As we now know, Sean Payton told the team and quarterback Russell Wilson that he would be benched in favor of backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham. This news was shocking while also not totally surprising considering how the Broncos have played over the past month.
Since this initial report, more and more have started to come out about how all this went down. We have a confirmed report stating the Broncos threatened to bench Wilson if he did not remove his injury guarantees from his contract. Payton and the team continue to say this move was purely football-related and was to provide a “spark” to a struggling offense.