There seems to be no love lost between Russell Wilson and Sean Payton.
A couple of days after the Broncos head coach appeared to diss Wilson following Denver’s comeback victory over the New York Giants on Sunday, the Giants quarterback seemed to call out his former head coach on social media.
“Classless… but not surprised…. Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media,” Wilson wrote in a social media post on Tuesday, making reference to the “BountyGate” scandal during Payton’s tenure as the New Orleans Saints head coach.
While Wilson didn’t directly mention Payton by name, the social media post seemed to be in response to Payton saying that he was hoping to avoid playing rookie QB Jaxson Dart in the Week 7 matchup.
“I’m close with the Mara and Tisch families, and they found a little spark with that quarterback,” Payton said on Sunday. “I was talking to John Mara not too long ago, and I said we were hoping that that change would have happened long, long after our game.”
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Of course, the Giants benched Wilson a few weeks before Sunday’s game against the Broncos. Dart became the starter in Week 4 and nearly improved to 3-1 in Week 7, throwing three touchdowns and rushing for another in the 33-32 loss.
Wilson, meanwhile, is on his third team in as many years. He was released by the Broncos at the end of the 2023 season, with Payton and the organization wanting to make a change at quarterback after the duo went 8-9 in their only season together. In fact, Payton benched Wilson with two games remaining that season in a move that was presumably meant to save themselves from having to pay him more guaranteed money if he got injured.
“We felt it was in the best interests of our team,” Payton said in March 2024 of the reasoning for the team’s decision to release Wilson.
Wilson signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers shortly after his release from Denver. He had a brief resurgence there, helping Pittsburgh post a record strong enough to reach the postseason. However, Wilson’s play fizzled out as the season went along, with the Steelers losing their last five games, including a wild-card round loss to the Ravens.
The Steelers let Wilson walk in free agency, allowing him to sign a one-year deal with the Giants. Wilson started New York’s first three games, and went 0-3 during a stretch where the offense failed to score 10 points in two of those games.
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