Russell Wilson remains Broncos starter with Jerry Rosburg in charge
Dec 28, 2022, 1:01 PM | Updated: 1:10 pm
Jerry Rosburg is the interim head coach, but he still has power; he told the media on Wednesday that he sacked two assistants from Nathaniel Hackett’s staff after Hackett was fired.
So if Rosburg wanted to start somebody new at quarterback, he seemingly has the power to make that call. Instead, the new leader of the orange and blue also said on Wednesday that the much-maligned Russell Wilson will remain the Denver Broncos starting quarterback for the last two games of the season, so long that he stays healthy.
Backup quarterback Brett Rypien has started two games for the Broncos this season. The first came early on when Wilson was out with a leg injury. The second came two weeks ago while the Broncos played with safe after Wilson suffered a concussion.
Wilson returned on Sunday and had the worst quarterbacking performance of his career in the Broncos’ 37-point loss to the Rams. The star gunslinger was the center of an offseason blockbuster trade from the Seattle Seahawks and then signed a quarter-billion-dollar extension before playing a snap in Denver. Wilson is having the worst season of his career and now it’ll be up to Rosburg to try and salvage anything from it in the final two weeks.
Rosburg made clear on Wednesday that he was hired by Broncos general manager George Paton earlier this season to help Hackett. It was not Hackett who went looking for help. So Rosburg is a Paton guy and he is groveling to keep his job at this point. Unsurprisingly, Rosburg would stick with Wilson given Paton will forever be tied to that trade and extension and Rosburg is backing his friend.
The last two weeks, while meaningless in the standings, do carry weight in regards to Wilson moving forward and if his problems are more linked to Hackett than what is generally believed right now.
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