The Denver Broncos have benched quarterback Russell Wilson. It has been the biggest news of the day.
About an hour after the news, it would then be confirmed by Broncos head coach Sean Payton when he spoke to reporters.
Payton insisted he’s benching Wilson for Jarrett Stidham in hopes of improving their chances of staying in the playoff hunt as they desperately need to win this week after losing to the New England Patriots in their last contest.
“This is about now,” Payton said Wednesday. “This is about trying to get our eighth win. And we’ll go from there.”
Payton claimed the Broncos are “desperately trying to win” and said his main motivator is to give his offense a “spark.”
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“Obviously, it’s difficult and all of us feel like, ‘Man we didn’t do well enough.’ But one of the things we saw when we signed Stidham in the offseason was, not only film from preseason games, but regular season games. He’s a guy that I’m anxious to see play and if I didn’t feel like he gave us a chance to win, we wouldn’t be making that move.”
27-year-old Stidham is in his fourth NFL season and first with the Broncos after two years with the Patriots and one with the Raiders.
The Broncos still have a small percentage chance of making the playoffs.
Wilson struggled mightily during his first season following a trade from Seattle in 2022, but he has improved this year, but just not at a rate that satisfied the organization that gave up so much for him.
Wilson is tied for sixth in the league with 26 passing touchdowns, but his 3,070 passing yards are 18th in the NFL.
