Woody Paige: Sixth time’s charm as Broncos open arms for Russell Wilson
Associated Press file
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Get fooled five times, shame on the Broncos.
In the 2012 NFL draft, the Broncos could have picked Russell Wilson at Nos. 25, 31, 36, 57 or 67.
The Broncos didn’t get fooled again. The quarterback became the franchise’s Wilson Pick-It Tuesday.
Ten years ago in April, Wilson, John Elway and Peyton Manning were in the Broncos’ Dove Valley command center at the same time. Ten years later, Wilson and the Broncos finally are united in Orange in the same place.
Russell will become the Broncos’ 58th starting quarterback in 2022. At 5-foot-11, he will not be the Broncos’ shortest starting quarterback. The 5-7 Phillip Lindsay had that designation two seasons ago when the running back started at quarterback in the “COVID-gate” game. The Broncos’ only other 5-11 starting quarterback was Marlin Briscoe, modern pro football’s first Black starting quarterback in 1968.
Wilson will be the Broncos’ highest-paid QB ever at $24 million and the team’s ninth starting quarterback who has played in at least one Super Bowl. Bonus points for knowing the other eight: Elway, Manning, Craig Morton, Norris Weese, Joe Flacco, Gary Kubiak, Steve Beuerlein and Bubby Brister.
Wilson aspires to be the third quarterback to lead the Broncos to a championship or two, as Elway and Manning did — and to eight playoff seasons, as he did in Seattle.
In 2012, Manning and Wilson could have been teammates with Elway as their boss. The next season, Wilson was the adversary of Manning and Elway at Super Bowl 48. Wilson prevailed convincingly against his former mentor Manning.
The two met at the Manning family quarterback academy after his sophomore season at Collegiate (preparatory) School in Richmond, Va. At the Super Bowl, Russell told us Peyton served as his counselor. “Just how much care he showed for the kids and how much detail he talked about, I try to use with myself. I’ve got a long ways to go, obviously, but I just try to do all the little things. That’s what (Peyton) does.’’
They would meet again after the Broncos signed Manning as a free agent in March 2012.
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Elway and John Fox scouted Wilson at the Senior Bowl after his last season in college football (four at North Carolina State, then one as a graduate transfer to Wisconsin). When the Broncos coach had been in the same position with the Panthers, he’d talked with Wilson, then playing for the Wolfpack. In April before the 2012 draft, Elway and Fox asked Wilson and three other quarterbacks — Brock Osweiler, Ryan Lindley and Kirk Cousins — to come to Denver. The Broncos also flew to see Brandon Weeden.
The franchise had no chance of drafting Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, and Elway was searching for a young backup for Peyton.
Manning was in the building watching Broncos tapes when Wilson showed up. Wilson reintroduced himself to the veteran, who said he certainly remembered him and wished him well in the NFL.
The Broncos narrowed their choices to Weeden, Wilson and Osweiler. Weeden, who had spent four years in minor-league baseball before playing football at Oklahoma State, was considered too old to be a rookie quarterback at 28. Wilson also had played minor-league baseball for two years while in college after being drafted by the Rockies. He was younger at 24, and Elway knew Russell was athletic and smart, with a strong arm and swift legs that would extend plays, but believed he was too short at 5-11.
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The Broncos traded back twice and out of the first round to select defensive lineman Derek Wolfe at 36th. They chose Osweiler at 57th because he was only 21 and 6-7, had a howitzer passing talent and played and roomed with Elway’s son Jack at Arizona State. He was raw, but the belief was he could develop during Manning’s four contract years. The Broncos also drafted running back Ronnie Hillman in the third round.
The Broncos essentially passed on Wilson five times.
Of the 11 quarterbacks drafted in ’12, two seventh-rounders never played in the league; Luck, Griffin, Weeden, Lindley and Osweiler have retired from the NFL, and only Ryan Tannehill, Nick Foles, Cousins and Wilson remain.
And the best-of-show now is the Broncos’ quarterback.
No fooling.