The Broncos are benching Russell Wilson, multiple sources confirmed to The Post on Wednesday morning
Jarrett Stidham is in line to start the final two games of the season for the Broncos, whose playoff odds decreased dramatically after a loss to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.
A source told The Post that Wilson is in the building as the team prepares for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers and that he is in line to be active on game day and serve as the backup quarterback.
The move gives Denver a level of protection regarding a contract trigger that would complicate their decision-making over Wilson’s future in Denver. There may also be a football element to the move.
Wilson’s performance level has dipped over the past four games — three Broncos losses — but the rationale behind benching him for the season’s final two games can also easily be seen as being driven at least as much by financial ramifications as by football performance.
Wilson’s contract contains a provision that, if he is on Denver’s roster on March 17, his $37 million in salary for the 2025 season becomes guaranteed. NFL teams cannot cut injured players, so if Wilson were to play the final two weeks of the season and sustain a major injury that prevented him from passing a physical in the spring, the Broncos would be locked in to two more years of salary.
Keeping him on the sideline for the final two weeks, then, buys time and allows the Broncos to weigh their options regarding whether to keep Wilson beyond this season.
Wilson is in his second season with Denver, but a five-year, $245 million contract extension he signed last year doesn’t actually begin until 2024. His $39 million in salary for 2024 is already guaranteed.
Cutting Wilson after the season would be painful financially, as he would leave $85 million in “dead cap” — money accelerated onto the Broncos’ salary cap either next year or, more likely, spread over the next two seasons.
However, given Wilson’s current contract, if the $37 million for 2025 becomes guaranteed in March, his dead cap number would actually rise slightly as it pertains to cutting him following the 2024 season. That is countered some by the fact that the NFL salary cap has consistently risen and so a similar dollar figure would count slightly less percentage-wise in the future.
Either way, the first choice in front of the Broncos currently is whether they are willing to risk two years worth of commitment to Wilson for a long-shot chance at the playoffs, and they have apparently decided they are not.
Then there’s the football-specific component to the move. Over a five-game winning streak, Wilson turned the ball over just one time, completed 71.6% of his passes, threw eight touchdowns and no picks, and ran for 116 yards (3.7 per carry) while playing to a quarterback rating of 109.5.
In the past four games, he’s turned the ball over five times, completed 61.7% of his passes, thrown six touchdowns and four interceptions, run for 75 yards (2.8 per carry) and two touchdowns, and played to an 84.5 quarterback rating.
Payton on Tuesday struck an ominous tone when discussing his offense’s performance.
“Right now, we’re average to below average in a lot of things offensively, and it’s not good enough,” he said.
Now Stidham will get a chance to provide the franchise with an offensive spark. The 27-year-old started two games down the stretch for Las Vegas last year and got a two-year, $10 million contract from the Broncos this offseason that came with $5 million guaranteed.
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