Russell Wilson responds to Eli Manning's joke about paying punter over him

New York Giants former quarterback Eli Manning in attendance during the game against the Carolina Panthers at MetLife Stadium. Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Russell Wilson responds to Eli Manning's joke that Broncos should have paid their punter instead of him

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 9/29/22

It hasn't been a pretty start to the Russell Wilson era in Denver. Sure, the Broncos are technically 2-1. That much is indeed true.

With that said, the Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett-led offense is scoring just 14.3 points per game so far with just three total touchdowns. In this past Monday Night Football's win over the San Francisco 49ers, Wilson threw for just 184 yards and no touchdowns while the offense mustered up just 261 total yards on a measly 3.7 yards per play.

Sure. the Broncos won 11-10, but that's far from letting Wilson cook as a quarterback.

In fact, Denver's punter, Corliss Waitman, actually gained 215 more net yards than Wilson's offense did on Monday night. He punted 10 times for 476 yards.

Waitman was so prominent in the game for Denver that Eli Manning, one-half of the ever-popular "Manningcast", joked that Denver should have given the punter a huge contract rather than Wilson this offseason.

“They should have paid that punter $235 million…instead of Russell”

— Eli Manning @thesportsontap pic.twitter.com/jmSMfGbt3b
— Sports ON Tap Seattle (@SONTSeattle) September 27, 2022

Now, it certain circles and with certain people, this would be enough to start a massive beef. Had Manning said that about Conor McGregor, for instance, we'd be having a whole different conversation.

Wilson has always been on top of his public relations game, though, so he took the comments in stride when asked about them:

Eli Manning said on Monday night that the Broncos should’ve given the $250 million to the punter instead of Russ.

“You talking about Chad Powers?

I’m 3-0 against Chad Powers”

Gotta check the data pic.twitter.com/bYtGUJij6e
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 28, 2022