5 quarterback options for the Denver Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The quarterback query is the underside line of the Denver Broncos’ offseason.

Coach Sean Payton benched Russell Wilson with two video games remaining within the 2023 season. The five-year, $242.6 million contract extension the Broncos agreed to in 2022 is now a major think about what the Broncos will, and even can, do shifting ahead if Wilson is launched (as many within the league count on).

Proprietor/CEO Greg Penner mentioned simply after the season that “the monetary a part of it’s a major factor, by way of how this works out sooner or later, however that is not what is going to drive the choice. The choice might be pushed by what’s in the perfect curiosity of this soccer workforce successful video games.”

Forward of the NFL mix, let’s sift via what the Broncos might do at quarterback:

Maintain Russell Wilson

Yet one more yr? Releasing Wilson earlier than free company would convey an $85 million useless cash cost to the Broncos wage cap over the following two seasons.

That will be a transfer common supervisor George Paton dubbed “excessive” simply after the season, at the same time as he mentioned the Broncos have been “ready for any state of affairs” with the wage cap.

Throughout Tremendous Bowl week, Payton mentioned he and Wilson had a “nice relationship” and {that a} determination hadn’t been made. However Wilson’s Denver house is up on the market and a number of sources near him have mentioned he expects to be elsewhere.

After the very public benching and Wilson’s assertion that the Broncos threatened to bench him midway via the season if he did not alter his contract, many personnel executives within the league contemplate the probabilities of him giving the workforce a break on his contract very small. One termed it “infinitesimal.”

Viability stage: Little/no likelihood.

Commerce up within the draft

Buying and selling up into the highest two or three picks to get among the finest quarterback prospects on the board would require capital — and loads of it. Final season the Carolina Panthers despatched the Chicago Bears two first-round picks (’23 and ’24), two second-round picks (’23 and ’25) and broad receiver DJ Moore to maneuver from No. 9 to No. 1.

The Bears maintain the No. 1 choose this yr due to that commerce, so to assume they might settle for something that does not rival what they obtained final April is a pipe dream. They know what it is value.

The Broncos have not had a first-round choose since they chose Pat Surtain II in 2021 and have had simply three picks among the many prime 45 prior to now 4 drafts mixed.

Denver has the No. 12 choose, so it could must bulk up any potential commerce provide to maneuver up close to the highest. Together with Surtain or different high-profile gamers in a commerce would additionally scale back the expertise on a workforce that hasn’t completed above .500 since 2016. The Broncos have six picks within the April draft and no second-rounder.

Primarily, they might be making an attempt to convey a rookie quarterback prospect to a depth chart that was carved as much as get him.

Viability stage: Certain, it is attainable, however the price ticket is knee-buckling.

Signal a veteran QB

Past a attainable $35.4 million cap hit in 2024 in the event that they launch Wilson, the Broncos have Jarrett Stidham on the books for a $7.3 million in opposition to the cap. Total, they’re projected to be $13 million over the cap.

Wilson’s launch would additionally restrict what aisle of the free agent quarterback market the Broncos might work. Paton has mentioned the workforce did not count on to be within the “first wave” of free company this time round.

Baker Mayfield doubtless carried out his approach out of a Broncos’ post-Wilson finances. Gardner Minshew and Sam Darnold may very well be matches in Payton’s offense if the worth is true, however the query of whether or not any veteran the Broncos might signal on a restricted finances will play higher than Wilson’s 26 touchdowns in 15 video games will observe the workforce for a complete season.

Viability stage: Nonetheless the most definitely, however restricted sources to do it.

Go along with Stidham

Payton put Stidham within the lineup for a “spark” with two video games remaining within the season. The Broncos went 1-1 as Stidham went 40-of-66 passing for 496 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

The Broncos scored 14 and 16 factors, respectively, in these video games, amongst their lowest outputs of the season.

Economically, the best path to soak up the cap implications of Wilson’s launch could be if Stidham, who signed a two-year deal earlier than final season, is rewarded the job. Stidham mentioned at season’s finish he was “very assured I could be the man for us.”

It is also a major indicator that the Broncos have determined to level to 2025 to essentially dig in for a quarterback answer.

Viability stage: A probable consequence if free company would not bear fruit.

Draft a prospect and wait-and-see

The Broncos might merely trip it out at No. 12 within the first spherical and see the quarterback frenzy unfold in entrance of them. If the quarterback they like by some means comes all the way down to them, choose him and put together him to play, at any time when that point comes.

Brock Purdy, the final choose of the 2022 draft, is the present patron saint of mining for draft gold on Day 2 or 3. However he did not begin a recreation till Week 14 of his rookie yr and the 49ers had a 13-4 workforce round him.

Or having seen the frenzy, the Broncos might commerce down, get some much-needed draft capital, take the perfect gamers accessible after they’re on the clock and seize a quarterback they consider has developmental qualities.

That places Stidham, or one other veteran, on the prime of the depth chart, at the very least initially. The wild card is that many leagues scouts and personnel executives already say they don’t seem to be overly enthused in regards to the potential 2025 quarterback draft class.

Viability stage: Even with simply six picks, one in every of them needs to be a quarterback.