Since 2022, Russell Wilson has helped two teams rebuild into championship-caliber squads.<\/p>\n
By being traded away from them.<\/p>\n
When the Seattle Seahawks hoisted the Lombardi Trophy last Sunday, they were not just celebrating a huge win after an impressive season dominating the NFC.<\/p>\n
They were celebrating a bold decision four years ago that can be directly linked to their Super Bowl victory on Sunday \u2014 trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n
At the time, the Broncos believed they clearly got the better end of that deal, acquiring a Super Bowl-winning quarterback to lead them out of the wilderness and back on the road to a world championship.<\/p>\n
But it would be Denver\u2019s two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, QB Drew Lock<\/a>, DE Shelby Harris<\/a>, and TE Noah Fant<\/a> traded to Seattle that would prove to be the better deal as the Seahawks used it to build a Super Bowl-winning roster in four short years.<\/p>\n The trade was so bad for Denver that when Sean Payton couldn\u2019t fit Wilson into his long-term vision for a Super Bowl-caliber team, owner Greg Penner was fine walking away from Wilson and suffering the extreme dead cap limitations in the short term so long-term success had a chance.<\/p>\n \u201cYou prefer not to have that kind of dead money \u2026 but I love the approach we took, which was none of us were ever going to make any excuses for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 GREG Penner<\/p>\n And as Penner noted in his end-0f-season remarks following the AFC Championship loss, the Broncos navigated these past two years remarkably well.<\/p>\n \u201cYou prefer not to have that kind of dead money on your books because it can be a limiter, but I love the approach we took, which was none of us were ever going to make any excuses for that,\u201d Penner said.<\/p>\n So now the Broncos hope they can do exactly what the Seahawks did after moving on from Wilson – build a championship roster. The main difference is the Broncos had to do it with no first-round picks and a huge dead cap hit.<\/p>\n The first step in the equation was a talented rookie QB.<\/p>\n \u201cFor any NFL team to be successful, there are some critical pieces,\u201d Penner said, highlighting the key people being head coach, GM and quarterback. \u201cThat gives you a chance every year to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n The next step was drafting enough young talent in mid-rounds while buying a few key veterans in free agency to get through dead cap hell.<\/p>\n Payton and Penner nailed that one too. The lack of experienced talent on the offense showed up a little too often, but the experience and dominance of the defense made the mistakes tolerable.<\/p>\n \u201c[I\u2019m] proud of the way everyone else handled it, and looked at developing young players and didn\u2019t use it as a built-in excuse,\u201d the head coach said. \u201cWe can find those all the time. I think it\u2019s significant, and it\u2019s still important. We evaluate wisely. We draft wisely. We make these decisions regarding free agency with well thought out plans, and we go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe go back to the start of the race. [All] 32 teams have to go back and meet their parents, eat their oranges and get ready to start again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Sean Payton<\/p>\n So now the Broncos face the offseason in their best position in over a decade \u2014 a young team on the rise and no longer hamstrung by their dead cap.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just looked at it as, \u2018We\u2019re going to have some constraints. We\u2019re going to have to be scrappy, and we\u2019re going to figure it out and put a great product on the field.\u2019 I think that we\u2019ve done that,\u201d Penner said about the outlook the previous two years. \u201cWe\u2019re in a good position now in terms of cap space, as well as our draft picks. That\u2019s exciting as we go into this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n Payton is too experienced, however, to know that a team just carries over its success from one year to the next.<\/p>\n The 2026 season will be its own new fight to the top.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I love the question, but man, I will not use that word, \u2018take the next step,\u2019\u201d Payton said. \u201cWe go back to the start of the race. Every 32 teams have to go back and meet their parents, eat their oranges and get ready to start again.\u201d<\/p>\n But now the Broncos get to do that \u201cwith a foundation\u201d in place.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s really important,\u201d Payton added. \u201cWe do that with optimism and confidence from the journey we\u2019ve been on. I think that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2022, Russell Wilson has helped two teams rebuild into championship-caliber squads. 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