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The Denver Broncos traded away their future to acquire quarterback Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks in 2022.
Denver had also hired head coach Nathaniel Hackett to run the west coast offense that usually helps quarterbacks play at a better level, but that wasn’t the case last year with Wilson.
In his first season with the Broncos, Wilson had career lows in passing touchdowns (16) and completion percentage (60.5).
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report predicts that Wilson have his best passing season of his career.
“In Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick, Wilson has a rock-solid trio of passing-game weapons at his disposal. The arrival of [Sean] Payton should be a sizable boost to an offense that ranked dead last in scoring in 2022.” Davenport continued, “All the ingredients are there for Wilson to bounce back big-time in 2023—so much so that Wilson is going to do something this year he never has before: Throw for 4,300 yards.”
Wilson’s best season of his career came back in 2020 when he threw for 4,212 yards and had 40 passing touchdowns. Every year since those 40 touchdowns, Wilson’s touchdown numbers have decreased each of the last two seasons.
Russell Wilson Should Improve in 2023
Hackett wasn’t the correct coach to work with Wilson last season since he was fired just 15 games into the season. This time around, Wilson got his wish at his dream head coach in Payton.
During the 13 games that Wilson played under Hackett, the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback completed a career-low 60% of his passes for an average of just 232.2 yards per game.
Wilson threw just 12 touchdowns in those 13 games and had only two multi-touchdown games. The former Seahawk gun-slinger was also intercepted 9 times.
After Hackett was fired, Denver promoted Jerry Rosburg to interim head coach and things began to change for the good for Wilson.
Rosburg stripped play-calling duties from quarterback coach Klint Kubiak and gave the duties to offensive coordinator Justin Outten.
In the final two games of the season under Outten, Wilson completed nearly 63% of his passes for an average of 252.5 passing yards per game.
Wilson also threw four touchdowns including three in the final game against the Los Angeles Chargers and his passer rating jumped from 82.6 to 96.5.
With the season ending with Wilson playing well, there was proof that after all the injuries, getting to a more creative play caller, and an improved offensive line, there is hope that Wilson can play like he did in Seattle at a Hall of Fame level.
Wilson’s Favorite Target Will Return
According to James Palmer of the NFL Network, Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick can be the best option for Wilson this year.
“I’ve had multiple people tell me he [Patrick] is the best football player in that wide receiver room and might be a bigger boost for a Russell Wilson bounce-back season than maybe we’re leading on,” Palmer said.
The local insider also explained that Wilson was the most comfortable with Patrick during training camp last season before he went down with a torn ACL.
“If you spent any time in training camp last year, it was Tim Patrick who Russell Wilson was building his chemistry with,” Palmer said. “Multiple coaches would tell me [Wilson] felt more comfortable throwing the ball to Patrick than any other guy on the field.”
“I’ve always got something to prove,” Patrick said. “I think my whole mindset is just being a better version of myself. I see some of the stuff you guys say and handicap you your first year, and then second year is the best year. I throw all that out the window. My best year’s going to be right after.”
In the last two full seasons that Patrick played in (2020 and 2021), the former Utah Ute is the only Denver wide receiver to surpass 700 or more receiving yards in each of those seasons.
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