Broncos tell Russell he’s out next week
The Broncos told Russell Wilson on Monday that they’re going to release him next week, just 18 months after signing the Super Bowl-winning quarterback to a five-year, $242 million contract extension.
The Broncos still owe Wilson his $39 million salary for 2024 minus whatever he’d sign for with another team, which would likely be the veteran’s minimum salary of $1.21 million.
One potential landing spot is Pittsburgh. The Steelers are set to visit Denver next season.
The Broncos also will take a record $89 million hit in dead cap charges over the next two seasons.
Wilson enjoyed a bounce-back year last season under new coach Sean Payton, throwing for 26 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 15 games. But it wasn’t good enough and Payton benched him for Jarrett Stidham for the final two games. Stidham went 1-1 and the Broncos finished 8-9, their seventh straight losing season and their eighth in a row outside the playoffs.
Payton hinted at an impending split at the NFL scouting combine last week when talking about Denver’s long string of middling quarterbacks and suggested his job was to make sure “the next one” was the right QB to lead the Broncos back into contention.
BRAYLON THE HERO
Former Jet Braylon Edwards stepped in and saved the life of an 80-year-old man who was being attacked in the locker room at a suburban Detroit YMCA, police said Monday.
“If it wasn’t for that intervention, we could very easily be talking about someone’s death,” said Jeff King, the police chief in Farmington Hills.
Authorities, meanwhile, filed an attempted murder charge against a 20-year-old man for the incident Friday at the recreation center.
Edwards, 41, said he was “just minding my business” when he heard a dispute about loud music.
“The noise escalates, and then you can hear some pushing and shoving, so you know what fighting sounds like,” Edwards told WDIV-TV. “But once I hear a thud, that’s when I got up and turned around.”
Edwards stopped the assault of an elderly man, who had a severe head injury. The 20-year-old suspect fled on foot before he was captured by police.
“He absolutely saved that man’s life,” King told The Associated Press. “I’ve been a police officer going on 29 years. When these assaults are ongoing, really bad things can happen.”
The chief said the victim was in critical but stable condition at a hospital Monday.
HOUSTON STAYS NO. 1
Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in the
AP Top 25.
The Cougars received 52 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the poll released Monday to hold the top spot for the second straight week.
UConn moved up a spot to No. 2 and captured six first-place votes to leapfrog No. 3 Purdue, with four first-place votes. Tennessee and Arizona rounded out the top five.