The spring of 2022 is a time that will live in infamy in Colorado sports history. Looking to right their respective ships, the Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies made blockbuster moves to acquire a star player with the hopes they would be the ones to foster in a new era for their respective franchises. The Broncos opted to trade for an aged Russell Wilson and sign him to a lucrative five-year, $245 million contract while the Rockies signed former Chicago Cubs legend Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract.

At the time of both acquisitions, there was some buzz of excitement from Colorado sports faithful. After all, both players were considered one of the best in their respective sports, or at least at some point in their careers, but there was the understanding that they were getting older and clearly weren’t what they used to be but there was hope there was some magic to still be squeezed out of them.

Unfortunately, things quickly turned sour and both deals will go down as two of the worst in Colorado sports history, if not all of professional sports history.

For the Broncos, Wilson wasn’t entirely awful, but he was nowhere near what he needed to be and dysfunction off the field in the clubhouse didn’t help matters as Denver spiraled in the 2022-23 season. The following season was better, but there were still a lot of problems and it became more evident that Wilson was not going to be part of their new head coach’s plans beyond the 2023-24 season. After he was benched for the final few games of the season and the prospect of a lot of dead cap for the Broncos, the team ripped off the bandage and released Wilson who subsequently signed on with another team. The Broncos took the hit and will try to work around it as they reconstruct their roster but it enabled them to transition the roster, including drafting Bo Nix as a prospective quarterback going into the 2024-25 season.

While Wilson wasn’t the sole reason for the Broncos’ struggles the past few seasons, he certainly wasn’t helping and the production provided was not something a rebuilding team needed. His presence wasn’t actively making the Broncos better as they needed to find new talent that complimented the makeup of the team. Sure there is a lot of dead money wrapped up in him, but better to cut it now and get the process of moving forward started as opposed to hoping he can return to form.

The decision seemed fairly simple for Sean Payton and the Broncos once it was clear Wilson didn’t have a role in Denver, and it seems prudent for the Rockies to follow suit.

The fascination of Bryant by the Rockies stretches back a decade. General manager Bill Schmidt initially scouted Bryant and built a relationship back when he was a scout in the Rockies organization. In 2013, the Rockies were set on selecting Bryant if he was available to them with the third overall pick in draft. The Chicago Cubs beat them to the punch with the second overall pick, leading the Rockies to select Jon Gray who has turned in a nice MLB career.

Bryant went on to do great things in Chicago, winning Rookie of the Year in 2015 and MVP in 2016 while he helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years. He was a perennial All-Star and had the makings of what could be a Hall of Fame career. While some injuries started to nag at times, Bryant was generally an excellent contributor to the Cubs offense until he was traded to the San Francisco Giants in 2021. Bryant was having a solid year once again and continued the trend with the Giants to make a good case as he headed into free agency.

There were early reports in the offseason that the Rockies were quite interested in Bryant but before they could do anything the MLB Lockout occurred, cutting off communication between players and teams while putting the prospect of a 2022 season in jeopardy should negotiations fall through.

Luckily, MLB and the MLBPA came to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and the the freeze was ended and a truncated spring training hastily thrown together. It didn’t take long for the Rockies to make headlines with the blockbuster signing of Bryant which seemed to come out of nowhere and made no sense for a team like the Rockies.

Still, there could be some optimism that Bryant could be the “aircraft carrier” that would be the leader in a young clubhouse and drive the team to the World Series just as he did with the Cubs. Unfortunately, this is where things began to rapidly decline for Bryant and the Rockies. Multiple stints on the injured list limited Bryant to just 42 games in 2022. However, he did show some promise with the bat in that limited playing time with an .851 OPS, even though the power was suspiciously missing, especially at Coors Field. The following year in 2023, Bryant was ready to bounce back and fulfill his duties but injuries played a role once again. He was at least able to play 80 games but struggled at the plate with a .233 AVG and .680 OPS. Sure he hit 10 homers and had 10 doubles, but the other 50 singles were softly hit.

Again, the 2024 season was a new chance for Bryant to return healthy and find a rhythm to lead the Rockies offense. Despite some unfortunate and misconstrued comments about his decision to sign with the team, Bryant was determined to make good on his contract. For the third year in the row, injuries have continued to limit Bryant to essentially two-week stints of playing time before going on the injured list for a few months. His 2024 season has been his worst one yet where he’s been limited to just 37 games while batting .218/.323/.301 with two home runs and 15 RBI.

Since the start of the 2022 season when Kris Bryant signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Colorado Rockies

A total of 371 players have appeared in more than Bryant's 159 games played.

Just ahead of him is former Rockies' prospect Tyler Nevin. pic.twitter.com/kYw0RkXMOg

— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) August 13, 2024

Offensively, Bryant has looked more lost than he ever has. In 155 plate appearances, he owns a career-high 31% strikeout rate. When he does hit the ball, there is just no life to it as he has a 30.2% hard-hit rate along with a career-high 30.2% line drive rate and a career-low 25.6% fly ball rate. While it’s understandably difficult to produce when you are constantly having the season interrupted by injury, it highlights the fact that he simply hasn’t been on the field enough.

Bryant is currently on the IL with a back strain, his third time on the IL this season and eighth time since joining the Rockies. It’s unclear if or when he’ll return but in the first three seasons of his seven-year deal, Bryant has played in 159 games or the equivalent of one full season. If this trend continues, the Rockies will likely get maybe two full seasons worth of play out of Bryant spread over seven years and $182 million.

There comes a point where availability is much more important than ability. For the Rockies, Bryant is just an aging veteran with a body that is breaking down and a bat that has no life in it at this time. There is no reason to believe things are going to get better in his age 33-36 seasons.

The Rockies are a team in desperate need of a rebuild and infusion of youth with an eye toward the future. Bryant clogs up the system on the field as Michael Toglia is a far better first baseman and has gotten a chance to develop offensively while there is a slew of outfielders better suited defensively and offensively than Bryant. The likelihood of Charlie Blackmon leaving the team opens the door for Bryant to primarily serve as the designated hitter, but his offense is still a bit too lackluster for that role it would seem.

Now, there could theoretically be a place for Bryant on the 2025 Rockies and beyond, but the team has to prioritize youth over his veteran status. Bryant has to not only prove he is healthy but can actually contribute offensively in a meaningful way that justifies the money he is earning. If the Rockies don’t envision that happening, then the writing on the wall indicates the team must follow the example set by the Broncos.