Russell Wilson takes huge dive in noteworthy quarterback ranking
Jul 31, 2023, 10:59 AM | Updated: 11:02 am
The Denver Broncos have been looking for a quarterback since Peyton Manning retired.
Last year they got the name, but his play didn’t follow and that’s why one of the year’s best quarterback ranking lists was not kind to Denver Broncos gunslinger Russell Wilson.
In Mike Sando’s 10th annual quarterback tier ranking, Wilson took the biggest drop in the history of the survey. The second-year Broncos quarterback went from an average of 1.72 in the 50 ballots cast to 2.82.
Voters, who are 50 league insiders— included eight general managers, 10 head coaches, 15 coordinators and more—are asked to put 30 veteran quarterbacks into five tiers, from best (Tier 1) to worst (Tier 5) and there are no rookies on the ballot. Quarterbacks are then ranked by average vote and placed into tiers based on vote distribution, beginning with Patrick Mahomes, whose 1.00 average vote reflected his status as a unanimous Tier 1 selection for the third time in the past four years as he’s racked up 199 of those 200 ballots.
The previous No. 1 to Mahomes on the survey and also the unanimous top choice? Wilson back in 2020.
Fellow AFC quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Justin Herbert round out the top five.
Meanwhile, Wilson is all the way down at 16 between Jared Goff and Tua Tagovailoa in tier three.
“I think he was out of shape, I think he was reading his own press clippings last year, I think they bent over backwards for him in the trade, and he had them by the short hairs, but I think Sean Payton is going to get the most out of him,” an offensive coordinator told Sando. “It would not surprise me if he plays well this year.”
Voters thought first-year Broncos coach and longtime NFL leader Sean Payton would be beneficial to Wilson but the voters did see a decline in athleticism and durability over the past few seasons, particularly in 2022.
Wilson’s 60.5% completion percentage, 84.4. passer rating and 36.7 QBR were all the worst of his career, all the while he was sacked more than anyone else in the NFL.
Wilson signed a massive contract extension with the Broncos after being traded by Seattle but before last season began.
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