The Denver Broncos are paying Russell Wilson nearly $40 million in 2024 to not be on the team, and with him now being on the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2024 NFL Season opener was right there. In what is a pretty boring season opener, the NFL will see the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens open up the 2024 NFL Season.
We've seen this teams face off many times over the years, and with the amount of new and fun teams in the league, this game feels pretty forced and boring in a weird way. Why not have the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans open up the season? That game sounds way more fun, to me.
The 2024 NFL opener is now set: #Chiefs vs #Ravens on Sept. 5 — an AFC title game rematch. pic.twitter.com/w5sWxuxeAY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 13, 2024
Or, perhaps an even better game would have been to stick the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening game slot. The two teams meet at Mile High during the 2024 NFL Season, and the stakes will be high, even if the two teams aren't great. Russell Wilson was cut by the Broncos earlier this offseason in a historic financial move.
The Broncos will now be eating $85 million in dead money, an NFL record, to have Russell Wilson not play for them. Wilson signed a veteran minimum deal with the Steelers, and oddly enough, he's a QB upgrade over what they had last year. Wilson had a very good statistical season for the Broncos in 2023; he totaled 29 touchdowns and threw just eight interceptions.
But as many of us watched, Wilson was not efficient in the passing game and was simply not capable of working the middle of the field or the intermediate part of the passing offense. The Steelers bought into the misleading stats and signed Wilson through the 2024 NFL Season. While the Broncos and Steelers may not win more than eight or so games this year, the NFL had a very easy and entertaining game at their fingertips to open up the 2024 season.