Breaking: NFLPA leader accuse Broncos for abusing a 35-year old star
The NFL Players Association believes the Denver Broncos “mistreated” quarterback Russell Wilson this season, according to the union’s executive director, Lloyd Howell.
“We believe that our member was in the right and was being mistreated,” Howell said. “And so whether it’s coming from Jeffrey [Kessler, an NFLPA attorney] or other efforts that may not have been as visible, we support our player and how they should be treated, be it financially or in any other manner.”
The NFLPA told the Broncos and the NFL’s management council in a Nov. 4 letter by Kessler that the team’s threat to bench Wilson if he did not agree to adjust his contract was illegal and violated the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA, creating the possibility the union would initiate an arbitration proceeding or litigation against the team and the league.
The Broncos benched Wilson in December in favor of Jarrett Stidham, who started the final two games of the season. Howell declined to say whether the NFLPA has or will initiate arbitration or litigation on Wilson’s behalf.
“I’m not going to get much farther than what I’ve said, other than it was a matter that we felt our player needed to be supported,” Howell said. “And we are supporting that player.”
Howell made his comments Wednesday before a small group of reporters following the NFLPA’s annual news conference during Super Bowl week.
Howell also was asked about the matter during the news conference, held at the Super Bowl media center at the Mandalay Bay resort.
“With that matter … the [players association] is very involved working with our member, as well as their representative, and working to get it to a resolution that’s protecting our member and putting them in the best financial position that was originally agreed to,” Howell said. “And that will continue. I’m not going to get into exactly what happened and didn’t happen with Russ. But the PA was involved, and we did get to a resolution.”
The Broncos declined to comment Thursday through a spokesman. Coach Sean Payton said during the season that his decision to change quarterbacks was based on football considerations, not on issues related to Wilson’s contract.
Wilson told reporters in December that the Broncos had threatened in late October to bench him for the remainder of the season if he did not agree to adjust his contract and address an injury guarantee tied to a $37 million offseason payment.
“They came up to me during the bye week, the beginning of the bye week, on Monday or Tuesday,” Wilson said then, “and they told me that if I didn’t change my contract, my injury guarantee, that I’d be benched for the rest of the year.”
Wilson, 35, has spent two seasons with the Broncos after 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks in which he was selected to nine Pro Bowls and reached two Super Bowls, winning one of them. He was the NFL’s eighth-rated passer this season.
He is under contract with the Broncos through the 2028 season. The Broncos signed him to a five-year, approximately $245 million extension in September 2022. That was after they’d traded for him that March, sending a package of players and draft picks – including two first-round selections – to the Seahawks.
Under Wilson’s contract, the $37 million payment becomes fully guaranteed next month. It currently is guaranteed against injury only.
It remains likely that the Broncos will trade or release Wilson in the offseason, according to a person familiar with the situation. The team has said it has not made a decision on Wilson’s status. His contract would count about $85 million against the Broncos’ salary cap if they release him, although that could be spread over more than one season.
