Fans of the Denver Broncos were understandably excited when their team traded for future Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson prior to this season.
But he didn’t exactly look like his usual self, and what was supposed to be a run at the Super Bowl devolved into a 5-12 finish.
The hiring of head coach Sean Payton has brought the Broncos at least a bit of hope for 2023, but if Wilson won’t return to form, there won’t be much he could do to make them a good team.
Former defensive end Marcellus Wiley told Dan Patrick that Wilson has a fatal flaw that perhaps cannot be fixed.
NFL analyst @marcelluswiley broke down what went wrong with Russell Wilson (@dpshow)
"Evaluating Russell Wilson.. typically he'll look at a play, call that play and hope the play doesn't work." in order to improvised instead.
"That's a problem. The OC is pulling his hair out." pic.twitter.com/9k4Wa0LlAa
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 2, 2023
Wilson has always been one of the NFL’s best running quarterbacks, and he has 4,966 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns over his 11 seasons to his name.
But there has always been a sentiment that running QBs such as him don’t necessarily equate to winning the way that traditional signal-callers do.
Of course, Wilson led the Seattle Seahawks to a world championship in the 2013 season, but according to Wiley, it was at least as much about their defense, which was first in points and total yards allowed, as much as it was about Wilson.
He looked nothing like his vintage self this season, putting up 16 touchdown passes, 11 interceptions and an 84.4 passer rating while completing only 60.5 percent of his passes.
Just two years ago, he had a 68.8 percent completion rate while connecting on 40 touchdown passes and posting a 105.1 passer rating.
All eyes will be on Wilson once the 2023 campaign starts to see if he can elevate his play at age 34.
NEXT: The Broncos Channel A Meme To Welcome Sean Payton
