Broncos bench Russell Wilson for final two games of season, will start Jarrett Stidham

The Denver Broncos will start Jarrett Stidham at quarterback and move Russell Wilson to the bench for the final two games of the regular season, the team announced Wednesday.

ESPN reported that Denver’s first-year head coach Sean Payton met with Wilson on Wednesday morning to inform him of his decision and then told the team. The 35-year-old is guaranteed $37 million for injury for the 2025 season that vests in March, per the report. He signed a five-year, $242.6 million extension with the Broncos following his trade from the Seattle Seahawks in March 2022.

Payton, however, maintained that the decision was made with a focus primarily on this season.

“I understand all the speculation and everything that surrounds a move like that,” Payton said at a post-practice news conference. “I can tell you, look, we’re desperately trying to win. Sure, in our game today, there are economics and all those other things. But the number one push behind this, and it’s a decision I’m making, is to get a spark offensively.”

The relationship between Payton and Wilson has been under the microscope since Payton took the job earlier this year, with the coach saying that Wilson’s private coaches who were in the Denver building during his first season – a disastrous 2022 campaign – would no longer be around. The coach has also expressed public frustration on the sidelines, most recently during a loss to the Detroit Lions on Dec. 16.

In the offseason, however, Payton backed Wilson and pinned the blame for last year’s season on Nathaniel Hackett and the previous coaching staff.

Denver lost on Christmas Eve night to the New England Patriots, 26-23, and has one victory in its last four games following a five-game winning streak. The Broncos have a slim chance of making the playoffs and would need to win their final two games with plenty of help from other teams losing to sneak into the postseason field.

If Wilson has indeed thrown his final pass of the season, he will have finished with 3,070 yards through the air while completing 66.4% of his passes while averaging 6.8 yards per attempt. He had 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Stidham spent the first two years of his career with the New England Patriots, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2019 draft.

He will make his third career start Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. He was out of the NFL in 2021 and started two games – appearing in five – for the Las Vegas Raiders last season.

Russell Wilson contract

Wilson’s five-year, $242.6 million extension will not kick in until next season.

He is due $39 million fully guaranteed in 2024, with a $35.4 million cap hit.

Releasing Wilson after the season would result in a $85 million dead cap hit that could be spread over one or two seasons, with the latter being available for the team if the quarterback were to be designated a pose-June 1 cut.