Sean Payton isn’t providing anything definitive on Russell Wilson’s time in Denver but he did hint at the Broncos moving on from him when he suggested the team cannot afford to miss on “the next one” at quarterback.

Payton met with the media at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday and said the club should know by the end of next week what direction they’ll take at QB.

Asked if he embraced the idea of finding a solution at quarterback, one that’s eluded coaches and GMs ever since Peyton Manning retired eight years ago, Payton retorted, “Yeah, we better. In this league, which is very competitive in our division, it’s vital.”

Wilson, who has won just 11 of 30 starts with the Broncos since his trade from Seattle two years ago, said over the weekend that he hopes to return to Denver in 2024.

If the Broncos are going to move on from Wilson after two mostly disappointing seasons, they’ll have to do so before March 17, when his $37 million base salary for 2025 becomes fully guaranteed. The Broncos owe Wilson $39 million in salary this upcoming season whether he’s on their team or not.

If they part ways, they’ll also have to take an $85 million dead cap hit, more than doubling the record $40-plus million the Falcons incurred in dead cap charges following QB Matt Ryan’s departure from Atlanta last year.

Since Manning retired following Denver’s triumph in Super Bowl 50, the Broncos have churned through five head coaches and 13 starting quarterbacks while going 52-79, missing the playoffs all eight seasons and posting seven consecutive losing seasons.

RAIDERS: A year after placing the franchise tag on running back Josh Jacobs, new Las Vegas general manager Tom Telesco said that likely wouldn’t happen again.

“As a GM, you never want to take anything off the table, but I don’t anticipate using that tag this year,” he said.

Telesco said he would like to bring back Jacobs, who in 2022 led the NFL in rushing with 1,653 yards and averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

He rushed for 805 yards this past season and averaged 3.5 per carry, missing the final month with a quadriceps injury.

Jacobs sat out training camp last year after the sides didn’t agree to a long-term contract. He wound up agreeing to a one-year deal worth up to $12 million.

BROWNS: Quarterback Deshaun Watson will resume throwing next month following right shoulder surgery that cut short his second season with Cleveland after just six starts.

Watson, who fractured a bone in his throwing shoulder in a win over Baltimore on Nov. 12, has been cleared to throw in a few weeks, General Manager Andrew Berry said at the NFL combine.

“He has worked his tail off in terms of rehab and recovery,” Berry told reporters in Indianapolis. “He’s in a really good place. We’re excited when the spring hits and we can get him back on the field, but he’s making really good progress and we’re excited to see that continue.”

Watson’s 2023 season ended after he got hurt while mounting a comeback win against the Ravens. Despite hurting his shoulder and playing on a badly sprained ankle, Watson completed all 14 passes in the second half as the Browns rallied for a 33-31 win. Watson’s injury was not initially thought to be serious, but an MRI revealed that he fractured his glenoid (socket) bone and needed an operation.

The 28-year-old Watson has made just 12 starts for the Browns, who acquired him in a blockbuster trade from Houston in 2022. Cleveland sent three first-round draft picks to the Texans for Watson, and convinced him to waive his no-trade clause by giving him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.

VIKINGS: Minnesota hired Josh McCown, an 18-year NFL veteran who played for 12 teams, as its quarterbacks coach.

Chris O’Hara, the quarterbacks coach for the Vikings in 2022-23, is now the pass game specialist. McCown was quarterbacks coach for Carolina last season, his first as an NFL assistant.

n General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took a hard turn in the middle of answering his first question about receiver Justin Jefferson’s contract.

Adofo-Mensah reiterated that the Vikings want to keep Jefferson in purple. He said they were “unbelievably close” to agreeing in early September before the season started and talks were shelved. The Vikings want to pay Jefferson like “the best receiver in the league” and pay him like “one of the best non-quarterbacks.”

FALCONS: Atlanta released tight end Jonnu Smith in a cost-cutting move after Smith, 28, set career highs with 50 receptions for 582 yards in 2023.

The Falcons will gain $6.5 million in salary cap space with the release of Smith. Atlanta still has Kyle Pitts, John FitzPatrick and Tucker Fisk under contract at tight end.

49ERS: General Manager John Lynch said locking up star receiver Brandon Aiyuk with a long-term extension is one of the team’s priorities this offseason.

Aiyuk is set to play on the fifth-year option worth $14.1 million this season but reaching an extension this offseason could lower the immediate salary cap hit and lock in one of the team’s best offensive players.

PANTHERS: Carolina is raising overall ticket prices by slightly more than 4% in 2024 following a season in which they finished with an NFL-worst 2-15 record and were shut out in the final two games.

CHERRY STARR, the philanthropist wife of former Green Bay Packers quarterback and coach Bart Starr, has died. She was 89.

Rawhide Youth Services, an organization that helps at-risk youth that the couple worked closely with, posted a video tribute to Cherry Starr that notes she died on Tuesday.

The Starr Children’s Fund, an endowment the Starrs created to finance childhood cancer research, said in an online obituary that she passed away peacefully at her home in Birmingham, Alabama. The obituary did not mention a cause of death.

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