Following the viral news that the Denver Broncos have decided to move forward in a new direction with their starting quarterback position by benching Russell Wilson for the final two games, NFL insider for Bleacher Report, Jordan Schultz, made a very interesting report regarding the situation. According to Schultz, the Broncos approached Wilson in late October following their Week 8 victory
over the Kansas City Chiefs about possibly removing the $37M in injury guarantees from his contract.
Since then, the Broncos have posted a 4-3 record but have descended their playoff hopes by a large percentage. Meanwhile, in the month of December, the Broncos have lost three of their last four matchups, and quarterback Russell Wilson has not put out the best performances on film. In fact, his play has severely held back Denver's offense and as a result, has led him to the bench for the first time in his NFL career since his rookie season. But does Russell Wilson himself believe that is the only reason as to why he was benched with two weeks remaining in the season?
As you can see throughout this post, Russell Wilson was seen liking tweets that suggested members of the Broncos organization "threatened" to bench him and make him inactive halfway through the season if he did not remove his injury guarantees in his contract. It is important to note that Schultz does have strong ties to Wilson's camp and was very detailed in his reporting of this situation. Not to mention, Wilson is very selective with what he does on social media therefore, this could be his indirect way of hinting to the media/fanbase what really went down between both sides.
Conversely, Broncos insider for 9News, Mike Klis, reported that the decision to bench Wilson has "nothing" to do with Wilson's contract. In a recent article, Klis states: "Several league sources strongly refuted reports the Broncos threatened to bench Wilson if he didn’t adjust an injury guarantee. No threats were made ... the team dropped the topic when no agreement was reached."
One parallel we are seeing in comparison between Klis and Schultz is that the Broncos front office did in fact approach Wilson about removing his injury guarantees during the season. However, one report seems to be strongly connected directly to Wilson's camp while the other seems to be relaying information directly from the Broncos' front office. While Wilson could be liking these tweets for "motivation", as we have seen athletes do in the past, the general consensus is that Wilson is essentially confirming the claim made by the sources of Jordan Schultz. If true, this could be a horrible look for the Broncos organization.