The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50 with a diminished Peyton Manning at quarterback and a dominant defense. They haven’t appeared in a playoff game since.
The Broncos have stumbled through the wilderness in the six seasons since Manning retired to host delightful Monday Night Football companion pieces and hawk $200 bourbon. The list of quarterbacks who have stepped into the vacuum left by his departure reads like the kind of short story you’d recite to make the Bears or Browns feel slightly better about themselves. Since 2015, the following passers have started games for Denver:
- Trevor Siemian
- Paxton Lynch
- Brock Osweiler
- Case Keenum
- Joe Flacco
- Brandon Allen
- Drew Lock
- Brett Rypien
- Jeff Driskel
- Phillip Lindsay/Kendall Hinton (don’t ask)
- Teddy Bridgewater
Gross! Unfortunately for the Broncos, there’s no deliverance on the horizon. General manager John Elway’s quest to find the next, uh, him faces another challenging offseason thanks to the 7-9 record that kept Denver in the playoff hunt into 2021’s penultimate week. His team is currently slated to pick 11th in an upcoming NFL Draft notable for its limited crop of quarterback prospects. While he’s got an estimated $48 million to spend in free agency, his options on the open market will be limited.
That’s not the only thing Elway will need to untangle now that the Broncos’ playoff plans have been wiped from his whiteboard. He has to figure out what he’s going to do with a roster that overachieved and underachieved in the same season, sowing unease and doubt in a talented and somehow deficient locker room:
There is clear frustration from Broncos players that the season ended the way it did. They believe they had all the requisite talent to be contenders this season. It's the unsaid part in those sentiments that speaks loudest.
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) January 3, 2022
Once again, Elway will have to supplement what he believes is a win-now roster with the players capable of pushing it over the top and into the playoffs. Where should he begin? What comes next?