Russell Wilson has insisted he wants to stay with the Denver Broncos, despite being benched by the franchise for the last two games of the season due to a standoff over his contract.
The quarterback spoke at length on the bombshell news from earlier this week and maintained he wanted to stay at the Broncos and win Super Bowls with the team.
Multiple reports on Wednesday night said the Broncos spoke to Wilson on Halloween – two days after leading the team to victory over the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs – where they warned him he would be made inactive if he didn’t defer $37million in guarantees in his contract.
‘I came here to play here, to win. I knew it was going to be a process. I signed a seven-year deal,’ he said.
‘I want to be here, I want to play here, I want to win championships here. I want to give my all every week. I want to be the best teammate and leader I can be.’
Russell Wilson has insisted he wants to stay with the Broncos, despite being benched
Wilson will miss the last two games of the regular season vs. Chargers and the Raiders
Wilson admitted on Friday that his NFL future is very possibly away from the Broncos
I asked #Broncos Russell Wilson if he was looking over his shoulder after bye week when there was no adjustment in contract. He also said he was not taking out injury guarantee “because it’s a physical game and I don’t play timid.” #Denver7 pic.twitter.com/Fb6NPVks42
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) December 29, 2023
But the 35-year-old admitted he doesn’t know if he will still be in Denver next year. Reports earlier this week, when it emerged Wilson would be benched, it was reported he think he’ll be cut by March.
He also confirmed that he was warned he’d be benched in October, after beating the Kansas City Chiefs, that if he didn’t change his injury guarantee, he would be benched.
‘They came up to me during the bye week and told me if I didn’t change my contract, my injury guarantee, I’d be benched for the rest of the year,’ Wilson said.
‘It definitely hurt. It was a low blow for a bit. At the end of the day, I just want to keep my head down and try to do what I can do each play, each game, each moment.
‘Every day you wake up, you realize it´s a gift to play this game. I’m grateful for that. I hope that it´s here. And I hope that it´s here for a long time.
‘If it’s not here, then I´ll be prepared to do that somewhere else. But I hope that it´s here.’
As it was, Wilson was not immediately benched and played on up to now and the Broncos stand at 7-8 for the season with two games to go.
They host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and round the season out on the road to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Wilson underlined his desire to stay in Denver and win a Super Bowl title with the team
But after developments this week, it looks increasingly likely Wilson will leave the Broncos
The Broncos need to win out and have the Chiefs lose their last two games to make the postseason for the first time since winning the Super Bowl following the 2015 season.
Denver has gone 11-19 in the two seasons since signing Wilson, 35, at extortionate cost from the Seahawks in 2022.
The quarterback has earned $124million, while the Broncos have also given up more than $85m in dead cap money over 2024 and 2025.
Noah Fant, Drew Lock, Shelby Harris were traded to Seattle as part of the trade, as were a 2022 first round pick (Charles Cross), a 2022 second round pick (Boye Mafe), 2022 fifth round pick (Tyreke Smith), a 2023 first round pick (Devon Witherspoon) and 2023 second round pick (Derick Hall).