John Elway and Peyton Manning being long retired, the Denver Broncos stand in dire need of a franchise quarterback going into the NFL Draft, which begins Thursday in Detroit.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, they’re not well-positioned to get their man soon.
Nor do they appear ready to provide a great deal of to any QB, whether he’s holdover Jarrett Stidham, newly obtained ex-Jets bust Zach Wilson or a mid-tier prospect they might select this week.
It’s reckoning time for a franchise that invested the farm and the ranch in veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, only to cut him less than two years later.
There will be pain. The Broncos will pay off Wilson, who ed the Steelers at the cost of a few Pittsburgh pierogies, while also bearing his salary-cap charges of $53 million this year and $32 million in 2025 — gargantuan sums that otherwise could’ve gone to other players.
Going large Thursday night for Wilson’s would-be successor doesn’t seem the best option.
The Broncos need to get back to the painful, incremental process of building a franchise.
Get extra draft picks.
Take advantage of being an AFC West longshot by drafting a higher-round player who may take longer to find his NFL groove but has higher potential.
See what Sean Payton can do with the QBs on the roster and a mid-tier prospect who should be coming. After all, offensive wizardy is the biggest reason Payton draws one of the NFL’s bigger coaching salaries.
There’s risk to this “eat your vegetables” approach.
Ticket sales could plummet if an exciting QB isn’t obtained. Fans and media will accuse the Broncos of punting the 2024 season and perhaps 2025 as well. They’ll note it’s been eight long years since the proud franchise last reached the playoffs. Disenchantment with a perceived lack of urgency to win now could infect the roster, harming the development of young players.
Do it anyway.
Teams talk about drafting the best player available. The Broncos should actually do it. They’re too far away from the Super Bowl, too deficient in draft capital and salary cap space, not to.
For example, if Thursday’s events don’t present them with a worthy QB at No. 12 overall — their first draft slot — the Broncos should be willing to draft right tackle Taliese Fuaga despite their large financial obligations to starter Mike McGlinchey, 29, through 2025.
Fuaga could learn from McGlinchey in addition to playing guard or situationally as an extra tackle.
A draft pick could be added in early November by sending McGlinchey to a playoff contender by the trade deadline. Fuaga, having learned from a veteran of three NFC title games and Super Bowl, would be under Denver’s control through 2028.
Trading down might be a better result. The addition of any Day 2 draft chips should hold allure for the Broncos because, in pursuit of a Super Bowl, they dealt six picks in the trades for Wilson and Payton.
Their past two drafts were diluted, to say the least. They lack a second-round chip in this year’s draft and two Day 3 picks in next year’s draft.
Let’s visit some of the assumptions I’ve made about the Broncos.
Couldn’t Michael Penix Jr., the lefty QB who led Washington to the national championship game last year, be a great selection for them at No. 12?
I’m skeptical because I trust former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah’s view that Penix would better suit a deep-ing, play-action offense, less so Payton’s tried-and-true schemes.
Bo Nix? Seems too rich at No. 12. Perhaps Payton proves me dead wrong.
Trading up to get one of the other QBs?
Looks too expensive, given that five QB-needy teams hold higher picks. The Vikings loom as the biggest obstacle. They hold the 11th and 23rd picks.
Fuuga bears mention because he stands as a top-10 player in this class, per former NFL scouts Jeremiah and Randy Mueller of “The Athletic Football Show,” who, to be fair, have only a fraction of the information on character and medicals that NFL teams have.
While it’s not a good idea to tick off the paying customers, the Broncos could weather a plummet in ticket sales even if it stretched two seasons. Among the league’s ownership groups, theirs stands as the wealthiest, per Forbes.
A year from now, here’s what progress could look like as Mile High sports fans are celebrating Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic’s fourth MVP season and MLB’s decision to relegate the Colorado Rockies to the Pacific Coast League.
The Broncos will have established two 2024 draftees in their starting lineup and three others among their reserves. Payton will have done what he can with Stidham, Zach Wilson and a rookie taken this week on Day 2 or Day 3, such as Oregon’s Nix or South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler. The Broncos will hold a top-10 pick in the first several rounds of the 2025 draft, plus a surplus pick or two.
It still won’t be pretty, but GM George Paton and his bosses really made a hash out of things, delighting the Los Angeles Chargers and the San Diegans who still Bolt Up.
