The Denver Broncos released quarterback Russell Wilson on Monday, according to multiple league sources, ending his tenure with the team only two years after its blockbuster trade to acquire him.

Wilson, 35, was benched during the final two games of the 2023 season, which Denver finished with an 8-9 record, opening the door for Monday’s move. The Broncos acquired the nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback in a massive trade with the Seattle Seahawks in March 2022 in which the Broncos gave up five draft picks, including two first-rounders, and three players in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round pick. Denver won only 11 of the 30 games Wilson started.

The timing of Wilson’s release was partially dictated by a trigger in his contract that guaranteed his $37 million salary for 2025 if he was still on the roster on March 17. In cutting Wilson, the Broncos are on the hook for $85 million in dead money as the result of future guarantees accelerating onto the 2024 cap. The team could split those charges over two seasons via a post-June 1 release designation.

Wilson had the worst season of his career in 2022, throwing only 16 touchdowns with 11 interceptions while finishing near the bottom of the NFL in most advanced measurements, like TruMedia’s EPA (expected points added) per dropback. His numbers improved in 2023 as Sean Payton replaced Nathaniel Hackett as head coach, and Wilson’s clutch play contributed to a five-game winning streak for the Broncos that pushed the team into playoff contention following a 1-5 start. But the Broncos’ offense at large continued to struggle, particularly in the red zone. That led to friction between Payton and Wilson, which was illustrated by the coach berating the quarterback on the sideline during a December loss to the Detroit Lions.

Another wedge between the Broncos and Wilson formed in late October, when the team approached the quarterback’s representation “in good faith,” according to general manager George Paton, about adjusting the trigger date on the injury guarantee in his contract. Wilson said the meeting included a threat that he would be benched as the team’s starter if he did not agree to the adjustment, and the NFLPA and the NFL were notified of the conversation. The contract talks were dropped and Wilson went on to start the next seven games before Payton benched the quarterback following a stunning Christmas Eve loss to the Patriots that all but extinguished Denver’s playoff hopes.

Payton said at the time of the benching that the move was made for football reasons and that he was searching for “a spark” for the team’s struggling offense.

After Jarrett Stidham started the final two games, Payton addressed the impending decision on Wilson’s future on Feb. 9, saying, “We look closely at where the pieces are.”

“Here are the ‘musts, needs and wants’ and when you asked the question about Russ, that factors in,” Payton said during an interview with Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio. “Is it possible for us to do ‘this, this and this’ or not? I think that decision will be sooner than later. He’ll know sooner than later.”

Those comments from Payton echoed what he said about Wilson at the end of the season when he promised the decision about when and if to release Wilson would “not be a long, drawn-out process.”

Payton also previously said Denver’s free-agent meeting process would be an important part of their decision-making as it related to Wilson, but he pushed back at the time on the notion that Denver had already chosen a path at quarterback.

“Anything that people have said or commented about or heard about, ‘Oh, trades and —’ I can’t even tell you the jersey numbers of these rookie quarterbacks yet,” he said. “We start Monday on it. So how on Earth are we (trading) to (pick) one or going to five or six?’”

Denver holds the No. 12 pick in the draft after being without a first-round pick the last two years by virtue of their trades for Wilson and Payton, who signed a five-year deal to coach the Broncos in 2023 after Denver traded a first-round pick to New Orleans for the rights to acquire him. Stidham, signed by the Broncos as a free agent in 2023, is under contract for one more season, but he’ll undoubtedly face completion for the starting job next season.

Wilson, a 12-year NFL veteran, threw for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions last season. He’s posted a 64.7 completion percentage in his career, which included 10 seasons and a Super Bowl win with the Seattle Seahawks before he was traded to Denver in 2022. He is now a free agent for the first time in his career.

This story will be updated.

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(Photo: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)