Russell Wilson won a lot of games as the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. He didn’t win many games as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Not long after the teams parted ways with Wilson in different ways, the Seahawks and Broncos are the respective NFC and AFC No. 1 seeds in the 2025-2026 NFL playoffs.

That’s not a coincidence. Seattle and Denver both freed themselves of Wilson at the right times and they have reaped the benefits big time since his departure. 

Almost four years ago in March 2022, the Seahawks made a blockbuster trade with the Broncos, getting multiple first-rounders and more draft picks in return for Wilson. Two years later, the Broncos released Wilson after benching him at the end of two disappointing seasons.

While Wilson has since had two shaky stints with the Steelers and Giants the past two years, the Seahawks and Broncos have both gone 24-10. Both were 10-7 in 2024 before breaking out to tie for the NFL’s best record at 14-3.

Here’s looking back at how the Seahawks’ trade of Wilson and the Broncos’ release of Wilson put each team on the path to their current mega success:

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How Seahawks benefitted from trading Russell Wilson

The Seahawks, before trading Wilson to the Broncos, were looking at taking a $37 million salary-cap hit to keep him in 2022. They saved $11 million vs. the cap by trading him and were willing to eat the other $26 million in dead money. Furthemore, with Wilson’s four-year $140 million contract expiring in 2023, the Seahawks avoided needing to give him another lucrative extension.

That Seahawks started Wilson’s former backup Geno Smith in 2022 when he was playing for a bargain-basement $3 million for the season. That balanced absorbing that big Wilson cap hit in the short term before being cleared of his past contract.

The Seahawks got limited impact from the three veterans acquired in the Wilson trade. Defensive tackle Shelby Harris (Browns) and tight end Noah Fant (Bengals) were in the AFC North in 2025. Quarterback Drew Lock remains after losing the job to Smith, serving as Sam Darnold’s top backup

The draft picks, however, led to the Seahawks getting four key players, led by left tackle Charles Cross and cornerback Devon Witherspoon, the two first-rounders. Edge rushers Boye Mafe (a starter) and Derick Hall are part of the rotation for Mike Macdonald’s all-around strong current defense.

While the Seahawks rebuilt their salary flexibility minus Wilson to also add reclamation veteran stars such as defensive tackle Leonard Williams and edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, they also could pay Smith on an extension without breaking the bank and then do the same by upgrading to Darnold.

Cross, Witherspoon, Mafe and Hall also added to a terrific run of drafting by GM John Schneider.  Since the post-Wilson 2022 class, the Seahawks have selected 9 core offensive players, including wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. After Witherspoon, nose tackle Byron Murphy and defensive backs Riq Woolen and Nick Emmanwori have been the best picks.

Freeing from Wilson right before his big career dropoff was astute by Schneider and gave the Seahawks all the resources need to make a reloaded team.

How Broncos benefitted from releasing Russell Wilson

The Broncos were forced to take a massive dead money salary-cap hit spread out over two years when they released Wilson because they gave him a five-year, $245 million extension before the ’22 season. The dead money was spread out with $53 million for 2024 and $32 million in 2025.

Denver was for sure squeezed in terms of free-agent spending and also gave up significant draf picks to Seattle. The good news is, the Broncos had a good core of young talent before moving Wilson. They also had done their work to improve their offensive line.  

GM George Paton was fortunate to draft top cornerback Pat Surtain II in 2021 before losing the key picks in the Wilson deal. Without a first-rounder in 2022, Paton still got star edge rusher Nik Bonitto as the top pick. After being handcuffed with only five picks in 2023, however, the pressure was on Paton to get the ideal franchise QB for coach Sean Payton. Bo Nix helped them quickly move on well from No. 12 overall in ’24.

Having first-round QB on his rookie deal and also came with the Seahawks-like flexibility to add key reclamation veterans for defense such as Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, Alex Singleton, Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga. The Broncos were also fortunate that previous draft picks such as guard Quinn Meinerz, cornerback Riley Moss and edge rusher Jonathon Cooper emerged as impactful players.

The Broncos maximized their picks and the budget in a hurry to recover from the Wilson disaster. Having a strong coaching staff with Payton and Vance Joseph also are getting the most of the players. In contrast to Wilson, Nix is on Year 2 of a four-year, $18.6 million contract.  At an average of $49 million, Wilson was set to make more than seven times more per season. Cutting Wilson cost a lot early, but it’s paying off big-time now.