Russell Wilson signing with Steelers

[Maelstrom787]

The Niners were. Pick 262 went to the Super Bowl…

I dunno, I consider late rounders outside of the "class." I know that's not technically accurate but those are all just fliers. Probably a late rounder or two worth a look in any class.

QB classes are usually judged by the top end I'd think.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

Idk. The pick before that was Skylar Thompson who almost did enough to keep the dolphins alive for playoffs.

 

[Palmegranite]

I dunno, I consider late rounders outside of the "class." I know that's not technically accurate but those are all just fliers. Probably a late rounder or two worth a look in any class.

QB classes are usually judged by the top end I'd think.

Wow, this really says that those people deciding the order from top end to bottom end aren't particularly adept at this job.

Often it seems like descriptors of "athletic freak" and "tall" will be enough to slot a player into early rounds.

 

[toffee]

6 hours of interview, 2 hours of bromance with Tomlin, 1 year of contract at vet minimum.

So much love.

 

[BlueTalon]

2 hours of bromance with Tomlin

Yeah, we'll just see how long that lasts.

 

[LastRideOut]

It's a clown show with Russ. Wherever he goes, he makes it a frickin' circus when it doesn't have to be.

Humble is not a word in his repertoire.

 

[Lagartixa]

6 hours of interview, 2 hours of bromance with Tomlin, 1 year of contract at vet minimum.

So much love.

Everyone knew ahead of time it was going to be a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. Because of the offset language, any money any team other than the Broncos pays to Wilson this season just reduces the amount the Broncos need to pay. Wilson's compensation doesn't change at all. So he has no incentive to take more than the league minimum, and his new team has no incentive to offer him more.

And while Wilson's camp may have hoped Wilson could get a multi-year commitment from a team, it's now pretty clear that no teams were willing to commit to paying him anything at all next season without first seeing him perform for the team this season.

Maybe the other teams recognize how gigantic the Broncos' mistake was in 2022 when they gave Wilson a contract extension (an extension that starts this week, by the way, and because I still loathe the Broncos from when the Seahawks were in the AFC West, I find that really, really funny) before he had played even a single snap for them. And not because it's Wilson. It's just bad business to sign any player to an extension before you've seen the player do anything that makes him look like he's worth giving a contract extension. In the case of the Broncos and Wilson, they ended up paying $62M per season for one season of a bottom-three-in-the-league starting QB and one season of a "better" sixth-octile starting QB, when they could have spent just $17M for 2022 if their mistake-making spree had stopped at trading a lot of draft capital and three roster-worthy players for Wilson.

I honestly don't remember at what point Wilson's 2023 salary would have been guaranteed under his last contract with the Seahawks, but I suspect the Broncos, if they'd been smart, would have been able to get out of the Wilson situation with only the $17M from 2022 on their 2022 salary cap, and not a bit of the additional $107M of salary-cap carnage two years of a bad QB ended up costing them. At worst, they might have had to eat some or even all of the $22M cap number Wilson would have had for them in 2024, but even $39M for two years of a bad QB is a lot less bad than $124M for the same two years of the same bad QB.

Wilson is now two years older than he was when the Broncos committed the giant blunder of giving him his contract extension, he's got two more bad seasons on his record, and teams have seen that the only way to get good value out of Wilson on the field is "Russ-ball," the offensive non-scheme Carroll and Bevell created to get as much as possible out of Wilson's strengths while minimizing the effects of his weaknesses. No team was going to want to make a multi-year commitment to Wilson this offseason.

The interesting issue to me now is how long it will take before "Team 3" (both his actual entourage and the Russellettes on .NET and other sites like it, Xitter, etc.) starts talking up what a "team player" Wilson is for so magnanimously taking a league-minimum salary to let the team spend more on building a team around him. But as I said at the start of this message, there was never any doubt that Wilson would be getting the league minimum this season if he wanted to be an NFL team.

 

[chris98251]

The league minimum, prove it deal, and why help the Broncos compete if your an AFC team, keeping Payton hamstrung with Wilsons cap hit while your able to load up with guys li9ke Queen who I am not really impressed with BTW but able to sign guys and have a better chance of getting in the Playoffs while keeping the Broncos struggling.

On top of that Wilson gets to go and play them I believe this year and rub it in their face.

 

[RiverDog]

Everyone knew ahead of time it was going to be a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. Because of the offset language, any money any team other than the Broncos pays to Wilson this season just reduces the amount the Broncos need to pay. Wilson's compensation doesn't change at all. So he has no incentive to take more than the league minimum, and his new team has no incentive to offer him more.

And while Wilson's camp may have hoped Wilson could get a multi-year commitment from a team, it's now pretty clear that no teams were willing to commit to paying him anything at all next season without first seeing him perform for the team this season.

Maybe the other teams recognize how gigantic the Broncos' mistake was in 2022 when they gave Wilson a contract extension (an extension that starts this week, by the way, and because I still loathe the Broncos from when the Seahawks were in the AFC West, I find that really, really funny) before he had played even a single snap for them. And not because it's Wilson. It's just bad business to sign any player to an extension before you've seen the player do anything that makes him look like he's worth giving a contract extension. In the case of the Broncos and Wilson, they ended up paying $62M per season for one season of a bottom-three-in-the-league starting QB and one season of a "better" sixth-octile starting QB, when they could have spent just $17M for 2022 if their mistake-making spree had stopped at trading a lot of draft capital and three roster-worthy players for Wilson.

I honestly don't remember at what point Wilson's 2023 salary would have been guaranteed under his last contract with the Seahawks, but I suspect the Broncos, if they'd been smart, would have been able to get out of the Wilson situation with only the $17M from 2022 on their 2022 salary cap, and not a bit of the additional $107M of salary-cap carnage two years of a bad QB ended up costing them. At worst, they might have had to eat some or even all of the $22M cap number Wilson would have had for them in 2024, but even $39M for two years of a bad QB is a lot less bad than $124M for the same two years of the same bad QB.

Wilson is now two years older than he was when the Broncos committed the giant blunder of giving him his contract extension, he's got two more bad seasons on his record, and teams have seen that the only way to get good value out of Wilson on the field is "Russ-ball," the offensive non-scheme Carroll and Bevell created to get as much as possible out of Wilson's strengths while minimizing the effects of his weaknesses. No team was going to want to make a multi-year commitment to Wilson this offseason.

The interesting issue to me now is how long it will take before "Team 3" (both his actual entourage and the Russellettes on .NET and other sites like it, Xitter, etc.) starts talking up what a "team player" Wilson is for so magnanimously taking a league-minimum salary to let the team spend more on building a team around him. But as I said at the start of this message, there was never any doubt that Wilson would be getting the league minimum this season if he wanted to be an NFL team.

Good post.

Although Russell's situation is the most dramatic, I don't think that teams are leery of offering him more than the one year prove it deal simply due to the experience the Broncos had with him. There's a lot of teams who painted themselves into a corner with these long-term contracts with quarterbacks who have underperformed, even with quarterbacks that are a lot younger and with more upside, like Daniel Jones with the Giants, Kyler Murray of the Cards, and the Browns with Deshaun Watson.

There's no doubt that Russell is a drama queen. That's one of the reasons why following his plight so entertaining.

 

[flv2]

I'm curious as to what guarantees Wilson is receiving. Is there something that prevents the Steelers from blindsiding the World, moving up in the Draft to get a QB, and then saying to Wilson 'Thanks. Here's your $1.2M guarantee. You can go now'?

 

[IndyHawk]

I'm curious as to what guarantees Wilson is receiving. Is there something that prevents the Steelers from blindsiding the World, moving up in the Draft to get a QB, and then saying to Wilson 'Thanks. Here's your $1.2M guarantee. You can go now'?

They could easily do it at any point of the season and I can see it happening too.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

They could easily do it at any point of the season and I can see it happening too.

Or they sit him as a backup/trade target.

 

[Torc]

Maybe the other teams recognize how gigantic the Broncos' mistake was in 2022 when they gave Wilson a contract extension (an extension that starts this week, by the way, and because I still loathe the Broncos from when the Seahawks were in the AFC West, I find that really, really funny) before he had played even a single snap for them. And not because it's Wilson. It's just bad business to sign any player to an extension before you've seen the player do anything that makes him look like he's worth giving a contract extension. In the case of the Broncos and Wilson, they ended up paying $62M per season for one season of a bottom-three-in-the-league starting QB and one season of a "better" sixth-octile starting QB, when they could have spent just $17M for 2022 if their mistake-making spree had stopped at trading a lot of draft capital and three roster-worthy players for Wilson.

I honestly don't remember at what point Wilson's 2023 salary would have been guaranteed under his last contract with the Seahawks, but I suspect the Broncos, if they'd been smart, would have been able to get out of the Wilson situation with only the $17M from 2022 on their 2022 salary cap, and not a bit of the additional $107M of salary-cap carnage two years of a bad QB ended up costing them. At worst, they might have had to eat some or even all of the $22M cap number Wilson would have had for them in 2024, but even $39M for two years of a bad QB is a lot less bad than $124M for the same two years of the same bad QB.

Wilson is now two years older than he was when the Broncos committed the giant blunder of giving him his contract extension, he's got two more bad seasons on his record, and teams have seen that the only way to get good value out of Wilson on the field is "Russ-ball," the offensive non-scheme Carroll and Bevell created to get as much as possible out of Wilson's strengths while minimizing the effects of his weaknesses. No team was going to want to make a multi-year commitment to Wilson this offseason.

The interesting issue to me now is how long it will take before "Team 3" (both his actual entourage and the Russellettes on .NET and other sites like it, Xitter, etc.) starts talking up what a "team player" Wilson is for so magnanimously taking a league-minimum salary to let the team spend more on building a team around him. But as I said at the start of this message, there was never any doubt that Wilson would be getting the league minimum this season if he wanted to be an NFL team.

Russ' contract extension was not a blunder. It was his requirement for him to waive his no-trade clause. Not to mention, denver was not going to pony up all that draft capital for a rent-a-player - it was in their interests to lock him in for the long haul. If there were no extension, there would have been no trade.

And, he's not getting league minimum. Denver has to pay the difference between what he earns from his new team and $38 million. If the steelers pay him $20 million this year, he doesn't get any more money, it just reduces the cost to Denver. Why would either the Steelers or Russ want to do that?

I'm curious to see how well he plays this year - his NEXT contract is going to be very interesting.

 

[chrispy]

I'm curious as to what guarantees Wilson is receiving. Is there something that prevents the Steelers from blindsiding the World, moving up in the Draft to get a QB, and then saying to Wilson 'Thanks. Here's your $1.2M guarantee. You can go now'?

He'd get his guarantee from the Broncos, right? Even though it's guaranteed by the Steelers, the Broncos pay him that much (more) every Gamecheck. He'd meet the guarantee after 1 week. If they cut him before week 1, just drag it out and wait for Broncos to cover it in week 1. Arbitration would take 6 months so.... I think they could cut him anytime with no repercussion except the cultural damage he had already produced. ...or do I not understand something?

 

[flv2]

He'd get his guarantee from the Broncos, right? Even though it's guaranteed by the Steelers, the Broncos pay him that much (more) every Gamecheck. He'd meet the guarantee after 1 week. If they cut him before week 1, just drag it out and wait for Broncos to cover it in week 1. Arbitration would take 6 months so.... I think they could cut him anytime with no repercussion except the cultural damage he had already produced. ...or do I not understand something?

Wilson will get all of the money he was guaranteed for 2024 by the Broncos. Any money he's paid in 2024 by another team will offset the money he's owed by the Broncos. Thus if the Steelers pay him $1.2M the Broncos will owe him $1.2M less. I'm curious as to what guarantees the Steelers have given him. Potentially there could be 'poison' clauses in the contract that cost the Steelers a lot of money if they release him, but it's the Broncos that would benefit. Alternatively it could be a handshake and a 'my word is my bond' type of deal. Chances are we only find out if the Steelers actually do release him, but it's fun to speculate.

 

[Lagartixa]

Russ' contract extension was not a blunder. It was his requirement for him to waive his no-trade clause. Not to mention, denver was not going to pony up all that draft capital for a rent-a-player - it was in their interests to lock him in for the long haul. If there were no extension, there would have been no trade.

Then they made a huge blunder. They signed a player to a multiyear extension when they had not yet seen him play even a preseason snap for them. As I said, that extension started today. And because of that blunder, they're paying somewhere between $85M and $107M more for the two years of bad performance they got from Wilson than what they would have paid if they'd waited and ended up deciding they didn't want to give him an extension, then cutting him in the 2023 offseason. If the other possibility was not trading for Wilson because he wouldn't agree to it without an extension, then they could have done that and they wouldn't have just paid $124M for two years of what was, on average between those two seasons, a seventh-octile starting QB. If the Seahawks really wanted to move on from Wilson, they might have cut him and then the Broncos or anyone else would have had the same chance the Steelers had this year - to get Wilson on the cheap for a one-year prove-it deal.

And, he's not getting league minimum.

He is from the Steelers, and that's what I was talking about. The rest of your reply is to something I didn't say

Denver has to pay the difference between what he earns from his new team and $38 million. If the steelers pay him $20 million this year, he doesn't get any more money, it just reduces the cost to Denver. Why would either the Steelers or Russ want to do that?

Yes, I said that in the comment to which you were replying. Specifically,

Everyone knew ahead of time it was going to be a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. Because of the offset language, any money any team other than the Broncos pays to Wilson this season just reduces the amount the Broncos need to pay. Wilson's compensation doesn't change at all. So he has no incentive to take more than the league minimum, and his new team has no incentive to offer him more.

I'm curious to see how well he plays this year - his NEXT contract is going to be very interesting.

If he plays another season like the one he had in 2023, his next contract is likely to be with some entity other than an NFL team, or if it is an NFL contract, it's likely to be as a backup or an emergency starter on a team that has lost its starting QB to injury.
I can imagine him performing sufficiently better to be on the next tier up - a cheap bridge starter on a team with no better options.
It seems very unlikely he'll reach the level of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield's current per-year compensation again in his career.

 

[James in PA]

The only "guarantee" Russ has is that he'll make an ass out of himself many more times this year, on and off the field.

 

[WmHBonney]

6 hours of interview, 2 hours of bromance with Tomlin, 1 year of contract at vet minimum.

So much love.

...and he won't be the starter by the end of the season. A leopard cannot change his spots. Russ is another year older and another year slower. He's going to get sacked more than ever. This is just going to be fun to watch.

 

[RiverDog]

I'm curious as to what guarantees Wilson is receiving. Is there something that prevents the Steelers from blindsiding the World, moving up in the Draft to get a QB, and then saying to Wilson 'Thanks. Here's your $1.2M guarantee. You can go now'?

It's unlikely, but I'm sure that's possible. I think we can assume that there was a verbal understanding that he'd be able to at least 'compete' for the starting job. We'll have to see what happens with Kenny Pickett, if they decide to trade him. If they trade him, then it's pretty clear that Russell will be the starter on opening day.

BTW, as some have pointed out, the Broncos and Steelers play each other this season in Denver. Any bets that it will be on opening weekend in Prime Time, ie SNF or MNF, like it was two years ago when Russell came back to Seattle? It would be a schedule maker's dream.

 

[toffee]

...and he won't be the starter by the end of the season. A leopard cannot change his spots. Russ is another year older and another year slower. He's going to get sacked more than ever. This is just going to be fun to watch.

Stat-wise, Wilson was middle of the road last season and his WRs did drop a few balls on him. Yes, he is a year older and probably a year slower, IMHO, he is on that express train into the journeymen category.