For the last two seasons I have penned a quarterback quandary article, and this year I have been caught scratching my head.
At the end of last season I believed another QB battle would not have been healthy for the team, or indeed the franchise and it’s fans in general.
One thing we thought we had learned was Paxton Lynch couldn’t beat out Trevor Siemian. But when the number one QB is taking 100% of the reps, he was never going to be given a cat in hells chance.
In interviews, it felt like John Elway was genuinely upset that we didn’t get to see more of Paxton Lynch due to injury, and I agreed. Another reason I believe we had QB struggles last season was the fact that there was no seasoned veteran onboard for them to learn off.
Initially, I was quite deflated when I heard we’d signed Case Keenum. But after watching tape of him, and watching interviews, he has grown on me. He was the best of a bad bunch, and I’m still not 100% sold on Kirk Cousins either.
Elway has said he was always our target, and Keenan said he also wanted to come to Denver, and that the Broncos where quite aggressive in chasing him. I thoroughly understand why Elway reached for him, and didn’t go for Cousins.
Last year’s stats don’t lie, and pound for pound Keenum was a better QB than Cousins, and he’s come cheaper too. It’s worth noting a huge thanks however to Von Miller for restructuring his contract (albeit without taking a pay cut!), which helped to soften the the blow of Keenums contract.
Going forward the team has already named Keenum as the No. 1 QB, Lynch as his back-up and Chad Kelly as the No. 3. This is a massive step forward going into training camp, because there is no doubt nor any disruption for the offense on who will be the guy. Continuity is something this offense hasn’t had for 2 years and this will be a massive boost for them, knowing where they are at ahead of training camp.
I really do hope that Keenum proves himself right and his doubters wrong, by continuing to improve on his form from last season. He could turn out to be a genius signing or a massive bust for us.
Despite that, I still believe when looking long-term either Paxton Lynch or Chad Kelly is our future franchise QB.
Photo: Ryan Koenigsberg/BSN Denver