Broncos will pay Russell Wilson $38 million to play for AFC foe

Russell Wilson will return to Denver this fall when his new team travels to face the Broncos. That new team is the Pittsburgh Steelers as the veteran quarterback chose his next franchise on Sunday night.

Free agency is set to kickoff midday on Monday with a legal tampering period but because Wilson was already cut by the Broncos last week, he was able to negotiate a new $1.2 million deal with Pittsburgh. The contract will set Wilson up to compete with Kenny Pickett for the Steelers starting job in 2024 while the Broncos a pay a majority of his salary—on the hook for $37.8

Wilson was brought to Denver to be the answer at quarterback after years of the team searching. The giant trade and massive extension he subsequently was signed to will wind up as two of the worst moves in Broncos history. He’s now out of orange and blue and into black and yellow before that extension even kicked in. In the Broncos cutting Russell Wilson, the team will face a ginormous $85 million dead money figure on their salary cap, spread out over two seasons. The team has already begun rebuilding, in part due to this mess-up of a move.

Over Wilson’s two seasons with the Broncos, the team went 11-19 when he started for the team. He threw for 42 touchdowns and had 19 picks, getting better at almost everything in his second season with Payton. In 2023, he averaged per game 19.8-for-29.8 passing with 204.7 yards, 1.7 touchdowns to 0.5 picks and three sacks for 17.2 yards while getting 22.7 rushing yards on 5.3 carries a game. Going back in time to year one, Denver had one of their most embarrassing seasons in club history as the team went 5-12 and head coach Nathaniel Hackett got fired late in the season. Simply said, in the two years Wilson was in Denver, he wasn’t the guy he was in Seattle who went to nine Pro Bowls, battled in two Super Bowls and was constantly on Offensive Player of the Year ballots.

The Steelers went to the playoffs for the third time in four seasons last fall but haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. Wilson hasn’t been on a plus-.500 team since 2020, Mike Tomlin his new coach hasn’t had a single season below .500 in his 17 years on the job in Pennsylvania.

The Broncos are still searching for their Russ replacement; that person could emerge in the next 48 hours but for now, Denver will trot out Jarrett Stidham under center.

Year 13. Grateful. @Steelers pic.twitter.com/0U4Q2sRtXs

— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) March 11, 2024