Russell Wilson has not played for the Denver Broncos since 2023. His time with the team is long over. But his contract is still haunting them.
Wilson is a Super Bowl winner and a 10 time Pro Bowler. He once sat among the best quarterbacks in the league. Now, he is near the end of his career. After leaving Denver, he spent the 2024 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then he joined the New York Giants. He is currently a backup and no longer the face of a franchise.
Denver’s decision to trade for Wilson in 2022 changed everything for the team. At the time, it felt like the right move. The Broncos had been searching for a quarterback since Peyton Manning retired. They believed Wilson was the answer. They believed he would bring them back into the AFC spotlight.
Soon after trading for him, Denver gave Wilson a massive contract extension. It was a huge gamble. And it did not pay off.
Wilson never looked like his old self in Denver. The offense struggled. The team struggled. His exit from the Broncos was not smooth. Still, Denver somehow managed to recover. They hired Sean Payton. They drafted Bo Nix. And despite the damage from Wilson’s contract, they made back to back playoff appearances.
Wilson is no longer being paid by the Broncos directly. But his contract still counts against their salary cap.
Right now, Wilson is finishing a 1 year deal worth $10.5 million with the Giants. That contract ends when the 2026 league year begins. Since leaving Denver, Wilson has taken short deals. One in Pittsburgh. One in New York. He does not need huge contracts anymore. He already made his money.
The real money came in September 2022. That is when Wilson signed a 5 year extension with Denver worth $245 million. A massive $165 million of that was guaranteed. At the time, he still had 2 years left on his old Seahawks contract.
Back then, the move made sense. Wilson had just thrown for over 3,100 yards with 25 touchdowns in 2021. The year before that, he threw a career high 40 touchdowns. Denver thought they had their quarterback for the next decade.
Instead, the deal became one of the worst contracts in recent NFL history.
Wilson struggled in his first season with the Broncos. In his second season, things got worse. He was eventually benched. Denver released him in March 2024. But releasing him did not make the contract disappear.
Wilson already received all of his guaranteed money. In 2024 alone, Denver paid him around $37.8 million even though he was playing for the Steelers on a cheap deal.
In 2025, Wilson is not getting paid by the Broncos at all. Yet his contract still counts as a $32 million dead cap hit. In 2024, that dead cap number was even worse at $53 million. Only in 2026 will his deal finally be fully off Denver’s books.
That $32 million dead cap hit is massive. It is more than any active Broncos player. It is even more than the combined cap hits of Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham, and Courtland Sutton.
Mike McGlinchey is the highest paid active player on the roster with a cap hit under $24 million. Wilson’s number is still much higher. And he is not even on the team.
Despite all of this, Denver still went 14 and 3 in 2025 and won a playoff game. That alone shows how well they rebuilt around the damage.
Wilson’s release came after things clearly fell apart. Denver went 5 and 12 in 2023. The offense was the worst in the league. Wilson had his lowest completion rate ever. He threw 11 interceptions and was sacked more than any other quarterback. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett was fired.
In 2024, Sean Payton took over. Wilson’s numbers improved. He threw 26 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions. But the team still missed the playoffs. Late in the season, Denver made a shocking decision.
They benched Wilson in Week 16. Not because of injury. Not because of performance alone. But because of money.
Wilson had a $37 million injury guarantee for 2025. If he got hurt, Denver would owe even more. The team said they wanted to protect their financial flexibility. It was almost unheard of.
Soon after, Wilson was released.
By that point, everyone knew the ending. The relationship was broken. The contract damage was already done.
Over his career, Russell Wilson has earned around $316 million. About $181 million came from the Seahawks. Around $122 million came from the Broncos.
He is still being paid in memory more than in reality.