OPINION: It was clear when Payton was seen yelling at Wilson on the sidelines that the Broncos coach didn’t respect his star quarterback. Through it all, Wilson has remained a class act.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more
“They came up to me during the beginning of the bye week, on Monday or Tuesday [Oct. 30 or 31],” Wilson told reporters Dec. 29, “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. … I was definitely disappointed about it. … The NFLPA and NFL got involved or whatever, I think, at some point.”
The Washington Post reported that the players union sent a Nov. 4 letter to the Broncos and the NFL’s management council, stating that the threat was illegal and a violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. “We are particularly concerned that the Broncos still intend to commit these violations under the guise of ‘coaching decisions,’” the letter read.
A made man among NFL coaches, Payton soon benefitted from a conflicting NFL.com report that cast doubts on Wilson’s side of the “threat” story. The reporter wrote that Payton tried but never believed in Wilson, adding that teammates agreed Wilson should be benched for performance reasons: “Players saw it, and privately discussed it among themselves, sources say.”
Wilson is no longer the elite QB who orchestrated back-to-back Super Bowl appearances with Seattle in 2014 and 2015. Odds are he won’t be with the Broncos much longer, either, giving him no reason to toe the corporate line and play nice. “I think Sean missed with the wrong guy because [Wilson] told the story,” an anonymous NFL exec told The Athletic.”
Payton picked the right guy to upbraid in animated fashion three weeks ago in Detroit, spittle flying at an intensity rarely directed toward any player in public, let alone a Hall of Fame quarterback on the sideline. Then Payton had the nerve to say our eyes deceived us, and he was screaming about a penalty that negated a touchdown. “That’s all,” he told reporters. “Simple.”
Then why was the verbal barrage directed at Wilson? “What I talk to Russell about is none of your business,” he said.
He wouldn’t have spoken to Wilson in that fashion if he respected the quarterback. I wish Wilson had let him know times have changed and the NFL isn’t the military. I’m not saying Payton deserved a Sprewellian response or something close.
But we would’ve understood.
Deron Snyder, from Brooklyn, is an award-winning columnist who lives near D.C. and pledged Alpha at HU-You Know! He’s reaching high, lying low, moving on, pushing off, keeping up, and throwing down. Got it? Get more at blackdoorventures.com/deron.
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