Russell Wilson needs protection. He’s your star. Your franchise Your future. So why did Broncos (again) not draft a tackle?

Russell Wilson’s taken more shots than Mike Tyson’s heavy bag. He also turns 34 in November.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know — in Tom Brady Years, 34 is the new 25. Here’s the rub, though:

For one, Wilson’s career sack rate (8.3%) is nearly twice that of TB12 (4.6%). For another, over Big Russ’ first nine seasons in the NFL, the present and future of the Broncos got sacked an average of 43.8 times. That’s the most of any NFL signal-caller since 1970.

Don’t know about you, but if Wilson’s the centerpiece of my offseason plan and franchise makeover, wouldn’t it also make sense to invest a cost-controlled, young draft pick — or two — towards the guy’s protection?

“It just didn’t fall at those two positions (tackle and inside linebacker). It fell at nine others,” Broncos GM George Paton said of the team’s needs this past Saturday evening at UCHealth Center. “You can’t fill them all.”

You can’t, but this is getting weird.

See, the Broncos haven’t drafted a true offensive tackle since Garett Bolles was plucked at No. 20 back in 2017.

That’s six years. In those six years, the Chiefs have drafted one true tackle; the Chargers have nabbed two; the Raiders four.

Few signal-callers have done more with less in front of them over the last decade than Wilson, a Pro Bowler nine times in Seattle despite having spent much of his tenure there running for his life.

But a man can play the part of a heavy bag for only so long before he finally punches back.