James Palmer reports he spoke with multiple quarterback-needy teams to get a sense of whether soon-to-be-former Broncos QB Russell Wilson was an option for them.
Palmer says he heard back from everyone he spoke with that Wilson was not in their plans “as of right now.”
Denver will officially release Wilson at the start of the league year with a June 1 designation but have given him permission to speak with other teams and take visits.
Because the Broncos still owe him $39 million guaranteed in 2024, he would be available to sign for the league minimum with a new team, about $1.2 million.
Still, Palmer notes teams seem to be prioritizing other options, whether it’s in free agency, the trade market or the draft right now.
That doesn’t mean that Wilson won’t land a starting gig with a team at some point, but it does mean his star has lost a ton of its shine over the past two years and he’s not a priority for a team right now. He’ll have to wait for the quarterback market to shake out and for some teams to miss out on their top options.
And that could take some time.
Wilson, 35, is a former third-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2012. He was entering the final year of his five-year, $89.142 million contract when the Seahawks signed him to a four-year, $140 million extension that included a $65 million signing bonus.
The Seahawks traded him to the Broncos in 2022 in a blockbuster deal. Wilson stood to make base salaries of $19 million and $22 million over the final two years of his deal when he agreed to a new five-year, $245 million extension that included $165 million in guaranteed money.
However, Wilson didn’t even reach the new portion of his deal before being released by the Broncos, who absorbed a record $85 million dead cap hit.
In 2023, Wilson appeared in 15 games for the Broncos and completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions to go along with 341 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2024 NFL Free Agents list.
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