Recently, the 9-time Pro-Bowler and Superbowl champion Russell Wilson signed a humongous deal with the Denver Broncos. After being traded from the Seahawks for a haul of picks and players, it was inevitable that he would be extended at some point. It came as a bit of a surprise, though, that the contract came before this season. With the numbers finally out, I wanted to take a look at the contract and how it will affect both Wilson and the Broncos for the next near decade. Spoiler, it looks pretty darn good for both.
All of the numbers for Wilson’s contract were taken from Spotrac. Firstly, let’s take a look at the guaranteed money. Regardless of what happens, Wilson will be $161,000,000 richer upon the completion of his contract. This number is actually surprising considering another quarterback, Deshaun Watson, had recently received a fully guaranteed $230,000,000 contract. (How in the world is that a thing? Seriously…) Normally, once a contract like that is struct, it influences the market greatly. But in Wilson’s case, it seems that either he was unable to make the Broncos budge or decided to take less guaranteed to allow the Broncos to be more flexible with the cap and free agency during his tenure as their quarterback. Either way, this is huge for the Broncos. All you want as a GM of a team is the ability to maneuver the pieces available to you to produce the best team possible, and this contract provides that pliability.
The cap hits are also done wonderfully in the contract. This was simply an extension, so Russell Wilson will still play the remaining two years of his previous contract. Those have cap hits of $17,000,000 and $22,000,000 respectively, chump change in the world of franchise quarterbacks. To put it in perspective, Patrick Mahomes’ next two years have cap hits of $35,793,381 and $46,793,381, respectively. The Broncos will have ample space to be major players in free agency with the room provided from this. It does get a bit tighter after that, as Wilson’s cap hit jumps to $35,400,000 the year after and will eventually hit $58,400,000 in 2026, but at that point, the salary cap will have increased, and those numbers will feel much more workable. All in all, the contract has smaller cap hits towards the beginning of the contract and only begins to grow as the salary cap grows. Very well done by the Broncos, and Wilson definitely is not getting walked over here either.
Okay, the contract looks good, but what if Wilson doesn’t towards the end? Maybe age and the hits he’s accrued catch up with him later. Where is the out for Denver? For all intents and purposes, this contract acts as a pseudo 3-year extension. The final two years of the deal, if Wilson were to be cut, leaves the Broncos with a total of $17,200,000 of dead cap. That is easily sustained across two years if Wilson loses a step. The contract gives Wilson security, the Broncos flexibility, and Broncos Country something to cheer for. It is looking pretty good!
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