The Pittsburgh Steelers have failed to put a long-term QB solution in place ever since Roethlisberger retired, and the legendary QB made an odd statement directed toward the Broncos. You just have to wonder when the Steelers organization and their fans will accept their fate with Russell Wilson, their starting QB for the 2024 NFL Season.
Wilson came over in free agency after two failed seasons with the Denver Broncos. Wilson made 30 starts in the orange and blue, and Denver won just 11 of those games. The Broncos made a bold move to cut Wilson, absorbing an NFL-record $85 million in dead cap while also paying Wilson nearly $40 million to not play for the team in 2024.
This is now the third team in four years for Russell Wilson, which tells you all you need to know. He's entering his age-36 season in the NFL and is a very declined QB at this point. Well, on his "Footbahlin" podcast, Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger made an odd statement directed at the Denver Broncos:
""Thank you, Denver, for paying," Roethlisberger said. "Denver paid Russ like $38 million to go away. Which is, ok, nine-time Pro Bowler, I don’t know his stats, nine-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl. And we’re like, ok, we’ll take him. Thank you.""Ben Roethlisberger
Uhm, OK. Did "Big Ben" even watch Russell Wilson in the 2023 NFL Season? Did he watch him at all this preseason? Why in the world is he thanking the Denver Broncos for Russell Wilson? As I have said for a while now, there is a reason why the Broncos are taking on the financial fallout with Wilson's contract.
There is a distinct reason why the Broncos were willing to eat all that dead cap and pay Wilson tens of millions of dollars to not play for the team anymore.
Russell Wilson is not good anymore.
He's not. He's not a week-to-week starter in the NFL anymore, and that's just the cold, hard truth. Sure, Russell Wilson can probably slide into a backup role quite nicely. But as we saw during the 2023 NFL Season, the Broncos offense was just way too inconsistent, even with Sean Payton calling the plays. Honestly, it's a miracle that Payton was able to drag Wilson to the season he did.
But the offensive genius of Sean Payton didn't even want to continue working with Wilson. Steelers fans tried to hype up the Russell Wilson signing when it happened, but in time, they should see why the Broncos discarded him like they did.