People Ripping Russell Wilson Trade As Worst Ever Forget It Wasn't Even Worst Trade Of 2022

The sting hasn't dissipated in Denver following the Broncos' announcement earlier this week that Russell Wilson's time with the team will come to an end in days, signaling the final chapter in what is being panned by the pundit class as the worst roster move of all time.

Mad Dog radio on Wednesday called this the worst trade of all time. The Athletic included it among its list of worst trades. CBS Sports called it, "the worst trade of all time, and it's not even close."

Even OutKick founder Clay Travis compared it with the infamous Herschel Walker deal between the Cowboys and Vikings in 1989.

Keep Heads Up, Broncos Country

But here's a message for the Broncos and their fans today that should be understood as both encouragement and a warning:

It could've been much worse. And the initial Wilson move isn't quite the villainy of a feeble mind it's being portrayed in hindsight. 

Let's understand that the Broncos are now smarting because Wilson is leaving – possibly headed to start for some other team in 2024 – only two years after coming from the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson's 2022 arrival was a high point of optimism, in part because it brought a likely future Hall of Fame quarterback to a solid roster.

And, yes, it was Fort Knox vault costly.

The Broncos, you'll recall, gave up five draft picks – a 2022 first-rounder, a 2023 first-rounder, a 2022 second-rounder, a 2023 second-rounder and a 2022 fifth-rounder – plus three players in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round pick. Then, to make Wilson happy and matters worse, Denver signed him to a five-year contract worth $245 million that included $124 million fully guaranteed.

So Wilson's forced departure now looks terrible. Esteemed Denver columnist Woody Paige on Tuesday called the trade "a morass of an abyss." 

Except the Wilson trade wasn't even the worst one of the 2022 offseason.

Deshaun Watson Trade Was Worse

Four days after the Wilson trade, the Cleveland Browns traded with the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson.

The Texans sent Watson and a 2024 fifth-round pick in exchange for, deep breath here, a first-round pick in 2022, a first-round pick in 2023 and a first-round pick 2024. That's not all. The Browns also yielded a 2022 fourth-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick.

And then the Browns, who basically had to convince Watson to come by dangling a big contract in front of him before the trade, signed Watson to an unprecedented fully guaranteed $230 million contract.

So, yes, the Broncos will eventually pay Wilson his $124 million in guaranteed money. But the Browns will eventually pay Watson every penny of that $230 million come what may.

And what has come so far is that Wilson played 30 games for Denver while throwing 42 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions. That he and coach Sean Payton were not buddies is a fact, but it's also a fact he passed for 6,594 yards in two Denver seasons.

So not exactly the utter flop on the field it's being portrayed.

Wilson More Productive Than Watson

Watson, meanwhile, has been a total flop for the Browns.

He's played only 12 games after serving an 11-game suspension in 2022 and going out for the season after only six games with a right shoulder injury in 2023. 

And, yes, the narrative of the Watson transaction being worse than the Wilson transaction could change if Watson comes back in 2024 (or someday) and starts to perform as he did for years in Houston. 

But, just as easily, it could get worse if Watson continues to struggle with his performance or durability. Or suffers a relapse of whatever demon got hold of him in Houston that led to numerous lawsuits and his suspension. 

The truth is we won't know how bad Wilson's 2022 trade was (or wasn't) for years. 

BALTIMORE - Head coach Nathaniel Hackett of the Denver Broncos watches from the sidelines against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on December 4, 2022. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Was Wilson Or Hackett The Problem In '22?

It's going to take that long to realize if Wilson was terrible. Or how terrible Nathaniel Hackett was as Denver's head coach and offensive playcaller – and, so far, based on his 2023 work as the Jets offensive coordinator, it's fair to suggest Hackett was more the problem.

So did that situation make the Wilson move a bad trade or simply put him in a bad situation?

It's going to take years to know if Payton found a replacement for Wilson and turned the Broncos around, or simply continued to languish with a quarterback he picked as opposed to one he didn't.

And it's going to take that long to see what Wilson does during his next stop. Because he's either going to fail again and suggest the trade was indeed a mistake. Or he's going to find some clarity that tells us the trade wasn't bad, it was simply the Broncos that were.