Dynasty News, Week 18

Photo: Jon Durr, USA Today Sports

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Here's a quick rundown of the top dynasty news that matters.

QB Justin Fields, Chicago

NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler is as plugged-in as any. Over the weekend, Fowler tweeted that Justin Fields has "absolutely" made the #Bears decision in the draft difficult in terms of taking a QB #1 overall. Yes, the conventional thought is that the team will trade the ascending quarterback and select either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Fields' play has improved greatly of late, and there is risk in selecting a rookie, even one with the promise of these two youngsters. The one benefit of trading Fields and drafting a rookie is the salary cap implications. Fields will require a contract extension soon while the rookie will be under contract for five years, a four-year contract plus the fifth-year option. The counterpoint is the draft capital to be gained by trading the first overall pick (acquired from Carolina when they traded up for Bryce Young) to a quarterback-needy team. This will be a difficult decision for the Bears' decision-makers.

QB Russell Wilson, Denver

Adam Schefter was the first to report about Russell Wilson being benched for the remainder of the season. While he has played better than in 2022, Wilson never played up to his rich contract. He is guaranteed $39 million in 2024 with another $37 million in injury guarantees so the team is incentivized to sit him and avoid paying the future guarantees. Dianna Russini has been breaking news often of late. She had a tweet thread that shed light on the situation, "Russell Wilson is expecting to be cut by the Denver Broncos in March, per league sources. For almost two months, the quarterback has been starting (despite) knowing the organization was most likely going to move on from him after this season … The Broncos reached out to Wilson's representatives in late October and explained that Wilson would lose the starting job and be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025, per multiple league sources … Wilson has $37 million in injury guarantees for 2025 that will become guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2024 league year in March. Lawyers, including some with the NFLPA, were involved, and no changes were made to the contract ...It was explained that the Broncos never told Wilson if or when they would bench him this season. He just played until he was told this morning that he was no longer starting."

There is a lot to unpack. The team went to Wilson to address the injury guarantees when they were in the tailspin to begin the year, and Wilson said "no" … which is his right. Both sides are making decisions in their own best interest. Jordan Schultz tweeted a lot more detail into the situation, "The #Broncos threatened to bench Russell Wilson weeks ago if he didn't remove his injury guarantees. Russell Wilson's benching by the Broncos today is solely financially related and has been in the works for weeks, per multiple sources with direct access to the situation. The Broncos approached Wilson two days after their October 29 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs and told him he would be made inactive for the rest of the season if he did not adjust his contract and defer the injury guarantee trigger date that he has for 2025. Wilson has $37 million in injury guarantees for 2025 that will become guaranteed no matter what on the fifth day of the 2024 league year in March. At that time, Wilson was coming off a 3-touchdown game in the win over the Chiefs and was starting to experience the type of success he envisioned following a challenging first year in Denver. The threat, however, "shocked him," and the two sides got into a major dispute on how to proceed.

The issue remained, but the Broncos stuck with Wilson as the team strung together primetime wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, followed by another win over the Cleveland Browns, one of the league's best defenses. Wilson, 35, has started all 15 games this season and has completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. When the threat was made by the Broncos, the team, Wilson's camp, the NFLPA, and another unknown party were involved in negotiations that ended with no change in Wilson's contract. And it all came crashing down today when Sean Payton and other top-level members of Denver's organization decided to go ahead with the plan they've had for weeks. Using just Wilson's statistics is not a fair view. He did not play well the past few games, missing open receivers and not playing like a Top-10 player at his position.

It is interesting to see former players' reactions to the situation. Dan Orlovsky tweeted, "Wait. Russ has known for 2 months that Denver was moving on from him and they asked him to alter his contract while also asking him to lead/try and win games?!!?!?!?!? That's wild from an organizational standpoint." Andrew Brandt said it best, "It's a cold business. Team was trying to leverage playing time against future liability; Wilson called their bluff. And now he's benched. These situations happen a lot; more than most know." Brandt should know. He is the former general manager of the Packers. He also is a former players' agent. When asked about the situation, coach Sean Payton told reporters, "We're desperately trying to win. Sure, in our game today, there are economics and other things … But the number one thing...is to get a spark offensively."

When he was hired, there were several reports that Payton was not a fan of Wilson's game, and it now appears to be true. Both sides will move on. Payton will target an efficient passer in free agency or via the NFL Draft, and Wilson will be paid handsomely to go to a different team. For those wondering why the Broncos don't just try to trade Wilson, his guarantees and dead-cap money make the contract virtually untradeable. On Sunday, Adam Schefter tweeted, "Broncos could opt to use a post-June 1 designation on Russell Wilson's release, which would split the dead money hits over two years -- $35.4 million in 2024 and $49.6 million in 2025."The timing of this move is interesting as Payton made this power move after Denver was eliminated from the playoffs. If he was planning to move on after the season anyway, this is perfect timing. Denver beat reporter Troy Renck released a video of Wilson responding to reporters' questions. Wilson said, "They came up to me during the bye week, the beginning of the bye week, on Monday or Tuesday, and they told me that if I didn't change my contract, my injury guarantee, that I'd be benched for the rest of the year…. The NFLPA and NFL got involved." This is one of the few times that fans get transparency into the situation. Tom Pelissero tweeted an interesting tidbit, "The irony is delaying the vesting date of his 2025 guarantee (as Denver asked Wilson to do) would've drastically *raised* the chances of Russell Wilson being Denver's QB in 2024 and possibly beyond. Wilson refused, which is his right, and now he'll most likely be looking for work elsewhere." As fate would have it, Wilson went on to lead the Broncos to a four-game winning streak after this incident. He rose above the issue. Salute to him. Jeremy Fowler tweeted a list of teams who could be interested in Wilson's services if/when he is released this offseason. Fowler's list includes the Falcons, Steelers, and Patriots. These are teams who are likely not in a position to draft one of the top two rookie quarterbacks and could use Wilson as a stop-gap, paired with a rookie passer. Let's also remember how Payton was trying to move on from Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton this past offseason. Since Payton is asserting his power, we expect the receiver room to look different in 2024, just like the quarterback position. This is a great time to stash Brandon Johnson and LilJordan Humphrey given their increased playing time and production of late.