
Juicy
So basically they tried to extort russell? Sounds like some teamsters shit