The Pittsburgh Steelers have made some poor financial decisions in recent years, but it's nothing compared to the fiasco the Denver Broncos are still dealing with when it comes to Russell Wilson. Two years after sending Wilson packing, the Broncos are set to eat an obnoxious dead cap hit for the 2025 season for a quarterback who is on his third team since 2023.
According to Spotrac.com, Wilson has a dead cap hit of $32 million due to his post-June 1 designated release in 2024. This is an enormous amount of unusable 2025 cap space for a Denver team hoping to compete in the playoffs in 2025.
In comparison, the Steelers signed Wilson in 2024 on a one-year, veteran minimum contract at just $1.21 million. Though he failed miserably down the stretch of the season last year, Wilson's contract for Pittsburgh in 2024 was roughly 1/26 of the dead cap hit the Broncos are still paying for Wilson to not be on the team two years after moving on from the aging quarterback.
Thankfully, the Steelers' biggest dead money hit in 2025 is Larry Ogunjobi, who will cost the team just over $3.53 million in dead cap space this year. Looking at it this way, it's not so bad.
The Pittsburgh Steelers can be thankful they're Russell Wilson investment didn't crush them like the Denver Broncos
As bad as it hurts to have wasted a year with Russell Wilson at the helm in 2024, it only cost the Pittsburgh Steelers a fraction of what the Denver Broncos are forced to live with. In March of 2022, the Broncos sent multiple first-round picks to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for Wilson.
As if the loss of elite draft capital wasn't good enough, Denver was forced to turn around and hand Wilson a five-year, $245 million contract. These outrageously steep investments resulted in getting just two years of pedestrian quarterback play from Wilson before cutting their losses and moving on.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, they are still feeling the effects of Wilson's despicable contract and are reminded that the sting of this egregiously bad decision isn't over yet. Even with players getting paid more than ever in today's game, that $32 million could have been used to sign a Pro Bowl player or a pair of respectable starters.
Instead, Denver's front office and GM George Paton are forced to live with the consequences of their decisions. The Pittsburgh Steelers wasted a promising season with Russell Wilson under center in 2024, but the Denver Broncos are proof that it could be much worse.