The Las Vegas Raiders have met many of the top quarterback prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine and they should be getting a better idea of whether or not they can/want to trade up. If the feeling leaving Indianapolis is that there isn’t an avenue for the team to get one of the quarterback prospects they like, then they’ll look to potential veteran options.
One option to keep an eye on is Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. He’s fallen from grace since being a nine-time Pro Bowler and it looks like Denver is going to move on. The team could trade him but they’d have to eat the vast majority of the $242 million contract he signed two years ago.
It seems more likely that Wilson will be released and sign elsewhere this offseason but CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso predicted the Raiders to trade for the quarterback in a February 29 column. Now, inner-division trades are very rare, especially when it comes to quarterbacks. Considering that and Wilson’s contract, it’s hard to imagine any kind of trade would materialize. The Raiders certainly wouldn’t be willing to give up much.
Russell Wilson Could Take Minimum Contract
Russell Wilson has won a Super Bowl and had a long stint as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He’s 35 now but his brief Broncos stint has to leave a sour taste in his mouth. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, he’s willing to pay for a major discount in order to prove he’s still an impact player.
“Everybody I’ve talked to around the league expects the Denver Broncos at some point around the new league year in the next few weeks to rip the band-aid off and release Russell Wilson even though they owe him $39 million in guaranteed money,” Fowler said during the February 25 episode of “SportsCenter,” via Bleacher Report. “But they can start new, he can go sign somewhere else. The feeling is he’ll sign for considerably less, maybe even the league minimum, because he’s got all that money in hand guaranteed. And so, he’s going to have options. The feeling I get from talking to teams and scouts is that he’s still an NFL starter, there will be a job somewhere for him.”
Signing Wilson to the league minimum isn’t much of a risk and it’d be easy to cut him if he wasn’t working out.
Russell Wilson 🚀 Marvin Mims pic.twitter.com/o0BWEiU9xD
— PFF (@PFF) September 17, 2023
Russell Wilson Could Like Idea of Playing Against Denver Broncos
Russell Wilson has a reputation of being one of the nice guys in the NFL but even he might be irked by what’s happened in Denver. Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports thinks that the Raiders are the best fit for the quarterback partly because they’re in the same division as the Broncos.
“Russell Wilson’s market may be even thinner than most realize, which speaks to the rapid decline in his dual-threat stardom since exiting the Seattle Seahawks,” Benjamin wrote in a March 1 column. “He remains a serviceable starter, however, and that’s precisely what the Raiders need after whiffing badly on Jimmy Garoppolo a year ago. Again, a rookie may be more appealing, but Antonio Pierce has some win-now weapons. Presuming he’s outright released, Wilson could also relish the chance to play the Denver Broncos at least twice a year.”
