By Matt Stuart | Published | No Comments
The Russell Wilson era is officially over in Denver. After two losing seasons with the Broncos, Wilson is is moving across country to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wilson is expected to sign a one-year contract with the Steelers and presumably would now become the favored quarterback to start next season. Though the Steelers have made no comment on just whom will be listed as QB1 on the depth chart or what the future holds for last years starter Kenny Pickett.
Pickett was injured midway through last season. A combination of Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph finished up the season. The Steelers despite the disarray in their QB room, still managed to reach the playoffs, finishing the season 10-7. The Steelers would lose in the wild card round to the Buffalo Bills 31-17.
Meanwhile for Wilson, his tenure in Denver will be largely remembered for one of the more lopsided trades in NFL history. The Broncos traded away four draft picks and three players to acquire Wilson for the Seattle Seahawks. They had high hopes that Wilson would be the missing pierce that would get them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Things did not work out quite the way the Broncos expected. After sending four draft picks, including two first round picks in 2022 and 2023, plus tight end Noah Fast and quarterback Drew Lock to the Seahawks, the Broncos worked quickly to sign Wilson to a very lucrative new contract worth $242.5 million for five years.
The Broncos are still on the hook for Wilson’s $161.1 million in guaranteed salary and will owe Wilson $48.5 million over the next three seasons. It is also expected that Denver will have a record amount of dead cap space monies on the book as a result of Wilson’s release, which will not become official until Wednesday March 13th.
