The important thing is they beat the Bears. Now it'll be harder to tank for Caleb. Caleb could possibly negate the Hell we sent them to since that franchise destroying trade. I was sweating bullets yesterday.
First, there is frequently a QB prospect that everyone agrees will be the #1 overall pick in the next draft, and as you can see by
looking at a list of QBs drafted #1 overall, the chance of such a QB turning into a franchise-lifting great QB is surprisingly small.
Second, the Broncos roster already has some holes, and the big cap hits from the albatross of a contract extension the Broncos gave Wilson before he'd played a single snap for them will only start to hit next year. So that completely undoes one of the biggest advantages of drafting a QB - the potential low cap hits for a QB, who then doesn't have to be great to be a tremendous bargain. The Seahawks took advantage of having Wilson on a third-round rookie contract to spend money on other parts of the team. The Broncos, even if they managed to draft Williams next year, would not have that advantage. They'd in fact have one of the highest cap hits for their QB room in the league, between Williams's cap hits that should be somewhere along the lines of $7M, $9M, $10M, and $12M for the four fully guaranteed-at-signing years of his rookie contract and Wilson's cap hits of $35.4M, $55.4M, and $58.4M over 2024-2026. And cutting or trading Wilson doesn't get them out of cap hell either, because there's still a lot of money from his signing bonus that has to be accounted for on the Broncos' cap. Even if they cut him after 2024, when they can actually get a little cap savings, there'll still be nearly $50M of not-yet-accounted-for bonus money that'll have to either fall on their 2025 cap or be split into $18.4M on the 2025 cap and $31.2M on the 2026 cap.
I
hope the Broncos draft Williams, and keep in mind that I still have more loathing in my heart for the Broncos and Raiders than I do for the Seahawks' current division rivals. Even if they get Williams, the Broncos will either have the cap-costliest backup in league history or they'll be suffering with the cap accounting for a recently cut or traded Wilson for another season or two. Either way, the Broncos should be in bad shape for a few years, because there's no way they could build a good team around Williams I'm looking forward to much Bronco failure in the next 3-4 years. The Wilson contract extension is the gift that keeps on giving to people like me who really enjoy watching the Broncos fail.
