Greg Penner of the Broncos Explains Success After Russell Wilson

No team in NFL history had ever managed to succeed, much less get through a season with a mind-blowing $85 million in dead salary-cap liabilities. Anyhow, there was no team before the Denver Broncos.

In March 2024, the Broncos made the contentious decision to cut former starting quarterback Russell Wilson. This decision resulted in cap-crippling hits for the following two seasons, most notably a $53 million blow that year that some thought would put the team in perpetual purgatory.

Russell Wilson with former coach Sean Payton

It was the furthest thing from reality. Bo Nix, a rookie quarterback who took Wilson’s position, had a historic debut season and helped the team to its first winning record since 2016 and its first postseason participation since 2015.

Greg Penner talks about the Russell Wilson trade

“That was always the expectation,” said Greg Penner, co-owner and CEO.

Last week, Penner informed the press: “I think we’ve got the right people in place now with our ownership group, [Head Coach] Sean [Payton], [General Manager] George [Paton] and others, where we’re not going to make excuses,”

“Our job is to put the best football team on the field each season, no matter what the constraints are. You’re going to have obstacles that come up, whether they are injuries, something happens with a player or financial restraints with the cap, but we’re not going to make excuses. We’re going to do everything we can to be competitive each year.”

Greg Penner praises Sean Payton for building team after Russell Wilson

In fact, the Broncos pulled up their pocketbook strings during the 2025 free-agent period, acquiring tight end Evan Engram, safety Talanoa Hufanga, and inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, in contrast to their parsimonious offseason last year. The price? A total of $50 million in guarantees and $93.5 million in fresh funding.

“I was really pleased. I thought George and Sean put together a really good plan and executed it well,” “I think we got better on the field and, frankly, the makeup of the team improved with the guys that that we brought in. It’s interesting each year—our first year, we were really forced to be aggressive because we had big holes on the offensive and defensive lines. Last year in free agency, we had to be more measured because we didn’t have much cap space. This year, I’d say we were more opportunistic. We had some key needs at inside linebacker, safety and tight end. They identified some players that really would be a good fit for us and got those done. I was really pleased.”

The Broncos are in considerably better shape than they were at the beginning of Wilson’s contract. On paper, they are far superior, and they are predicted to win 9.5 games next season, which is four more than they were predicted to win the previous season.

The post Greg Penner of the Broncos Explains Success After Russell Wilson appeared first on BlackSportsOnline.