As the Broncos move toward the conclusion of their first season with Sean Payton as head coach, all eyes and ears will continue to be on the question of whether the team will keep quarterback Russell Wilson through March 2024, when another $37 million becomes fully guaranteed.
Wilson evaded a question about his future after the Christmas Eve loss to the Patriots. While Payton wasn’t asked about it directly by reporters on Tuesday, a question about the consistency of the offense sparked a response that could be regarded as ominous.
“So many times, when we look at some of that stuff, it’s self-inflicted problems,” Payton said. “That has to get cleaned up. That’s communication. That might be having to reduce — is there too much in? Right now, we’re average to below average in a lot of things offensively, and it’s not good enough.”
Given that Wilson is the straw that’s stirring the drink, the fact that the drink isn’t being stirred to the satisfaction of the chief bartender makes it a problem. Especially since there are only two chances remaining for getting things “cleaned up.”
“I think the ongoing step is understanding how not to lose games before you learn how to win them,” Payton later said. “Two-thirds of the games we see each weekend are lost before they’re ever won. We’re still learning that the hard way.”
Only Payton knows who he believes is responsible for that. But, again, the quarterback is the guy at the heart of making it all work. For now, the focus is to get a win in the final home game of the season, against the Chargers, and then to worry after that about the question of whether they can get to the playoffs.
“We haven’t played well at home, or at least to the expectations certainly from Broncos fans and then from my experience of playing at home,” Payton said.
The team’s plans for Wilson likely won’t be known until after the season ends. If, however, the Broncos lose at home to the Chargers and end up eliminated before a Week 18 visit to the Raiders, the immediate question becomes whether Payton will decide to give Jarrett Stidham a chance to see what he can do in the offense. Whatever the explanation would be, it might/will be interpreted as a move to ensure that Wilson doesn’t emerge from the last game with an injury that prevents the Broncos from tearing up Wilson’s contract before the next $37 million vests.
That’s exactly what the Raiders did last year with Derek Carr — giving Stidham a chance to play the last two games of the year and preserving the Raiders’ ability to make a change at the position that resides at the heart of every NFL offense.
