Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson said Friday that the team had threatened in October to bench him if he did not agree to renegotiate his contract.
Wilson told reporters that Broncos officials approached him during the team’s bye week and told him ‘if I didn’t change my contract, my injury guarantee, that I’d be benched for the rest of the year.’
Wilson’s $37 million salary for 2025 is guaranteed if he remains on the roster in mid-March, and an injury in the final weeks of the season would complicate the Broncos’ ability to move him. Denver announced earlier this week that the 35-year-old had been benched for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
‘I was definitely disappointed about it,’ Wilson told reporters about the bye week conversation. ‘It was a process throughout the whole week, whole bye week. We just came off beating the Chiefs, played a pretty good game against the Chiefs, we just came off of that. So I was excited obviously for us, fighting for the playoffs and getting on a hot streak.’
Wilson added that the NFL Players’ Association and NFL ‘got involved’ at some point. The NFL declined comment and a spokesperson for the union did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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‘For me, I came here to play here, to win,’ Wilson added. ‘I knew it was going to be a process. I signed a seven-year deal, for us to go and play hard. … I want to be here, I want to play here, I want to win championships here.’
Multiple outlets reported that the Broncos had approached Wilson about revising his contract. When asked about the reports earlier Friday, Broncos coach Sean Payton demurred, saying in part that ‘I’m not privy to any of those (conversations).’
‘I’m handling the football,’ Payton said. ‘That’s something (Broncos GM) George (Paton) and the front office (handle). I’m not involved in any of that.’
Payton has previously portrayed Wilson’s benching as an attempt to give the offense a spark, while acknowledging that ‘there are economics and all those other things’ in the game nowadays. Backup Jarrett Stidham will start Sunday, with Wilson as the backup.
A nine-time Pro Bowl honoree with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson signed a five-year, $242.6 million extension with Denver after being traded there in March 2022. He struggled in his first year with the Broncos but has been more solid in 2023, completing 66.4 percent of his passes with 26 touchdowns and eight picks.