Broncos HC Sean Payton downplays Pittsburgh QB Russell Wilson’s return

The Broncos are preparing as if they will not be facing their old starting quarterback Sunday.

Russell Wilson (calf) was a limited participant in practice Wednesday for Pittsburgh, but head coach Mike Tomlin on Monday indicated the Steelers were proceeding as if Justin Fields would get his second start of the young season with Wilson still recovering.

Denver head coach Sean Payton on Wednesday said the Broncos would start their prep with Fields.

“You look at Fields last week and then you prepare for both,” Payton said. “Both guys have different strengths, and you’ve got to plan for both, but certainly it starts with both.”

Payton said the year he and most of the Broncos’ coaching staff overlapped with Wilson in Denver doesn’t necessarily help in the game-planning process, even with all of the hours spent together in the film room and on the practice field.

“I don’t think so,” Payton said. “Any time you have a new system and a new coordinator, I don’t really think there’s much to that.”

If Wilson doesn’t play, the early-season matchup will have substantially less juice given the record $85 million in dead salary cap Denver swallowed to release him this spring and the fact that the team is paying all but $1.21 million of his $39 million salary this year.

Tomlin named Wilson the team’s starter before the regular season, but then a calf injury that Wilson dealt with through training camp flared back up in the lead-up to Pittsburgh’s opener against Atlanta. Fields started that game even though Wilson, according to ESPN, made it known to the team that he felt healthy enough to be on the field.

Regardless of Wilson’s status, though, Payton said he’s not spending any extra time thinking about or talking about his former quarterback this week.

“No, I mean, we’re not playing tennis or golf,” Payton said. “We’re playing a team game, and we’re focused on the Steelers, and they’re a good football team.”

In the Broncos locker room, offensive players said they may say hello to Wilson either before or after the game if they see him.

“With an offensive player (on the other team), it’s kind of irrelevant in a sense,” right guard Quinn Meinerz told The Post. “I obviously wish him good health. I know he’s got the calf thing going on. I was asked previous about saying what’s up before the game and I don’t really do that, doesn’t matter who it is. I’d probably say what’s up to him — I spent two years here with him.”