Russell Wilson has been one of the biggest talking points of the offseason.

Just two seasons after the franchise paid the former Seattle Seahawks QB an unprecedented 5-year, $246.2 million contract with $39 million guaranteed in 2024,  Wilson will be playing for another team next season after reaching a one-year deal for the league minimum with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

The deal benefits both sides. The Broncos still have to pay Wilson his $39 million this year and will take a significant salary cap hit as Sean Payton attempts to put together a competitive roster that just traded its top WR and released one of the best safeties in the NFL, while the Steelers get a veteran QB who earned multiple Pro Bowl trips in his prime.

Oh and he’s coming off a season where he threw for just over 3,000 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions and put up those numbers despite being benched for the final few games of the year.

It’s almost jaw-dropping to look back on how we got here.

The Denver Broncos gave Russell Wilson a massive contract just two seasons ago and now he’s a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers playing on a contract for the league minimum.

Ahead of the 2022 season, it would be almost unfathomable to consider this a real possibility. How could a team invest so much money into a franchise QB — and have a significant amount of his salary take away from the ability to sign new talent — and part ways with him after just two seasons?

NFL talking heads chalked his horrendous performance during his first season with the Denver Broncos up to a disconnect between Russell Wilson and former head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

So they went and hired Sean Payton, one of the most brilliant offensive minds available who had a ton of success in New Orleans with Drew Brees, and undersized QB with dual-threat ability that had a cannon for an arm and was accurate with his throws. That sounds a lot like WIlson in his prime — and for a variety of reasons — many simply assumed Payton and Wilson would mesh perfectly like the first-year Broncos head coach did with Brees.

But that wasn’t the case at all. Although Wilson didn’t light the stat sheet up, he played like the middle of the-pack-game manager in the middle of the season who showed flashes of brilliance of his old self as Denver struggled early with a (1-5) start to the year. But people forget how awful the defense played, and in a few of those early losses, Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns and no turnovers, but the defense couldn’t stop anyone so he took the blame.

But then the 9-time Pro Bowler got hot, and led the Broncos to 5-straight wins against teams that eventually made the playoffs including the Super Bowl Champs(Chiefs, Browns, Bills, Packers.

And after one poor performance against the Houston Texans, Wilson was benched. It soon came out that he was told in October he could be benched if he wasn’t willing to adjust his $37 million guarantee.

At that point it became clear that Payton and the Broncos were done with Wilson.

ESPN Insider Adam Schefter Reveals Shocking Details About Russell Wilson’s New Deal With The Pittsburgh Steelers

While many in the NFL world may still be stunned how quickly Wilson was run out of Denver, ESPN Insider Adam Schefter joined Scott Van Pelt on Sunday night and revealed a few shocking details about how the deal went down.

First and foremost, Schefter reported Wilson visited with the New York Giants before his meeting with the Steelers. That was significant and tells you the Giants are exploring all options to replace Daniel Jones, who they also recently awarded a significant contract.

Secondly, Schefter made it abundantly clear Russell  Wilson is joining the Pittsburgh Steelers with the full confidence he will be the team’s starter in 2024.

“I think Pittsburgh made it clear that it was bringing in competition for Kenny Pickett and I think Russell Wilson doesn’t go anywhere he doesn’t think that he isn’t going to be the starter,” Schefter said.

“Now he’s going to have to go earn it and play well, but Russell Wilson is ultra confident in his abilities and what he will bring to that franchise. You’re talking about a guy that has been to nine Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl, I don’t think that he thinks he’s going to Pittsburgh to backup Kenny Pickett.”

Schefter then detailed Wilson’s meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he met with head coach Mike Tomlin and new OC Arthur Smith for  more than 6 hours and thinks the offensive weapons in place, their ability to run the football and strong defense sealed the deal.

It’s clear Wilson believes he can thrive in Pittsburgh. Free agency is just getting going, but it’s off to a wild start.