The 2022 season was an unmitigated disaster for the Denver Broncos, and despite being expected to contend for the Super Bowl, they fell to a 5-12 finish and missed the playoffs.
They had traded for future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Russell Wilson last offseason, but he had the worst season in his career in 2022, which led to some thinking that he is over the hill.
Denver has a new head coach in Sean Payton, who has gone on record as believing Wilson still has a lot left in his tank.
The signal-caller has reportedly been doing very well so far in training camp, and per reporter Zac Stevens, he didn’t have a single incomplete pass during team periods on Wednesday.
Russell Wilson didn’t have a single incompletion during team periods today.
He is scorching hot over the past few days.
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) August 9, 2023
After throwing 25 touchdown passes in 14 games in 2021, Wilson only managed 16 touchdown passes in 15 games last year, and his passer rating fell from 103.1 to 84.4.
As a result, Denver was saddled with one of the worst offenses that anyone can remember seeing.
But in Payton, they now have a coach who regularly led some of the NFL’s best offenses during his years as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, and he reportedly wants to have Wilson run the ball more.
The former Seattle Seahawk has always been one of the league’s best dual-threat QBs, but his rushing numbers the last two years have been considerably lower than they were in the past.
The Broncos are under lots of pressure to make the Payton-Wilson partnership work very well, given that they traded five draft picks in order to obtain the quarterback.
NEXT: Analyst Says Russell Wilson Is Pressured To Succeed Under Sean Payton
