Russell Wilson isn’t considered to be among the NFL’s best quarterbacks anymore, but he is certainly one of the league’s best bargains.
The Pittsburgh Steelers starter is on a more-than-reasonable deal in 2024. He signed the one-year pact with the Steelers, hoping to revitalize his career after a disastrous couple of seasons with the Denver Broncos.
However, things didn’t go Wilson’s way off the bat in Pittsburgh. He missed the first six games of the 2024 NFL season while dealing with a calf injury, and it appeared that fellow offseason acquisition Justin Fields would hold onto the starting job after beginning the season with a 4-2 record.
After a stellar performance against the New York Jets in his Week 7 season debut, it looks like Wilson is sparking a career resurgence.
The Steelers are happy with that development and have Wilson to thank for it. Not just because of his performance but also because of the deal he accepted to come to Pittsburgh.
Here’s what to know about Russell Wilson’s contract and where he ranks among the NFL’s lowest-paid quarterbacks.
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Russell Wilson’s contract details
Wilson signed a one-year, $1.21 million contract with the Steelers before the 2024 NFL season. Below are the full details of that deal, per Spotrac.com:
Wilson’s deal also includes a full no-trade clause, which gives him veto power over any potential trade away from the Steelers.
Wilson’s contract is certainly a bargain. He is one of the league’s lowest-paid quarterbacks in 2024 salary, and only San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is making less than him among starting signal-callers.
While Wilson’s contract may look small, he is making much more than it appears. This is thanks to his previous contract, a five-year pact he inked with the Denver Broncos ahead of the 2022 NFL season.
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How much is Russell Wilson making in 2024?
Wilson is making $39 million for the 2024 NFL season. The Steelers will pay $1.21 million of that, while Wilson’s former team, the Broncos, will pay the rest.
Wilson’s $39 million in earnings stemmed from the guaranteed money in the $242.5 million contract he signed with Denver in 2022. That deal contained $124 million in guarantees. The Broncos had already paid $85 million of those guarantees through the 2023 NFL season but had to give the 35-year-old the remaining $39 million after releasing him on March 13, 2024.
That said, Denver’s deal with Wilson included offset language. This meant that if he signed a contract with another team, his 2024 salary would be subtracted from the amount the Broncos owed him.
That incentivized Wilson to take the cheapest deal possible – barring another NFL team offering him a contract worth more than $39 million in 2024. Wilson afforded the Steelers maximum flexibility by taking the $1.21 million contract while leaving the Broncos to foot the $37.79 million remaining on the bill.
How much do the Broncos owe Russell Wilson in 2024?
To recap, here is what the Broncos and Steelers each owe Wilson for the 2024 NFL season:
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Broncos: $37.79 million
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Steelers: $1.21 million
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Total: $39 million
Pittsburgh will not owe Wilson anything beyond the 2024 NFL season unless it signs him to an extension.
Meanwhile, Denver won’t owe Wilson any new money beyond the 2024 season, but he will still carry a $32 million dead-cap charge for the team in 2025. The Broncos absorbed a dead-cap hit of $53 million in 2024, giving Wilson a total dead-cap value of $85 million, the largest sum in NFL history.
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Cheapest NFL QB contracts
Wilson’s contract is cheap, but other quarterbacks on NFL rosters are making less than him. Nine quarterbacks currently on 53-man rosters are making less than $1 million during the 2024 NFL season.
Tommy DeVito is the lowest-paid NFL quarterback on a team’s 53-man roster, per OverTheCap.com. The second-year New York Giants quarterback has an AAV of just $832,500 after signing with them as an undrafted free agent in 2023.
Below is a look at the ten lowest-paid active-roster quarterbacks based on the AAV of their contracts:
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Tommy DeVito, New York Giants: $832,500
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Sam Ehlinger, Indianapolis Colts: $902,676
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Tyson Bagent, Chicago Bears: $906,667
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Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers: $934,253
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Skylar Thompson, Miami Dolphins: $935,552
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Jake Browning, Cincinnati Bengals: $972,500
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Desmond Ridder, Las Vegas Raiders: $985,000
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Bailey Zappe, Cleveland Browns: $985,000
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Sam Howell, Seattle Seahawks: $1,005,400
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Tanner McKee, Philadelphia Eagles: $1,006,630
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russell Wilson contract details: What is Steelers QB making in 2024?