With the grandest of expectations, the Denver Broncos went all-in on quarterback Russell Wilson and rookie head coach Nathaniel Hackett ahead of the 2022 season.
The franchise famously busted to the tune of a dismal 5-12 campaign. Hackett is gone, but Wilson is back and one of his teammates last year believes the Pro Bowl-level Russ of old can reappear in Denver.
"Yeah, he do," Melvin Gordon told Jim Rome when asked if Wilson had a most valuable player-caliber season left in him, "and he has an MVP coach."
Whether or not new Broncos head coach Sean Payton can rescue Wilson's career and Denver's fortunes is the prevailing question for the franchise this year.
Gordon clearly thinks Payton is the right man for the job and wholeheartedly believes Wilson still has greatness left ahead of him.
In 2022, Wilson produced career worsts of four wins as a starter, a 60.5 completion percentage, an 84.4 QB rating and a 36.7 QBR, while he was sacked a career-high 55 times.
Wilson and Hackett's offense were closer to peanut butter and lettuce than they were peanut butter and jelly; just a bad combo from Week 1 until Hackett's firing after 15 games.
"The situation wasn't good," Gordon said. "It wasn't good."
While Hackett is resetting in New York with the Jets and a familiar talent in Aaron Rodgers, Wilson is looking to get back to being the QB who was on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
A nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion during his decade with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson's immediate NFL future is very much in the hands of Payton.
Payton won a Super Bowl during his tenure with the New Orleans Saints and did so with a diminutive, HOF-caliber QB in Drew Brees. He'll look to follow the same script in Denver, though it's clearly a bit more complicated than that.
Nonetheless, Gordon is confident Wilson can reclaim past glory under the edification of Payton. And if he doesn't, well then, he can't get a pass two years running.
"I think they got the pieces there now that's going to put (Wilson) in the best situation," Gordon said. "What he does this year, it's on him. But I definitely believe they'll be a better football team than they were last year."
