Russell Wilson was anything but overpaid with his new contract
Russell Wilson’s new contract on Thursday is paying him $245 over five years, but the Super Bowl champion quarterback is anything but overpaid. Social media usually has a field day with the entirety of the sports world, but more so when quarterbacks sign mega-deals.
It’s been no different with Russell Wilson and his new contract extension that he signed on Thursday. The five-year extension has $165 million in guarantees and is worth $245 million in total. It adds to his current deal, which makes it a seven-year, $296 million pact.
It’s an extremely good deal for the Denver Broncos that will allow them to still surround Wilson with quality players in future free agency periods. However, Russell Wilson’s extension that pays him an average of $49 million per year is right on par with what franchise quarterbacks are getting, especially elite ones.
Put simply, teams that aren’t dishing out $40 million/year or richer contract extensions don’t have a viable franchise quarterback on their roster. With the recent evolution of the NFL trending more towards offense, teams are essentially needing to have an elite quarterback in order to win.
Just look at the last several Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks: Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, and Patrick Mahomes. Quarterbacks need to be the very best in the NFL in order to win the big game, and Wilson is one of them. The Denver Broncos weren’t going to get away with paying Wilson anything less than what he got, and you better believe that about 25 other teams in the NFL would have had no issue dumping their current quarterback for a shot to sign Wilson.
Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson both got over $45 million per year, Patrick Mahomes signed for $45 million per year a couple of offseasons ago, and players like Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and Dak Prescott are in the $40 million per year range. This is what the quarterback market has turned into, whether fans agree with it or not.
In fact, Russell Wilson’s extension is likely to get buried as players like Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert sign their deals. The numbers for franchise quarterbacks are going to continue to climb, and a big reason for this is the steady increase in the NFL’s salary cap. Teams and players’ agents also constantly negotiate these deals, and agents want the best for their players, so naturally, they’ll ask for more money.
It’s all a business and a game, and it’s only going to get more lucrative. Russell Wilson, who has only had one losing season in his career, along with winning a Super Bowl and over 100 regular season games in his first ten seasons, is plenty deserving of this contract extension.