Russell Wilson looked out of place in a blue-and-orange No. 3 jersey. That will take some time getting used to.
“It’s a blessing to wear this jersey,” Wilson said Monday.
Wilson didn’t slip and say, “Go Hawks!” at the end of his news conference after his first practice at the team facility. He instead said, “Let’s ride!” after the Broncos finished their first day of a three-day voluntary minicamp.
“I want to be here obviously, to live here, and hopefully I can get to finish my career here and all that stuff, too,” Wilson said. “I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
In 158 starts in Seattle, Wilson went 104-53-1. Among quarterbacks, only Peyton Manning had more wins in the first 10 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with 105.
Last season was the first season in Wilson’s career that he finished with a losing record.
The Broncos won with John Elway and Manning as their quarterback, but since Manning’s retirement following the 2015 season, Denver is only 39-58 and has started 10 quarterbacks. The Broncos, though, are confident they finally have another franchise quarterback.
“At the end of the day, this is a winning organization,” Wilson said. “That’s one of the reasons why it made sense for me if I was going to go somewhere I had to go somewhere that wanted to win, and this is one of those places that definitely wants to do that.”
That is the one and only reason Wilson OK’d a trade to Denver, he said.
“I came here to win. I came here to win,” he said. “That’s our mindset, so whatever it takes to do that, we’re going to do.”
After back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, Wilson and the Seahawks went only 3-5 in the postseason the rest of his career in Seattle. Now, he gets to start over in Denver.
“What I would say to any young player coming in is take advantage of your opportunity,” Wilson said. “I always say dreams come true when you capitalize on opportunities, so take advantage of it. So I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of mine. I’ve still got more to do. I’ve still got some more opportunities to take advantage of.”