Russell Wilson wants to stay in Denver.
He would also prefer to play for a team that wants him under center.
Those might well be conflicting desires. Above all else, Wilson wants to hoist a Lombardi Trophy again, a point he made clear on the I Am Athlete podcast, which dropped Sunday night.
"I've got more fire than ever, honestly, especially over the past two years of what I've gone through,'' Wilson told Brandon Marshall, via ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. "Whether it's in Denver or somewhere else, I hope it's in Denver, I hope I get to finish there. I committed there, I wanted to be there. I want to be there."
These last two years have been rough for Wilson and the Broncos, who've gone a combined 13-21 under two full-time head coaches, with the quarterback ending the 2023 campaign on the bench for the last two games.
Getting back into a starting lineup and back into Super Bowl contention is paramount for the 35-year-old Wilson, who went to two Super Bowls with the Seattle Seahawks, winning one. Following a decade in the Emerald City, Wilson was traded to Denver for a king's ransom prior to the 2022 season. It's a trade that hasn't worked out for Wilson or the franchise.
"For me, it's about winning -- over the next two years, I want to win two [Super Bowls], I want to feel the chill of that trophy again," Wilson said. "I love the city and everything else, but you also want to be [in] a place that wants you, too. The thing I want to do is to win, that's all I care about."
Though his play improved in 2023 from 2022, Wilson clearly didn't match all that well with head coach Sean Payton, who sat him in Week 17 and Week 18.
Payton said in January that a final decision hadn't been made on Wilson's future, but after benching the nine-time Pro Bowler, the writing seemed to be on the wall -- and the checkbook.
Following the Week 17 trip to the pine, it became public that Denver was looking to restructure the quarterback's contract during the Week 9 bye. General manager George Paton confirmed in January that the club did speak with Wilson's agent about the contract situation but said the benching was independent of that discussion. Wilson has a $37 million injury guarantee for 2025 that becomes fully guaranteed in March, so it would seem a decision on his future in the Mile High City should come shortly.
If he ends up employed elsewhere, Wilson said he hasn't ruminated about any future suitors.
"Honestly, I haven't thought about it," he said.
While an optimistic approach has always been prevalent with Wilson -- and clearly still is -- he admitted sitting the final two weeks of last season was an arduous endeavor.
"You swallow that pill, you swallow what you're going through," he said. "Yeah, it was hard. ... I didn't talk to anybody about it, really.''
Nonetheless, it hasn't deterred him from believing a bright future still lays ahead.
"Next five years I get to hold two more Super Bowl trophies, that's my goal," Wilson said. "That's my plan ... knowing that you want to be one of the greatest winners to play this game.''
