Russell Wilson has arrived on the open market for the first time in his career after being let go by the Denver Broncos on Monday. In a statement, he posted that “tough times don’t last” and that he is “excited for what’s next.” Two years ago, it would have been unfathomable for us to challenge those statements as it pertains to Wilson personally.
Now, “what’s next” feels more uncertain for Wilson than it does Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew or any of the other quarterbacks resting below the top tier of available (or seemingly available) players such as Kirk Cousins or Justin Fields. How did we go from a Super Bowl, to a series of borderline MVP campaigns, to being the main piece of the worst trade in NFL history to, currently, being a free agent who may or may not find himself in a starting position on opening day 2024? Plus, a player who leaves behind the largest dead cap hit in NFL history?
The truth is that everyone was, at least a little bit, hoodwinked. Did you ever see the YouTube clip of David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear? Spoiler alert: He didn’t actually make the 305-foot tall statue disappear. He (allegedly) put the audience on a rotating podium and when the curtain blocking their view of the statue fell, the podium shifted toward total darkness, creating the illusion that there was no more statue. It was the early 1980s, man, and we were ready to believe anything. Don’t worry, Copperfield put it back.
