Raiders Listed Among Favorites to Land Controversial $242 Million QB

 

The Raiders just went through a season in which they started off with an aging, past-his-prime and controversial quarterback—Jimmy Garoppolo—and it took them only eight weeks to regret the whole thing and sit Garoppolo on the bench. It might be daft to go out and try that same method all over again, but still, the Raiders quarterback job has been continually linked to 35-year-old Broncos flameout Russell Wilson.

And you can even lay some money on the possibility of Wilson landing in Las Vegas. At Draft Kings, the Raiders are the No. 2 favorite to land Wilson this offseason, getting odds of plus-250. The Falcons are the top favorite to wind up with Wilson, at plus-130, while a return to Denver—which sounds pretty well impossible considering the way the year unfolded for the Broncos—comes in at plus-250 as well.

The Raiders must at least have some interest in Wilson depending on how things shake out with his contract. The Broncos let Wilson know, he claimed, during the season that they were going to release him to minimize the financial hit on his monster contract going forward. That would make him a purely unrestricted free agent, and put the Raiders in position to sign him on the cheap.

Russell Wilson Was a Disaster With the Broncos

Wilson had a disastrous tenure in two seasons with Denver, which paid out a $242 million extension for him in addition to trading players (including quarterback Drew Lock), two first-round picks and two second-round picks to Seattle.

He went 4-11 in 15 starts with the team last year, and got off to a rocky start with new coach Sean Payton, who did not appear to be a Wilson fan from the moment he was hired in Denver before last year. Still, Wilson’s numbers this year (204.7 yards per game, 26 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 7-8 record) were not bad. He was benched to close out the year so that Denver could avoid certain contract guarantees that would have been triggered had he played.

The Broncos are looking at paying Wilson $39 million next season, essentially to play elsewhere.

The question for the Raiders or any team considering signing Wilson is whether the poor play in Denver was the sign of a quarterback who has been caught by age and is not going to get any better, or whether the problem with the Broncos was more a matter of a poor roster around him.