Denver Broncos officially release QB Russel Wilson

DENVER — The Broncos on Monday notified quarterback Russell Wilson he will be released when the new NFL season officially opens next Wednesday, thus bringing closure to the worst transaction in team history.

It was also will go down as the NFL’s worst trade since the infamous Herschel Walker deal between the Vikings and Cowboys in 1989.

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By releasing Wilson now, the Broncos essentially will pay him $124 million for two years of service and 11 wins.

Not bad work if you can’t find it.

The timing of the release means the Broncos will split their dead cap hit between 2024 and 2025. The split will either be $53 million in 2024 and $32 million in 2025, or $35.4 million in 2024 and $49.6 million in 2025.

For it wasn’t just the trade that made this transaction a terrible disappointment but the contract extension the Broncos negotiated with Wilson before he ever played a down for the team.

Looking back, it seems clear Broncos general manager George Paton had initially targeted Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a possible trade during the 2022 offseason. How else to explain Paton’s hiring of Packers’ offensive coordinator and Rodgers’ favorite Nathaniel Hackett to become the Broncos’ head coach in January 2022?

When nothing materialized with Rodgers, Paton turned his attention to Wilson, who was in the middle of a messy departure from Seattle. Wilson had spent the first 10 seasons of his career in Seattle, earning 9 Pro Bowl berths and winning more games through his first 10 years than any quarterback in NFL history.

He appeared to be on a Hall of Fame trajectory when he waived his no-trade clause to join the Broncos. The terms of the deal with the Seahawks: The Broncos surrendered two first-round draft picks (one in 2022, one in 2023), two second-round picks (one in 2022, one in 2023), a fifth-round selection and veterans Noah Fant, a starting tight end, starting defensive lineman Shelby Harris and former starting turned back quarterback Drew Lock in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round selection.

Even the fourth-round pick was a disaster as the Broncos used it on defensive tackle Eyioma Uwazurike, who barely played his rookie year and was suspended his entire second season for gambling.

When the deal came down, it seemed all but the most skeptical of Broncos Country celebrated the move. The Broncos were finally going to resolve their quarterback position that had been a problem since Peyton Manning retired after the team’s Super Bowl 50 season in 2015.

As it turned out, Wilson not only wasn’t the answer to the quarterback problem, the Broncos made it worse by giving him a contract extension that paid him $57 million in his first year of 2022 ($50 million in signing bonus), $28 million in his second season of 2023 and are still on the hook to pay him a guaranteed $39 million for the 2024 season.

“As we move forward, we are focused on building the strongest team possible for the 2024 season and beyond,’’ Payton and Paton said in a joint statement. “We are excited to improve this offseason and will have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency.”

So why release him? Two reasons: One, the Broncos don’t have to pay him his scheduled $37 million in 2025, which they would have if he was still on their roster March 17. Two, Broncos head coach Sean Payton – who replaced the fired Hackett in 2023 – became increasingly exasperated with Wilson during their one season together. The head coach-quarterback relationship devolved into Payton angrily shouting at Wilson on the sidelines during back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions, followed by Payton benching Wilson in favor of backup Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of the season.

“Tough times don’t last but tough people do,” Wilson wrote on his social media account. “God’s got me. I’m excited for what’s next.”

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