Russell Wilson didn’t throw a pass when the Giants visited Denver on Sunday, but the veteran quarterback and his old coach managed to exchange shots all the same.
Broncos coach Sean Payton, after his team’s 33-32 comeback win at Empower Field at Mile High, credited Giants rookie Jaxson Dart by saying New York “found a little spark with that quarterback.” Payton finished the compliment with what was viewed as a not-so-subtle dig at Wilson, who played for Payton in Denver in 2023 and was the Giants starting quarterback for the season’s first three games before being benched for Dart.
“I was talking to (Giants owner) John Mara not too long ago,” Payton said, “and I said, ‘We were hoping that (quarterback) change would have happened long after our game.’”
Wilson responded Tuesday with a post on X that called Payton “classless” and referenced the coach’s 2012 suspension for his role in the Saints’ “Bountygate” scandal.
Classless… but not surprised….
Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media. 😎😂 #LetsRide 🤣— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) October 21, 2025
Wilson was acquired by the Broncos in a blockbuster trade ahead of the 2022 season. He went 4-11 as a starter under first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired with two games left in the regular season. Wilson started the first 15 games of the 2023 season under Payton, going 7-8, before being benched by the coach with two games remaining. The two clashed publicly on several occasions, including during a late-season game in Detroit when broadcast cameras caught Payton berating Wilson on the sideline following a failed red zone series.
The Broncos cut Wilson after the 2023 season despite having to absorb a record $85 million dead money hit to do so.
Wilson said at the time of his benching that the Broncos threatened to bench him midway through the season if he was unwilling to push back the trigger date on an injury guarantee in his contract.
“(The Broncos) told me that if I didn’t change my contract, my injury guarantee, that I’d be benched for the rest of the year,” Wilson said at the time. “I was definitely disappointed about it.”
Broncos general manager George Paton later said he reached out to Wilson’s camp “in good faith and in a creative attempt to adjust his contract.”
“We couldn’t get a deal done and we did move on with our season,” Paton said then. “It didn’t come up again. Fast forward, Week 17, Sean makes a change at the quarterback position.”
Paton emphasized that the decision to bench Wilson near the end of the season was “completely independent” of conversations about his contract earlier in the year.
Wilson has returned to Denver twice since his two-year stint with the Broncos ended, but he didn’t play against his former team either time. The Steelers visited Denver in Week 2 last season, when Wilson was on the team, but he was unavailable to play due to an injury. He was the backup behind Dart on Sunday.
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