The Broncos have mapped out the Russell Wilson cap hit

The Denver Broncos had a couple of choices when it came to the dead money from cutting Russell Wilson and the team chose a path that will deal with more pain now rather than later.

In cutting Wilson before his contract extension even kicked in, Denver was on the hook for an NFL-record $85 million in dead cap money. Wilson himself will be paid $38 million by the Broncos to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Broncos could’ve absorbed that entire number in 2024 or they could spread it out over two years with two different ways to do that. Denver chose to spread it out over two years rather than take on the maximum amount of pain immediately. The two-year plan had two options; one which would spread the money out between the two years with more in year one or the second option, which was a higher dead figure in year two.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Denver will take on a bigger hit in year one at $53 million against the cap in 2024 and another $32 million against the cap in 2025. That means the Broncos have $17.6 million less in cap space to operate by for the rest of this offseason, and without the numbers their soon-to-be-drafted rookies will command Denver has about $27 million it can spend.

The decision hints that the Broncos may be more focused on rebuilding in 2024 than competing.

Broncos officially have released QB Russell Wilson with a post-June 1 designation, per source.

As was its plan entering free agency, Denver now will spread the cap hit by taking on $53 million in 2024 and $32 million in 2025. pic.twitter.com/fAFl2LOQaX

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2024

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 Broncos are still searching for their Russ replacement; that person could emerge in free agency though the plan seems to be to fix that issue during the NFL Draft. For now, Denver will trot out Jarrett Stidham under center.