When Does Playing Poorly Become Fraud?

[LakecrestSteeler]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

At what amount of money should an athlete be ashamed and offer to give it back because one did not live up to the contract? If not give it back, then walk away from the sport for not living up to the potential of what was expected.

If you hire someone to paint your house; you pay 90% upfront and they don’t do any prep work and begin to pour water into the paint to stretch it and start slopping it on your house and you have to tell them to stop because they are so awful. Then they walk away with your money…at some point it is flat out fraud and you need to demand a refund or the painting company needs to refund.

Does this make whole thing make Russ Wilson a low character guy? What amount of money begins to make this a fraud? Many of folks have had severance packages, but this is not the same thing. There is zero chance Russ Wilson will have success in Pittsburgh. He has fuck you money. He has committed athletic fraud of some degree and he has essentially walked off with an owner’s money, part of a city’s pride, and part of a company’s profit. He will just be living with guilt and bad karma, and there is no way he performs well this year. When you cost a team $85 million you offer to give it back or walk off into the sunset.

Something about this whole thing has rotten ethical standards at its core guaranteed contract or not! Am I the only one bothered by it?

I am pretty sure CK was black-listed for some period of time. If a player walks off with $40 million they should be double secret probation black-listed by the owners.

[rooneytunes]

So you would make an actor give money back if a movie sucked?

It's the free market. Wilson got the Denver contract because that is what the market said he was worth . Why? Because an owner was willing to pay that amount.

[SteelerDayTrader]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

At what amount of money should an athlete be ashamed and offer to give it back because one did not live up to the contract? If not give it back, then walk away from the sport for not living up to the potential of what was expected.

If you hire someone to paint your house; you pay 90% upfront and they don’t do any prep work and begin to pour water into the paint to stretch it and start slopping it on your house and you have to tell them to stop because they are so awful. Then they walk away with your money…at some point it is flat out fraud and you need to demand a refund or the painting company needs to refund.

Does this make whole thing make Russ Wilson a low character guy? What amount of money begins to make this a fraud? Many of folks have had severance packages, but this is not the same thing. There is zero chance Russ Wilson will have success in Pittsburgh. He has fuck you money. He has committed athletic fraud of some degree and he has essentially walked off with an owner’s money, part of a city’s pride, and part of a company’s profit. He will just be living with guilt and bad karma, and there is no way he performs well this year. When you cost a team $85 million you offer to give it back or walk off into the sunset.

Something about this whole thing has rotten ethical standards at its core guaranteed contract or not! Am I the only one bothered by it?

I am pretty sure CK was black-listed for some period of time. If a player walks off with $40 million they should be double secret probation black-listed by the owners.

[LakecrestSteeler]

Of course it depends…and the movie analogy is probably a good one because there is so much that goes into making it a success.

I know it happens all the time with athletes’ contracts, severance packages, garden packages, golden parachutes, but Jesus at what point is it fraud on the system!

Brady, Ben, Watts, Donald, Prime AB, Woods, Jordan, Lebron, Shaq, Kobe, Ohtani on and on, like blue chip stocks…just back it barring injury! if you are in that upper echelon of athletes and getting paid in the top 10 of contracts, you have to back it up with play or ride off into the sunset!

Russ will not workout! I hope he does, but I am braced for another 9 to 10 win season.


I can’t think of any athlete coming back from a bust of a contract for a successful act 2. Not a $40 million bust for sure.

[W&M_Steeler]

Russ will not workout! I hope he does, but I am braced for another 9 to 10 win season.

I can’t think of any athlete coming back from a bust of a contract for a successful act 2. Not a $40 million bust for sure.

Even if Russ sucks this year, chances are his play isn't going to be any worse than the terrible QB play the Steelers have had the past few years. If he does somehow come in and look worse than KP has looked, then maybe even Tomlin starts to feel heat. Plus, Russ can be cut with basically no impact on the cap There's really no downside to signing Russ, and the possibility of significant upside. I don't see the point of getting bent out of shape about it.

Besides, what were the other options? Paying a king's ransom to sign aging, mediocre choker Kirk Cousins coming off an Achilles tear? Trading for Justin Fields and then signing a $25 million extension for someone who has never done anything? Sticking with KP, who sucked for two years and apparently was not popular in the locker room (see Cam, Minkah, and TJ actively recruiting RW)? Signing Mason, who has had a total of 3 good games in a 6 year career? Signing Minshew/Garoppolo/one of the various other back-ups and scrubs to come and start for much more than the Steelers are paying Russ? Russ seems like the best of a bunch of bad options to me. Pat Mahomes isn't walking through the door, neither is prime Ben. It's hard to get a top-tier QB in the league.

As for your last question, I don't know what Kurt Warner's contract was like with the NY Giants, but he was worse with them then Russ was with the Broncos. Then he had a late-career renaissance with the Cardinals and would have won a Super Bowl if it weren't for Ben, Holmes, Harrison, and Woodley. I don't have high hopes for Russ, but it's not unheard of for an apparently washed-up player to have a few more years in him in a different situation.

[Steelperch]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

So much wrong here. Wilson didn’t play that poorly in Denver. He was even a MVP candidate halfway through last year. They say free agency is the penalty for drafting poorly and teams like Denver and Cleveland are learning that trading away picks and paying massive money to an unknown commodity is even worse.

Denver wasn’t forced to cut Wilson. They chose to acknowledge their own massive mistake and remake the roster.

Sorry your predraft mancrush Kenny Pickett is a certified bust. But are we resorting to calling Wilson a fraud now?

[jmacinwbp]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

So much wrong here. Wilson didn’t play that poorly in Denver. He was even a MVP candidate halfway through last year. They say free agency is the penalty for drafting poorly and teams like Denver and Cleveland are learning that trading away picks and paying massive money to an unknown commodity is even worse.

Denver wasn’t forced to cut Wilson. They chose to acknowledge their own massive mistake and remake the roster.

Couldn't have said it better Perch. Was going to ignore the thread since it's so off base. Jeezz, try to get a little edumacated on a player, before just running with some asshole sports guy talking head's hot take.

Cumm now Lakers, just admit like I have that we were wrong about lil hands, see things objectively, without getting upset about being wrong on the guy; so you can admit that there could be a significant uptick in some of the worst areas of Qb play shown last season. I can tell you from experience it's not that hard, take the first steps buddy, you can get there

[beerbrother]

Stephon Tuit received (stole) a paycheck for a season he didn't play.

Never came back from his mysterious vaginal injury. Never intended to suit up and play.

Should have retired if he didn't want to play anymore. Given back unearned signing bonus.

The Bronco's made a poor decision trying to make a washed up Wilson the franchise QB. They compounded the problem by pairing him with Sean Payton, asking him to remove some injury guarantees, and benching him when he wouldn't.

Bronco's making bad decisions doesn't mean that Russell's play was fraudulent.

[Pabst]

When Does Playing Poorly Become Fraud?

When you can prove that the poor performance is not only intentional but done with the intent of harming another party.

[LakecrestSteeler]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

So much wrong here. Wilson didn’t play that poorly in Denver. He was even a MVP candidate halfway through last year. They say free agency is the penalty for drafting poorly and teams like Denver and Cleveland are learning that trading away picks and paying massive money to an unknown commodity is even worse.

Denver wasn’t forced to cut Wilson. They chose to acknowledge their own massive mistake and remake the roster.

Couldn't have said it better Perch. Was going to ignore the thread since it's so off base. Jeezz, try to get a little edumacated on a player, before just running with some asshole sports guy talking head's hot take.

Cumm now Lakers, just admit like I have that we were wrong about lil hands, see things objectively, without getting upset about being wrong on the guy; so you can admit that there could be a significant uptick in some of the worst areas of Qb play shown last season. I can tell you from experience it's not that hard, take the first steps buddy, you can get there

I am there…I was happy with the trade for Wilson with Pickett still there, and KP most likely as backup. I thought it was a good move and said as much. Now we have jack shit, no competition and no underdog story to root for. I know deep down inside this is all about Tomlin and his love for Canada.

The dust hasn’t settled yet on all the bowel movements….QB play really didn’t cost us that much last year aside from Mitch’s cowboy games.

Throw in Russ Wilson last season, and we get the same result during Pickett’s stretch.

I will hold out a glimmer of hope for him, because I really do think Canada was that bad!

From a Steeler organizational point of view, I guess we have to treat the QB play like the IMLB crew. I was happy with what they did last season for IMLB and it worked except for the injuries, hell we even skated by with the injuries.

The mediocre QB play is all gone, but the reason for it probably still remains….but the architect firm that brought us to this point with QB play and several other positional corps is still there.

We have now reached blow it all up because we can’t draft or coach our way out of mediocrity for Safety, IMLB, QB, and WR…probably throw Center/Interior Line in there too; since Pouncey’s retirement we have had major holes every year.

[tbsteel]

Should the Rooney's have to pay back the fans for drafting Pickett? For all the ticket, jersey, and merchandise sales they've raked in? Or for every playoff game they get blown the fuck out and give up 40+ points?

Should they deserve to keep the team or be forced to sell? What about my pain and suffering?

Anyone want to go in on a class-action suit?

[SteelerDayTrader]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

So much wrong here. Wilson didn’t play that poorly in Denver. He was even a MVP candidate halfway through last year. They say free agency is the penalty for drafting poorly and teams like Denver and Cleveland are learning that trading away picks and paying massive money to an unknown commodity is even worse.

Denver wasn’t forced to cut Wilson. They chose to acknowledge their own massive mistake and remake the roster.

Sorry your predraft mancrush Kenny Pickett is a certified bust. But are we resorting to calling Wilson a fraud now?

[Steelperch]

Russell Wilson played so poorly, the Broncos were forced to eat $85 million dollars.

So much wrong here. Wilson didn’t play that poorly in Denver. He was even a MVP candidate halfway through last year. They say free agency is the penalty for drafting poorly and teams like Denver and Cleveland are learning that trading away picks and paying massive money to an unknown commodity is even worse.

Denver wasn’t forced to cut Wilson. They chose to acknowledge their own massive mistake and remake the roster.

Sorry your predraft mancrush Kenny Pickett is a certified bust. But are we resorting to calling Wilson a fraud now?

[Hacksaw]

The Pickett simp gnashing his teeth

[Steeldrama]

“When Does Playing Poorly Become Fraud?

Didn’t see this slant coming

Thought topic was going to be a diatribe about Kenny being a fraud (he is)

Lake went all JB Smoove topsy turvy here

Always a gamble opening a thread here on Fury lol

Wish I had the last 30 seconds of my life back