You can breathe easy again, Broncos fans. Russell Wilson has signed a 5-year, $245M extension with the Denver Broncos, keeping him with the team until 2028.
This deal was of the upmost importance to the Denver Broncos, considering how awful the team has been since they won the 2015 Super Bowl with Peyton Manning, who would retire just after the Super Bowl, under center.
The Broncos have had two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history play for their franchise in John Elway (1983-1999) and Peyton Manning (2012-15), which has helped the team reach the upper echelons of NFL greatness as both QBs have one at least one Super Bowl during their time with the team (Elway-1997 Super Bowl, 1998 Super Bowl; Manning-2015 Super Bowl).
In fact, out of the 20 combined years John Elway and Peyton Manning played for Denver, the Broncos made the playoffs 14 times. In the 36 other years the Broncos have been a franchise (1966-Present Day) and have not had those two on a roster, they have only made the playoffs 8 times.
Clearly, the Denver Broncos are an organization that needs a franchise-caliber QB to win or else they will fail.
“That seems kind of obvious. What team doesn’t win with a franchise QB?” you’re probably rightfully thinking. And I can’t argue with you about that.
Every team wants a franchise-caliber QB as they make winning a whole lot easier. But unlike Denver who cannot win without a franchise QB, there are some teams who can.
Namely, the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants.
These two teams have a combined 6 Super Bowl titles, yet neither one of them has had a Hall-of-Fame/franchise QB win one for them. Okay, one could probably make the case for Eli Manning to be a Hall-Of-Famer, but he’s definitely not what I would consider as a bonified, franchise caliber QB that his brother Peyton and John Elway were to the Broncos.
Eli was really good, but he just didn’t win consistently enough with the Giants for me to classify him as a franchise changing QB (even though he won two Super Bowls with the Giants). He only had 7 winning seasons in 16 years of playing (and two of those seasons his teams went 9-7).
Moreover, I can’t safely say that Phil Simms (Giants-1987 Super Bowl; 1991 Super Bowl), Trent Dilfer (Ravens-2000 Super Bowl), and Joe Flacco (Raven-2012 Super Bowl) are not franchise QBs, and nor are they Hall-Of-Famers.
Nevertheless, that is why not only acquiring Russell Wilson, but also keeping him tied down to the organization for 5+ years is so important for the Broncos. Wilson IS a bonified franchise QB that will wind up in the Hall-Of-Fame for the feats he accomplished in Seattle.
Wilson’s aura as a proven winner and future Hall-Of-Famer will allow the Broncos’ players and hierarchy to believe in themselves again as true Super Bowl contenders again, just as they did under John Elway and Peyton Manning.
I know that just sounds like superstitious nonsense and that it will be Russell Wilson’s talents that will bring the Broncos back to Super Bowl glory. Yet, belief in a player/idea/fate, especially one that is proven to be true, is extremely powerful in the human mind, which may be the small difference that alters the fate of the 2022/23 Denver Broncos.
We’ll have to wait and see.
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