Report: Russell Wilson On a 'One-Year Audition' With Sean Payton

How solid is the ground Russell Wilson finds himself on with Sean Payton now calling the shots in Denver?

The story of the 2023 Denver Broncos will revolve almost entirely around the relationship between veteran quarterback Russell Wilson and recently acquired head coach Sean Payton.

With Wilson coming off the worst season of his career and Payton returning to the NFL coaching scene after taking a year away, how these two work together to fix an ailing Denver offense will have the NFL landscape captivated for the 2023 season.

Wilson was potentially on a Hall-of-Fame path before the egg he laid in 2022, but many believe that last season could be an unfortunate outlier and that Payton is just the kind of coach to get the QB playing great football once again. Down the stretch of Payton's tenure with the New Orleans Saints, the team seemed to fade with an aging Drew Brees, but he's still considered by many to be one of the best offensive minds in all of football.

If the two can come together in 2023, perhaps combined, Payton and Wilson can return great offense and winning football to the Mile High City. But how will the relationship between the two play out?

Publicly, both Payton and Wilson have only been complementary of each other. However, after keeping his ear low to the floor at the NFL Combine, NBC Sports' fantasy football guru Matthew Berry, long considered to be an NFL insider, claims one side may not be as keen on a potential long-term relationship as the other.

Speaking of big name QBs coming off down years, more than one person mentioned to me that Russell Wilson is basically on a one-year audition. There's no way Denver can cut him this year, but next year, while the dead cap hit would certainly be bad, it could be spread out over two years and wouldn't be franchise crippling. Said one source “I don't think [Sean] Payton likes Russ. He's got one year to prove himself or Payton will move on.” This source pointed out that Payton has said multiple times in public, on the record, how Russell keeps “bothering Drew Brees.” Payton tries to play it off for a laugh, but my source doesn't think Payton actually think it's funny.

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The Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year extension worth $245 million with $165M guaranteed last summer. The first-year returns on that investment put the Broncos in the red.

During Denver's search for a head coach to replace Nathaniel Hackett, there were unsubstantiated, yet ample, rumors that Payton might not choose to come to Denver because of his opinion of Wilson. Denver still landed Payton, but perhaps there was more truth to these Payton rumors than first met the eye. 

Regardless of the rumors and the relationship between the quarterback and head coach, this is now Payton’s team. If Wilson plays as poorly as he did last season, or even if he plays better but not to Payton's standard, he very well could be out in Denver.

If “Payton doesn’t like Russ,” as Berry’s source stated in the article, it could be a difficult hill to climb for Wilson to play well enough next season to return to Denver after his “one-year audition.”

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