The big story in the sports world yesterday was the announcement that the Denver Broncos are going to release QB Russell Wilson, and take an $85 million cap hit over the next two years.
The Broncos made a blockbuster trade with Seattle two years ago to acquire Wilson, giving up many draft picks and players, and then signed him to a five-year, $242.6 million deal.
Sean Payton took over as Denver’s coach last off-season. This was after Wilson struggled in his first year with the Broncos. In an interview with USA Today, published on July 27, 2023, Payton essentially blamed everybody but Wilson for the quarterback’s struggles in Denver in 2022.
“That wasn’t his fault,” Payton said. “That was the parents who allowed it. That’s not an incrimination on him but an incrimination on the head coach, the GM, the president and everybody else who watched it all happen.
“Oh, man, there’s so much dirt around that. There are 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense. I don’t know (Nathaniel) Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall?”
Maybe he did hit a wall. Maybe he did flip.
So perhaps Payton shouldn’t have thrown all those people under the bus, including Hackett, the Jets current OC, who was the head coach of Denver for part of the 2022 season.
Bottom line: With the release of Wilson, Payton now failed as a “parent” himself.
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