Elway looks for stability at QB
The Hall of Fame quarterback returned his team to the mountaintop by finding a future Hall of Fame quarterback to guide it.
John Elway, in his second season as the Broncos’ general manager in 2012, convinced Peyton Manning to finish his already stellar career in Denver, and that recruitment turned into two Super Bowl trips and one championship.
But since Manning retired after the championship at the end of the 2015 season, the Broncos are 14-18, a stretch defined by some of the most inadequate quarterback play in the NFL. Now, the spotlight is once again on Elway to find another player who can return the Broncos to a championship level.
“There is no doubt we have to get better at that position,” Elway said Tuesday.
The Broncos had the NFL’s most dysfunctional quarterback situation this past season. Denver made five changes at the starting spot among Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch, the team’s first-round pick in 2016. It was the first time since 2003 the Broncos started more than two quarterbacks in the same season. The chaotic shuffling produced predictable results. The Broncos had more interceptions (22) than touchdown passes (19) and had the second-worst quarterback rating (73) in the league.
Just two days after Denver ended its season with a 5-11 record, Elway wasn’t ready to provide a point-by-point plan of attack for how the Broncos will search for their starting quarterback in 2018. Siemian, Lynch and 2017 seventh-round pick Chad Kelly are all under contract for next season, but it’s certain the Broncos will seek outside help at the position.
Elway pointed to free agency, where Kirk Cousins could be the top prize, and April’s NFL draft, where the Broncos could have their choice of top prospects at the No. 5 spot, as avenues Denver will explore for another QB.
“Eventually, as we get time and time goes forward, we’ll put a plan together and go from there,” Elway said.
Elway stopped short Tuesday of giving a vote of confidence to any quarterback on Denver’s 2017 roster. Trevor Siemian, who led the Broncos to a 3-1 start, lost his job three weeks later amid an avalanche of turnovers. His second stint as the starter — after Osweiler and Lynch had turns in the role — was ended by shoulder injury he suffered Dec. 14, and he is having more tests on that shoulder this week.
Osweiler, a second-round pick of Elway in 2012, is an unrestricted free agent. He signed a one-year deal with the Broncos just before the beginning of the season after a forgettable 2016 season as Houston’s starter. He was brought back, after a brief stint with the Cleveland Browns, as a familiar entity after a preseason injury to Lynch, and he went 0-4 as a starter.
Then there’s Lynch, who was expected to receive an extended audition as the starter, beginning with his third career start at Oakland on Nov. 26. But he injured his right ankle in the second half of that game and wasn’t able to return until Sunday’s finale against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Siemian to have surgery.
Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian will undergo surgery in Los Angeles on Wednesday to repair his injured left shoulder and is expected to need two to three months for recovery. The timetable would put him on track to be ready for the start of organized team activities in the spring.
Siemian had the same shoulder repaired last January after he played through much of the 2016 season with an AC joint sprain, but he said Monday that the latest setback is a “different deal.”
“I have to get this shoulder taken care of,” he said. “I’ll do that, and then, just like everybody else, come back to work and get better.”
But with the Broncos’ uncertainty at the quarterback position, it’s unclear if he’ll be in the mix for the starting role again.
For the season, Siemian completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,285 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for a 73.3 rating. He was sacked 33 times. — Nicki Jhabvala, The Denver Post