Russell Wilson was granted a rather unusual perk after the veteran quarterback was traded to and signed a contract extension with the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos granted Wilson an office on the second floor of the team facility while all other players congregated in the locker room elsewhere. The situation for Wilson, who did not have an office when he played for the Seattle Seahawks, reportedly created an unusual team dynamic.
One Denver player even shared how Wilson told teammates he had an “open-door policy,” which, to no surprise, rubbed some others inside the organization the wrong way.
“So, are you a coach or are you a player?” one coach told The Athletic in an extensive feature story about Wilson’s first year in Denver. “Your open door should be you sitting at your locker.”
Another coach added: “The players were always on the first floor; they never really came up to the second floor. If you came up to the second floor as a player, it honestly wasn’t a good thing because you were probably getting released.”
Some Broncos players, however, expressed that they did not have a problem with Wilson’s set up given he spent so much time at the facility. Broncos receiver Kendall Hinton told The Athletic that Wilson’s whiteboard was littered with motivational quotes and play concepts while ex-Broncos running back Melvin Gordon said Wilson was always concentrated on football and would run through plays with anyone who had a question.
Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why Wilson came under fire from NFL analysts and those outside the organization following his struggles.
Wilson now will have an opportunity to rebound from arguably the worst season of his career. Denver hired Sean Payton as its next head coach after firing Nathaniel Hackett in late December. It apparently was exactly what Wilson was hoping for.
