With no room for error in the Broncos’ pursuit of a playoff berth, are the final three tests on the regular-season schedule also elimination games for quarterback Russell Wilson?
From the jump, Wilson and coach Sean Payton have made for an odd couple. One’s a choir boy; the other’s a class (and crass) clown. How do you meld a small quarterback whose skill set requires strategic compromises with a big, complex playsheet authored by a huge ego?
Now, in a relationship that only was going to be built on winning, DangeRuss doesn’t cook and Payton admits he must devise game plans with little margin for error.
We can all argue until we’re blue in the face about what, if any, meaning to assign a silly tiff on the Broncos sideline between an unhinged coach and his robotic quarterback during a lopsided loss in Detroit. The bottom line: If Wilson and Payton can’t win together, why try to salvage a relationship between a mismatched quarterback and coach, whose personalities and playing styles are honey and vinegar?
Well, there is the nagging issue of money.
Wilson is way too expensive to be average, but the football costs of cutting him would be painful.
Backed by the Walmart fortune, team CEO Greg Penner could swallow the hefty dead money to part ways with Wilson before he plays one down of a five-year, $245 million contract extension. But for that kind of commitment, shouldn’t Penner be darn certain Payton can present a viable alternative to operate the Denver offense in 2024?
As desperately as his detractors in Broncos Country might want anybody but Wilson, what are the realistic options?
Jarrett Stidham
We’re all well aware Payton knows more about football than all of us combined. He certainly saw something in Stidham to give a two-year, $10 million contract to a 27-year-old quarterback who has never won a game at the NFL level.
Yes, if the Broncos are eliminated from playoff contention, it would make sense to see what Stidham can do in an otherwise meaningless regular-season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders. But if Stidham’s the answer to life after Russ, my response will be an eye roll.
Bo Nix
A team on the fringes of playoff contention is destined to draft in the middle of the first round, which means the top three quarterback prospects in the 2024 draft — Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels — will all be off the board when the Broncos are on the clock.
Take Nix in the middle of the first round? No thanks, unless you want a rookie QB who can grow up to be just good enough to get Denver beat. After transferring from Auburn, Nix proved at Oregon he was far more adept at checking down than throwing the deep ball. Nix gives me a bad case of Kenny Pickett vibes. Hard pass.
Michael Penix Jr.
With an offense that’s stymied because neither Courtland Sutton nor Jerry Jeudy has the elite skills to match hefty salary commitments, and a Broncos secondary that could use a cornerback to complement the shutdown ability of Pat Surtain II, this team needs more than a quarterback.
With their first-round pick, the Broncos could have their choice of receivers, perhaps lucky enough to grab Rome Odunze of Washington or select from among highly rated cornerbacks, including Nate Wiggins of Clemson. The second-tier QB prospect I find most intriguing is Penix, a lefty with a funky delivery and injury history. My best hope: The Broncos nab him by trading up into the second round.
Justin Fields
With the No. 1 overall pick gifted to them from Carolina, the Bears have the opportunity to take their shot at a new franchise quarterback. But it would mean moving on from Fields, whose combination of arm/leg talent is tantalizing, although it has translated into a disappointing 8-27 record as a starter.
A first-round choice in the 2021 draft is likely to be available in a trade at a significant discount, perhaps available as cheaply as a future third-rounder and a conditional fourth. Fields doesn’t turn 25 years old until March. Although 10 years younger than Wilson, would Payton really want to work with another QB who would require him to paint outside the numbers in his offensive game plan? Probably not.
Gardner Minshew
While Broncos cast-offs Drew Lock, Case Keenum and Joe Flacco came back from oblivion to win NFL games last weekend, the quarterback in this year of the backup to shine brightest is goofy Gardner, who doesn’t look pretty but has the Colts ahead of Denver in the chase for an AFC wild-card berth.
If Payton really wants to prove he can win with anybody at quarterback, Minshew might be available in the free agency bargain bin, at no more than $10 million per year.
Baker Mayfield
After Mayfield completed 24 of 28 passes for 230 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in the Christmas Day Massacre that got Nathaniel Hackett fired as Denver’s coach, it puzzled me why the Broncos signed Stidham during the same week in March for slightly more than the going rate for Mayfield. He’s only a year older, but had thrown 96 more touchdowns and won 32 more NFL games than the backup quarterback Payton picked.
He’s a dude who not only could run Payton’s offense, but would have the backbone to bark back if Sarcastic Sean howled at him on the sideline. Mayfield is guaranteed to score a significant raise in free agency. If the Broncos could get him at roughly $20 million per year, he’d be my answer to life after Russ. But, alas, the NFL being the NFL, where the Seahawks prematurely decided to reward Geno Smith with a three-year, $105 million deal to replace Wilson, the price for Mayfield might well be driven up to $35 million per year.
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