DECEMBER 19: When speaking to the media after Sunday’s win over the Cardinals, Hackett praised the play of Rypien (who finished with 197 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception and one fumble lost). Still, he confirmed that Wilson will be back under center next week when the Broncos take on the Rams as they look for positives in a lost season.
DECEMBER 16: Russell Wilson will miss his second game of the season — and just the fifth of his 11-year career — on Sunday. The Broncos will sit the high-priced quarterback due to the concussion he sustained against the Chiefs.
Although Wilson has battled multiple injuries prior to the concussion he suffered during a scramble, the team does not plan to him down for the season. Wilson will play against the Rams on Christmas Day, Nathaniel Hackett said.
Denver fell to 3-10 in Week 14, matching the franchise’s worst 13-game record since 2010. While the team’s Christmas opponent — the Rams — are almost certainly shutting down their starter (Matthew Stafford, who had two concussion protocol stints recently), Wilson said he lobbied to return against the Cardinals this week. He cleared concussion protocol Friday, and the discussion on redeploying him so soon involved GM George Paton and ownership over the past three days, Troy Renck of Denver7 adds (via Twitter).
Brett Rypien will make his second start this season. The Broncos lost their emergency quarterback two weeks ago, when the 49ers signed Josh Johnson off their practice squad. Rookie UDFA Jarrett Guarantano, signed to Denver’s practice squad after Johnson’s return to San Francisco, will be elevated to be Rypien’s backup before Saturday’s transaction deadline. The Broncos will face backup quarterbacks in each of the next two weeks, in Colt McCoy and, in all likelihood, Baker Mayfield.
Although Wilson’s three touchdown passes and 57 rushing yards against the Chiefs showed signs of improvement, this has been easily the worst season of his career. The 34-year-old passer sits 27th in QBR after ranking 10th even in a 2021 season marred by a finger injury. Any dramatic swing in Wilson’s play will likely be tabled until next season, when the Broncos should be expected to have a new offensive coaching staff in place. The Broncos have Wilson signed through 2028, via the five-year, $245MM extension he inked in August.
Broncos joining the Raiders as the only two teams NOT to shut Russell Wilson down this year.
and KC
As crappy as a season as he’s having, he’ll probably somehow persuade the NFL to allow him to play in the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl is no more, if you hadn’t heard. So he’d have to do a *lot* of smooth talking to pull that off.
Uh, what? Voting has already started.
It’s going to be a flag football game. Really. And you know a player is going to blow out a knee or something.
Thought he took the year off…
Maybe they should use Wilson as a hot dog vendor, as at least he’d be worth something doing that job.
CTE clock is ticking.
The Broncos don’t plan to shut down Wilson- they don’t need to, every team has done it for them all season long.
For heaven’s sake what’s the point? The Broncos have missed the playoffs, Wilson is still damaged goods. Better to shut him down for the rest of the year, put him on extensive rehabilitation/fitness training (Wilson looks out of shape, distinctly round unless he’s wearing some kind of pregnancy suit/rib protection). Let him come back leaner and ready to play.
If Wilson won’t do rehab and fitness to Bronco requirements, fire him for failure to maintain himself in football shape and follow team medical directives.
The point is that he has been bad. They need to save face, so if he sucks the rest of the season or gets hurt, the narrative doesn’t change. However if he can put a couple decent games together, they might be able to talk people into this trade not being an epic failure.
Alec are you serious? He wears rib protection should be obvious. He is also in great shape. Works out with a trainer everyday has a personal chef not sure about dietician but he is like Brady picky about what he eats. One thing the Hawks got mad about is he gave them a list of posse and they had to make reservations for those 7 people. They had to be in rooms close to his. He has a video and sound guy not sure about any others. His whole public life is scripted. All to make him look like a great guy. Lots of smoke and mirrors with him.
The hit Russ took was odd for him. He never got hit hard enough to cause an injury. He was always smart about getting down. I believe this is what Pete saw coming. Not sure what it is but something is wrong. He needs to keep losing to give Seattle that high draft pick. I wonder could it have been a conspiracy between Russ and Pete they would trade him but he had to suck for a year to get a good draft pick. HMMMMM could that be?
@compassrose Russell is not moving this year like he’s in great shape. He seems to have cement boots on in comparison to past performance. How could he have aged seven years in two years if he’s in such great shape?