Russell Wilson asked Broncos for $350M in 2022; CEO Greg Penner wondered if deal needed to happen at all, document shows

A summer arbitration ruling shed unique light on the Broncos contract extension negotiations with former quarterback Russell Wilson including the quarterback s initial contract ask and owner and CEO Greg Penner questioning why an immediate long-term deal was necessary The document announced on extensiely and published by reporter Pablo Torre is an arbiter s finding that NFL owners did not collude when it came to contract negotiations for Wilson Baltimore s Lamar Jackson and Arizona s Kyler Murray The three deals came together in the wake of Cleveland giving DeShaun Watson a fully guaranteed five-year contract Wilson and Penner were among several to testify last summer in the NFL Players Association s pursuit of outlining collusion by the league s owners to suppress guaranteed money in contracts and ensure that Watson s fully guaranteed deal did not become a norm Wilson according to the document testified that after he was traded to the Broncos in March for two first-round picks two second-rounders and three players and contract negotiations began he and his agent Mark Rodgers demanded for a seven-year fully guaranteed contract for around million a year or million total They didn t blink Wilson testified He also reported They kept saying We ll do whatever it takes We ll do whatever it takes Wilson mentioned that shortly after the transaction became population maybe within the next days or so they started getting cold feet on doing this fully guaranteed thing It seemed like it The franchise was in the process of being sold when it traded for Wilson The Broncos declared an extension had to wait until the new ownership group was in place That happened in early August when the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group finalized the purchase of the club for billion General manager George Paton was in contact with Penner the incoming CEO before the sale was finalized Paton texted Penner in June according to the document to say recounted Rodgers the Watson deal was a nonstarter in negotiations about a Wilson extension He also noted the front office s view was that the other quarterbacks due for new contracts wouldn t approach Watson s fully guaranteed deal Penner himself though questioned whether Denver needed to rush to a deal with Wilson before the season in the first place According to the document wrote in his own notes years left on contract Why not wait The document indicates Penner also noted rationale for getting the deal done including a summary of Penner s notes that indicated the club didn t want a disgruntled quarterback after trading extensive draft capital for him earlier that year Rodgers did not return a phone call Tuesday The Broncos declined to comment on the document Penner in August emailed other members of the Broncos new ownership group and declared of the evolving negotiations with Wilson t here s no t ing in here that other owners will consider off region e g like the Watson guarantees In an Aug email transmitting the final details of the deal Penner wrote that the guarantees million at signing all explained were far less than Watson If we can get this done George feels very good about it for us as a franchise and the benchmark it sets vs Watson for the rest of the league Of module the deal did get done and it did not turn out well for the Broncos Wilson was cut after two years he never played a down of the actual five-year million extension which would have kicked in for the season Related Articles Broncos announce open training camp dates limited attendance due to ongoing construction Why Broncos J K Dobbins through years of injury has invariably kept showing contentment I can t give up Keeler Broncos Marvin Mims says bromance with QB Bo Nix just getting started We re going to do specific special things Gov Polis office involved in Broncos talks over practicable Burnham Yard sale for new stadium sources say Broncos podcast Wrapping the offseason effort plus stadium latest The Broncos took on a record million in dead salary cap charges but made the playoffs while carrying million dead on their salary cap and paying Wilson million cash They are carrying the final million in dead money on their books and owe Wilson no more money When the deal was signed the document shows then-NFLPA president JC Tretter expressed frustration over the fact Wilson hadn t succeeded in landing a fully guaranteed contract The arbiter ultimately identified that the testimony and evidence around the Broncos and other teams actions did not meet a clear preponderance of evidence that they colluded to suppress guaranteed money for the quarterbacks Of the Broncos the arbiter wrote The Broncos maintained that they had more leverage in negotiations because Mr Wilson had two years remaining on his existing contract and therefore there was not a strong incentive for them to accede to Mr Wilson s requests for a fully guaranteed contract He also wrote that while the emails sent by Mr Penner indicated that he was aware of the precedent that Mr Wilson s contract might set for the rest of the League the emails do not suggest that in attempting to limiting Mr Wilson s guaranteed compensation the Broncos were fulfilling a collusive agreement struck at the March owners meeting Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis