Some of Russell Wilson’s Broncos teammates strongly defend him

Not every Denver Bronco was at Russell Wilson’s birthday party Tuesday night and that’s quite clear, but two players who we can say were probably at the bash are Dalton Risner and Justin Simmons—each strongly defended their embattled quarterback Wednesday during a press conference.

Reports surfaced this week of Wilson losing part of the Broncos’ locker room, followed by another report of poor attendance at his 34th birthday celebration.

Wilson called balderdash on him losing the respect of his teammates and then said his birthday was a surprise.

“A whole bunch of guys were there,” he said of the party thrown by his popstar wife Ciara. “It was a great time.”

While Wilson was explaining away his evening, two of his teammates took to the podium at UC Health Training Center calling balderdash on it all. Risner, an offensive lineman, commented on the NFL Network story about Wilson losing the locker room in one long answer.

“I’d say that’s not true man. I stay away from all that, I don’t see any of that stuff anymore. It’s been great, but that’s just hilarious in my opinion. That’s funny. Because I don’t think it’s true. I know it’s not true,” Risner said.

“You know that I know who Russell is. I respect him so much. I respect the way he integrates within our locker room and I feel like all year he hasn’t really catch a break people just making up rumors about him. Whether that be he’s not a good teammate or he’s lost the locker room, apparently, or whatever the heck it is, and a lot of it’s just so outlandish.”

“I get to see him work every day. I get to see how much he cares about the guys in the locker room. And the devotion he has to this game and the attitude he brings to practice every day and the attitude he brings to the football field. We might not be having a good season. We may be 3-8, but I respect the heck out of Russell Wilson in the way he’s leading this football team. amongst everything, he’s had to deal with this year.”

The reports of the Broncos tearing internally come as their quarter-billion-dollar quarterback, Wilson, is leading a historically bad Denver offense to a league-worst 14 points per game. The former Super Bowl-winning quarterback who once hoped to be the savior for the Broncos has played as a shell of his former self.

That offense has let a stout defense down. If the Broncos simply scored 18 points per game in regulation they’d be 10-1 at the moment instead of in the NFL’s cellar. Simmons, a defensive leader, and longtime Bronco, strongly backed his new quarterback and wanted to quell the chatter in his own long answer.

“Russ is an amazing leader, he’s an amazing teammate. And leadership never falls solely on one guy,” Simmons said. “The quarterback position is always you know, at the top of every football team, I know it’s a quarterback-driven League, but leadership never falls under one guy. We have really good leaders here. And what’s happening right now with the team, that falls under the umbrella of a bunch of different guys, myself included.”

“I don’t know where that report would have come from,” he said. “Quite honestly while we’re up here, just out of respect for the Ravens and who were playing this week, and obviously them being a really good team. For the remainder of this time, I just would like to keep the questions geared towards Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens and what they’re doing and how we can figure out to get a win.”

“I just don’t see where it comes from those reports because Russ has been nothing but great,” he said. “It hasn’t been the season any of us have wanted. I just, I can’t fathom, like, thinking of that stuff.”

Wilson and teammates having beef is nothing new. Just this past Sunday Mike Purcell blew up on the quarterback on Denver’s sideline. Even before Wilson’s blockbuster trade from Seattle, former teammates spoke about how he blew up the team’s defense, and since plenty of former Seahawks have ripped Russ.

We know Risner and Simmons are ridding with Russ but what about the rest of the Denver Broncos—you know, the ones who didn’t talk on Wednesday or show up at his birthday party on Tuesday night?

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