The 2022 season was an overall disaster for the Denver Broncos. Former head coach Nathaniel Hackett was fired in-season by the Broncos. He is only the 4th rookie head coach that had ever happened to. Additionally, their offense as a whole was far from where it needed to be. That included the QB play from Russell Wilson.
To turn their franchise around on the field, the Broncos traded a first-round pick to the Saints for head coach Sean Payton. His goal this season is to revamp Denver’s offense and get Wilson back to his winning ways. Payton had an NSFW message to Russell Wilson ahead of the 2023 season as a bit of a wake-up call.
Russell Wilson needs to take Sean Payton’s message as a bit of a reality check moving forward
Report: According to ESPN, #Broncos coach Sean Payton told QB Russell Wilson that to salvage his career he needed to focus less on “Russell Inc.”
“Will you f—ing stop kissing all the babies?” Payton said. “You’re not running for public office.”
“He can be difficult,” says… pic.twitter.com/MsRpTFhrSy
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 6, 2023
In the X post above, you can see that Sean Payton had some choice words for Russell Wilson. Reports from this offseason said that Wilson had a little too much freedom with the Broncos last season. The Athletic stated that the nine-time Pro Bowler was allowed to bring outside members into the training facility that was not his coaching staff.
Additionally, he was given a workspace and an office. When Sean Payton arrived, that quickly changed. All that freedom Wilson had was taken away. Payton is a successful NFL coach and he’s serious about turning the Broncos around. To do that offensively, he needs to get the most out of what Russell Wilson has left,
Bruh… This Sean Payton & Russell Wilson news is crazy. Dude is going all the way opposite of how anyone has treated Russ or even thought about him. If it works he’s a genius, & if it doesn’t… Well, never mind. It almost seems he hopes it doesn’t.
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) September 6, 2023
To put it bluntly, the Broncos’ offense in 2022 was horribly run. Nobody was put in a position to be successful, especially QB Russell Wilson. In 2o22, the 34-year-old was sacked a league-leading 58 times. His 16 touchdown passes and (.605) completion percentage were both career lows. All the blame can’t be put on Wilson. It was his first year in a new system that was severely mismanaged.
Luckily, Sean Payton has proven in the past that he can make offenses run smoothly with an older QB. In his last few seasons with the Saints, he had Drew Brees at the tail end of his career. Brees was 40 and 41 in his last two NFL seasons. Russell Wilson will turn 35 this season and he still has a lot left in the tank. He’s lost 15 this offseason and is ready to turn around the Broncos in 2023.
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