Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson is looking to turn his recent struggles around in 2023 after the worst season of his career last year. And new head coach Sean Payton shared exactly how Wilson can potentially salvage his career in a very harsh message on Monday.
Wilson and the Broncos came into the 2022 season with some very lofty expectations. But the Broncos struggled as a team and Wilson was even worse individually last year, recording career lows in completion percentage, passing touchdowns, and passer rating.
Payton seemingly believes that Wilson’s struggles on the field could be directly correlated with his personality. According to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, Peyton shared a message with Wilson upon taking the Broncos coaching job to “focus less on Russell Inc.’.
“He told Wilson that to salvage his career he needed to focus less on Russell Inc,” wrote Broncos beat writer Zack Kelberman on Twitter about the story written by Wickersham. “Will you ****ing stop kissing all the babies? You’re not running for public office.”
It may seem a bit harsh for Peyton to take issue with Wilson’s happy-go-lucky personality. But it is something that he has been criticized for in the past.
Many took issue with his comments after the majority of Broncos games, even games that did not go well, where he used the somewhat corny catchphrase “Broncos Country, let’s ride!”
It will certainly be interesting to see if Wilson has taken Peyton’s advice for the 2023 season. Fans will get their first chance to see Wilson in Sean Payton’s offense on Sunday in their season-opening game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
[ESPN]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.