After an odd two-year tenure in Denver followed an impressive 10 seasons as a Seahawk, Russell Wilson plans to take his next snaps with the Steelers, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. What was anticipated to be a potentially lengthy and competitive free agency finally ends up being determined just before the beginning of the free agent period.
Wilson looked as if it would confirm the report by posting his own video on X. It’s a one-year contract, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac tweets. Wilson’s third team will enjoy the possibility to have him on a veteran-minimum deal, because of his Broncos situation, and the Washington Post’s Mark Maske confirms the Steelers are more likely to pay Wilson only $1.21MM.
Wilson’s short stint available on the market began lower than per week ago, when the Broncos made the choice to announce their plans to release him at the beginning of the brand new league 12 months and granted him the fitting to speak with outside teams. After failing to return to an agreement on a slight restructure to his five-year, $245MM take care of the Broncos, Denver is about to eat a record-obliterating dead money sum.
The Broncos can be hit with $85MM over the subsequent two years, with nearly half that financial lump coming in 2024. By waiting until free agency opens on Wednesday to officially release him, the Broncos will give you the chance to designate him as a post-June 1 release to attenuate the historic damage this 12 months. Now, Wilson heads to the Steel City to compete for the starting job with Kenny Pickett.
Pickett won the starting job in his rookie season from the newly departed Mitchell Trubisky, but this 12 months, veteran backup Mason Rudolph took over as starter while Pickett was hurt and kept it after Pickett was healthy enough to play again. There have been some within the Steelers’ camp who supported a camp battle between the 2 for the fitting to start out in 2024, versus gifting the job back to Pickett and not using a fight. Things sure change now.
With Wilson coming to town, Pickett could also be in an uphill battle — one through which Rudolph is unlikely to be involved. In actual fact, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic reports that Rudolph’s reps met with the team Sunday, and with the Wilson news now public, it’s hard to assume Rudolph stays in Pittsburgh this 12 months. This likely signifies that Pickett will find himself on the bench learning from a Super Bowl-winning nine-time Pro Bowler.
Wilson visited the Steelers late this week, after he met with the Giants. The Raiders also loomed as a possible option, however the Steelers surged to the front of the road. Recent OC Arthur Smith and Wilson met for several hours, per CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson, who adds Wilson’s Steelers homework effort involved reaching out to some players prematurely of the meeting. A productive Smith-Pickett meeting took place last month in Florida, however the Steelers are changing their QB dynamic within the aftermath.
It’s difficult to overstate how far Wilson drifted off target in Denver. The Broncos’ hiring of Nathaniel Hackett and giving Wilson considerable autonomy within the design of their 2022 offense resulted in a surprising freefall for the decorated quarterback. The Broncos fired Hackett after 15 games. Brought in partially to salvage their Wilson investment, Sean Payton coaxed a greater season from the Twelfth-year veteran. However the 12 months involved behind-the-scenes drama and a benching ahead of Denver’s Week 17 game. That week represented a sea change for the Broncos, effectively confirming Wilson could be elsewhere in 2024 and the 2022 trade — headlined by two first-round picks going to Seattle — will go down as an all-time debacle.
The Wilson contract, which was set to start its extension years in 2024, will likely result in the Steelers paying only $1.21MM for a possible Hall of Fame passer. Offset language will stick the Broncos with the remainder of the tab, barely cutting into their dead money. Wilson is desperate to help his recent team on the contract front, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, and it would definitely be easier to construct a roster around him in comparison with what became of his $49MM-AAV Broncos contract.
Wilson accused the Broncos of threatening to bench him unless he moved his injury guarantee vesting date from 2024 to 2025. That will have given the Broncos more flexibility. While the Broncos have denied a benching ultimatum was a part of the equation, GM George Paton confirmed they wanted to regulate the guarantee date. Wilson refused and, as ought to be expected, omitted the Paton-Payton tandem from his Denver farewell post.
Wilson, 35, is the one quarterback in NFL history within the 40,000-5,000 club, reaching that air-ground place in Denver. Wilson did throw 26 touchdown passes in comparison with just eight interceptions last season, but Payton kept a decent leash on the improvisational passer. At the same time as the Broncos strung together a five-game midseason win streak, amid the behind-the-curtain drama, Wilson was not leading a high-octane attack. QBR ranked Wilson twenty first last season. That marked an improvement from his 2022 disaster, but the previous third-round find appears to be somewhere past his prime. The Steelers will determine how far.
Pickett has not progressed just like the Steelers hoped. While Mike Tomlin said Pickett could be the starter coming into the offseason program, Wilson’s presence probably changes the equation. Wilson has seen a lot of detractors emerge in recent times, but Pickett not keeping his QB1 gig through a second season is eye-opening. The Pitt product has thrown only 13 touchdown passes in 25 profession games. Even with Wilson past his Seattle peak, Pickett will face stiff competition to recapture the job.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
