New Orleans Saints fans were probably the ones somewhat enjoying the offensive slog that was this week's Thursday Night Football matchup. The reason for that is that they learned that there are two offenses WAY WORSE than their own.
The Broncos made a huge move this offseason by trading for Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who up until midway through that season, had been a Hall of Fame-level quarterback. His ability to make an impact both as a passer and runner is what made him so hard to slow down and people naturally thought Denver had made a solid move in adding him.
The problem, however, was that the Broncos extended Wilson for five years and gave him a boatload of cash before ever seeing him take a snap in a Broncos uniform. That is proving to be a very bad move, as Wilson looked really bad on Thursday night. The dude missed a wide-open K.J. Hamler for what would have been the game-winning touchdown in overtime. Oof.
Good morning 🏈
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 7, 2022
Russell Wilson had a wide-open K.J. Hamler for the game-winning TD on the final play of the game last night and missed him. pic.twitter.com/FQH2dIoHQb
Saints should be thankful that they didn't land Russell Wilson
Yes, the Saints are in their own quarterback conundrum with Jameis Winston not playing well and Andy Dalton being the temporary solution but could you imagine if they had traded for Wilson and then extended him and he was THIS bad? That'd have sent this team in the crapper for the next half decade at least.
Part of the reason New Orleans was probably never going to trade for Wilson was the amount of draft picks and money it was going to take to bring him down south. They didn't have draft capital to deal away and we all know they find themselves in salary cap hell more often than not (even if Mickey Loomis is a wizard in that department).
There's still time for Wilson to turn things around and play better but for now, this looks like a bad move for the Broncos and a massive bullet dodged for the New Orleans Saints.