The Denver Broncos acquired quarterback Zach Wilson and a seventh-round pick (No. 256) from the New York Jets for a sixth-round pick (No. 203). The Jets will also pay a portion of Wilson’s remaining salary.
Why they made the deal
Wilson’s time with the Jets was over. He was essentially on borrowed time when they acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers a year ago, but the hourglass shattered during another turbulent 2023 season.
Jets owner Woody Johnson claimed they wouldn’t release Wilson if they couldn’t find a trade partner, but that approach would have been far more complicated than necessary. And frankly, after Wilson’s 2021 first-round classmates — Trey Lance, Mac Jones and Justin Fields — were traded for marginal returns, the Jets should consider it a win that they were able to take on Wilson .
The Broncos are resetting at quarterback again. They released Russell Wilson this offseason and will face salary cap implications that will make it difficult to win for a few years.
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Zach Wilson will join Jarrett Stidham and likely a rookie in a competition for the starting job. If the Broncos use a first-round pick on a quarterback, it will likely be likely that Wilson emerges victorious in a camp battle. But with a later pick at QB, the competition could be wide open, with the former No. 2 selection getting a much-needed opportunity to start over.
Commercial grade (Broncos): C-plus
The Broncos are in the very early stages of an organizational reset, and it will take them some time to dig themselves out of the hole they created with Russell Wilson’s contract. For cap purposes, it would not have been practical to make a significant financial investment in a quarterback with Wilson’s dead money still on the way. It would be incredibly difficult to build the rest of the roster without hitting home run after home run in the next two drafts.
So the Broncos are hoping head coach Sean Payton can do wonders for Stidham, Zach Wilson or a draft pick. The property needs to be realistic with its expectations for a few years. If Payton develops a budget-conscious QB or rookie, it will speed up the rebuild. Otherwise, they’ll pick high score in the next draft or two anyway.
That wouldn’t stop the Broncos from taking a quarterback with the 12th pick, as long as there’s still someone they like on the board. But it likely indicates the Broncos determined it would be too costly to trade up to select one of the more preferred QBs in the top four.
If they had confidence in their ability to move forward, adding Wilson to the depth chart with Stidham wouldn’t have made much sense. Additionally, without a second-round pick in this draft, it also might have been illogical to trade away more future assets — like a 2025 first-rounder — to move up to the fourth QB with so many other holes still to be filled.
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Commercial grade (Jets): B-minus
This is a business quality that must be considered a separate entity from failure at all levels of Wilson’s drafting and development. Perhaps time will tell whether the Jets deserve more blame for misevaluating the prospect before the draft or simply continuing to put him in a position that wasn’t conducive to any quarterback’s success. back.
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As for the trade itself, again, the Jets deserve credit for getting anything for Wilson. Not only did the entire league know Wilson was available, but teams also recognized it was impractical for him to return to New York in 2024. Few personnel executives believed the Jets would be able to move Wilson due to these factors.
Even if the Jets eat up some of Wilson’s remaining salary, they get better cap relief than an outright release. And they were able to fight for better positioning as the draft ended late Saturday afternoon.
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(Wilson Photo: Rich Story/Getty Images)