After the Denver Broncos benched Russell Wilson in December, the quarterback revealed that the team had threatened to bench him months earlier if he did not agree to revise his contract.
The Broncos have not specifically denied that they threatened to bench Wilson during contract negotiations, but they have claimed Wilson was benched for football reasons, not his contract. Denver has also said the quarterback could remain with the team in 2024.
During his end-of-season press conference last week, diplomatic Broncos owner/CEO Greg Penner acknowledged that the team could have handled some of the Wilson situation differently.
“Anytime you have a situation like this, and you try to have these conversations, it’s not always going to be easy,” Penner said. “You always look back and there’s different ways you can handle things. I’m sure in this case, we could have done some things in a different way. Again, our goal was to try and see if there was a nice, constructive path forward that was amenable to both parties.”
Penner said he believes the team approached Wilson’s agent “in a constructive way,” but he did not specifically deny a threat.
Now the club will have to make a decision on Wilson this offseason. Penner has maintained that Wilson’s contract will not dictate the team’s decision.
“The financial part of it is a significant component, in terms of how this works out in the future, but that’s not what will drive the decision,” Penner said. “The decision will be driven by what’s in the best interest of this football team winning games.”
Wilson expects to be cut by the team in March. If he does not revise his contract, a split seems likely this spring.
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