Earlier this year, the Broncos traded for quarterback Russell Wilson. Unlike Deshaun Watson, Wilson didn’t get a new contract in his way through the door.
On Thursday, new CEO Greg Penner (son-in-law of primary owner Rob Walton) was asked about plans for a long-term deal with Wilson.
“First of all, we couldn’t have been more excited as we were going through the process to see that the organization had made the trade for Russell,” Penner told reporters. “It’s critical to have a great quarterback in this league and coming in this organization with Russell in place is a tremendous benefit for us. On our first diligence trip in May here, one of the first people we ran into the hallway when Rob [Walton], Carrie [Walton Penner], and I were here was Russell. Right away, we got a sense of how positive he is as a leader. He is just such a dynamic individual. I can’t wait to see him on the field. I don’t know how much we will see of him on the field on Saturday, but we are looking forward to it. At this point, nothing to say about his contract.”
Wilson has two years left on his existing contract. He typically gets a new deal with one season remaining.
The Broncos, by giving up so much to get him, obviously have welcomed the reality of giving him a major deal. The biggest question is whether he’ll squeeze a fully-guaranteed deal from an ownership that can sneeze $200 million or so into escrow, for the purposes of complying with the league’s outdated funding rule.
But here’s the bottom line. The longer they wait, the more expensive it will be to sign him. The cap keeps going up. The market keeps going up. And Wilson’s price will keep going up.