Quarterback Russell Wilson visited Friday with the Pittsburgh Steelers and spoke with the New York Giants on Thursday as the free agent-to-be seeks his next NFL team, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
League sources described Wilson’s session with the Giants as an “exploratory meeting.” Wilson is expected to meet with other teams, including possibly the Las Vegas Raiders, sources said.
Wilson is meeting with teams ahead of his release by the Denver Broncos at the start of the league year on Wednesday. Sources told Schefter this week that the Broncos had granted Wilson permission to immediately begin speaking and meeting with other teams in their home cities.
The Steelers have only 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett under contract at quarterback. Mason Rudolph is entering free agency after starting three games for Pittsburgh last season.
Steelers general manager Omar Khan expressed “full faith” in Pickett this month at the NFL scouting combine.
“We are excited about Kenny and excited about the impact that [new OC] Arthur Smith is going to have on the offense and on Kenny,” Khan said.
Still, both Khan and coach Mike Tomlin said they planned to bring in competition for Pickett, though Khan didn’t tip his hand about how the team planned to do that. Khan also said the team remained interested in bringing back Rudolph.
Typically conservative in their free agency approach, the Steelers have a recent history in adding free agent quarterbacks to their roster. Before drafting Pickett, the Steelers signed former Chicago Bears first-round pick Mitch Trubisky to a two-year, $14 million deal on the first day of free agency in 2021. Trubisky, though, was unseated as starter by Pickett four games into the season, and despite signing an extension last offseason, Trubisky was released by the team earlier this year.
The Giants, meanwhile, have said they expect to add a quarterback this offseason, whether it be in free agency or the draft. Daniel Jones is rehabbing a torn ACL and backup Tyrod Taylor is set to become a free agent.
New York could get out of Jones’ four-year, $160 million deal after the 2024 season. The cost would be a digestible $22.2 million dead cap hit in 2025.
The Broncos announced Monday that they would be releasing Wilson, ending a tumultuous two-season run in which Denver went 11-19 in Wilson’s starts and failed to make the playoffs.
Coach Sean Payton benched Wilson with two games remaining in 2023, a move that in effect marked the end of the quarterback’s career in Denver. Wilson had passed for 3,070 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2023 before his benching.
The Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year, $242.6 million deal after his arrival in a blockbuster trade with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022. They will take on an $85 million hit in dead money over the next two seasons because of the release.
The tipping point of the public divorce was likely the conversation between Wilson, his representatives and the Broncos during the team’s Week 9 bye. The Broncos maintain that they wanted to find a “creative way” for Wilson to waive, or adjust, a $37 million injury guarantee in his contract.
Wilson, 35, said he was told at the time that if he and his representatives didn’t play financial ball, he would be pulled as the starter.
He is now seeking a third NFL team after spending the first 10 seasons of his career with the Seahawks, during which he was selected to nine Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl. A third-round pick of Seattle in 2012, Wilson has thrown for 43,653 yards with 334 touchdowns and 106 interceptions.
Information from ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, Jordan Raanan and Jeff Legwold was used in this report.
