After benching him so he wouldn’t risk a lengthy injury, all signs point to the Denver Broncos moving on from Russell Wilson this offseason. There are several ways the Broncos could choose to do this.
Obviously, releasing Wilson from his five-year, $242.5 million contract is one way. But that move would come with massive salary cap penalties.
- Denver Broncos cap penalty if Wilson is released before June 1: $85M ($35.4M if done after June 1)
The Broncos could also designate Wilson as a post-June 1 cap casualty, but that wouldn’t bring any cap savings either and still leaves behind a large cap hit of over $35 million.
A trade without adjusting his contract leaves $68 million in dead money on the Broncos’ 2024 salary cap. No matter what, removing Wilson from Denver’s roster will be costly.
Yet, the trade may still be the best route.
In this case, the Broncos have much more control over the trade parameters, where they can negotiate different cost points depending on how much salary his new team is willing to pay themselves instead of Denver being slapped with the full amount.
Related: 2024 NFL QB rankings
Will Denver Broncos use Brock Osweiler model with Russell Wilson?
It’s a scenario ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently laid out as a real possibility and reminds many fans of the Brock Osweiler trade to the Cleveland Browns back in 2017. In this situation, the Broncos could potentially use this as a negotiation tactic, pitting other teams against each other, depending on how much of the salary they’re willing to pick up.
In that trade, the Texans saved $16 million in cash while also adding $10 million to their spending limit, plus a 2018 second-round pick and 2017 sixth-round pick just to offload Osweiler to the Browns for a fourth-round pick. Osweiler never played a snap in Cleveland, but the Browns did pick up an extra second-round pick out of the trade, adding to their collection of assets at the time.
It’s a situation we’ve seen play out in several different formats since, where a team sours on a player they recently signed to a large contract, only to later realize it isn’t working out. That’s exactly what Sean Payton is dealing with Wilson in Denver.
Wilson has more than likely played his last down with the Broncos. Now, it’s only a matter of how general manager George Paton removes him from the roster. If it’s via trade, expect some very unique circumstances.
