Why the Broncos should hope Russell Wilson is a Raider in 2024

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler had an anonymous NFL executive tell him that he believes Russell Wilson could become a member of the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2024 season. If this is true, Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos should be doing backflips. Let's take a look at some reasons why the Broncos should hope Russell Wilson is a Raider in 2024.

Age and production

Russell Wilson put together a nice 2023 campaign, all things considered. Wilson was coming off the worst year of his career, and arguably the worst of any quarterback ever, considering Wilson's history, new contract, and the package it took to get him to Denver from Seattle. Russ will be 35 for the first half of the 2024 season and is coming off a mostly decent campaign. However, there is minimal reason, if any, to expect progression from Russ next year, much less anything other than regression. Wilson's 2023 season might be the last strong one the veteran has in the bag, and it makes sense for the Broncos to move on.

The main issue for Russ is that he struggles to throw the ball in the middle of the field, needs a great running game behind him, and needs to be able to be mobile to make big plays. Wilson's legs are simply not what they used to be. On top of that, the Raiders are one Davonte Adams trade, which there have been plenty of rumors of, away from having virtually no explosive weapons on the outside, and Josh Jacobs seems to have an ever-changing relationship with the franchise. A Wilson tenure in Las Vegas might be the type of move that Antonio Pierce vouches for as he continues to try and build a locker room and culture, but a Russell Wilson move would set the franchise back.

Raiders QB situation remains in flux

Russell Wilson was just good enough last year that he will most likely be able to find a starting job somewhere, meaning that wherever he goes, he should start. This would be the case in Las Vegas. Russ would be added to a quarterbacks room that has Jimmy G with one more year on his deal and current starter Aiden O'Connell. Adding Wilson would mean the Raiders would likely move on from one of their two other quarterbacks, but would most importantly signal that the Raiders would not be in on most all of the top quarterbacks in this year's draft.

Virtually all of the top quarterbacks in this upcoming NFL draft would be starters on day one, aside from JJ McCarthy. Unless the Raiders zoned in on McCarthy as their quarterback, bringing in Wilson would take the Raiders out of the upper class of draft quarterbacks.

The team is in their first year of quarterback limbo following the departure of Derek Carr and could resolve it quickly this year in the draft. However, this scenario keeps the Raiders from doing so. Tom Telesco has swung big for quarterbacks before, see Justin Herbert, but his first offseason in Las Vegas might cause him to be a little more hesitant with drafting a quarterback so long as he can bring in what he believes to be a viable veteran option in the short term.

Enter, Russell Wilson.