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The Russell Wilson era in Denver ended with a whimper, with head coach Sean Payton benching the $242.6 million man despite him playing just fine and the team being mathematically alive in the postseason race. He was cut eventually and has since gone on to a new team, but the release cost Payton a ton of money.
The dead cap hit for two seasons is an NFL record $85 million. No other NFL player in the history of the sport has been paid more to not play for a team. When asked if he had any qualms about the decision because of its financial ramifications, he was candid.
The Denver Broncos head coach did not hesitate to say, "No." It was not a difficult decision to incur that dead cap to move on from Wilson in Payton's eyes. Their relationship was never the strongest, and Payton has no regrets.
Sean Payton ended the Russell Wilson era
Russell Wilson was brought in via a massive trade to help make the Denver Broncos true contenders. They were viewed as a quarterback away, and Wilson was their man. They traded a bounty for him and immediately extended him.
That backfired tremendously. Under Nathaniel Hackett, Wilson was horrendous. His 2022 season was one to forget. Sean Payton was brought out of retirement (costing more trade assets) to salvage the QB, but there were rumors that he never liked Wilson as his quarterback anyway.
That may or may not be true, but the team did bench him despite solid performance to prevent an injury clause in his contract from hitting. They then decided to cut him even though he would cost them dearly to play elsewhere.
He is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers on a vet minimum contract, but he's still going to make $85 million from the Broncos for the next two seasons. He will try to resurrect his career.
Meanwhile, the Broncos will try to build a team with limited cap space because of this. Their work is cut out for them, but Payton doesn't have any second thoughts on the move.
