National Football League

Russell Wilson trade draws strong reaction across NFL landscape

Updated Mar. 9, 2022 5:26 p.m. ET

Aaron Rodgers owned the spotlight for about an hour on Tuesday.

The four-time MVP brought an abrupt end to his month-long intermission by inking the richest deal in league history with Green Bay.

And Rodgers would've been the talk of the day — heck, the week — if not for a seismic blockbuster trade just a few moments later.

The deal: a mammoth exchange between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, in which the latter acquired nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson.

It was an absolute shocker for the NFL landscape, as very few saw it coming.

For Denver, the move has the potential to shift AFC power, and immediately morphs the bottom-rung squad from last season into a formidable playoff contender.

And for Skip Bayless, it was the undisputed deal of the century.

"It's a quarterback's game," Bayless said Wednesday on "Undisputed."

"There are only a handful of quarterbacks capable of taking you to the Super Bowl. You have to have one of the top-tier quarterbacks. This is flat-out highway robbery for Russell Wilson. The Broncos went from 20-1 [odds to win the Super Bowl] to 12-1, all because they got themselves a quarterback."

Former Bronco and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe similarly loved the deal.

"In order to get a lot, you have to give up a lot," Sharpe said.

"[The Broncos have] had 11 quarterbacks since Peyton Manning decided to hang it up. In order for you to be successful, you have got to produce points. Their problem last year was scoring, not stopping people from scoring. The offensive line is much better in Denver than it was in Seattle. You look at Javonte Williams, Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton. The Broncos are going to be good."

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Nick Wright, however, wasn't impressed by the move, and called the Broncos' new troupe nothing more than a"wild-card contender."

"Sometimes trades are win-win, sometimes they're lose-lose," Wright said on "First Things First."

"This is [a lose-lose]. In the last seven years, Nick Foles, Jimmy Garoppolo, Peyton Manning — who's been retired — and Ben Roethlisberger have won more playoff games than Wilson. Matthew Stafford has more playoff wins in the last seven years. Stafford had zero playoff wins 90 days ago! The idea that Russell Wilson makes you an instant contender — no he's doesn't. He's won one playoff game in the last five years."

Wright added that in his estimation, Patrick Mahomes would continue to dominate the AFC West.

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How far Wilson can take the Broncos is yet to be seen, but the consensus among the analysts is clear: the Broncos are better than they were last week.

For them, that's a win in itself.