Vikes teammate: ‘No question’ Keenum can lead Broncos to Super Bowl
Mar 23, 2018, 8:43 AM | Updated: 9:17 am
When it came down to it, Denver Broncos general manager John Elway told the assembled Dove Valley media last week, Case Keenum was “the guy.”
Elway, answering questions after introducing Keenum as the Broncos next starting quarterback last week, called it a “special fit” with the team and its new signal-caller.
“When we all came to it, Case was the guy that we wanted,” Elway said.
But, how long Keenum will remain “the guy” is up for debate.
As Elway and the Broncos brass go through the draft evaluation process, the thought that they could take a quarterback with the No. 5 pick in the NFL Draft remains, though it does not intimidate Keenum.
“For me, it doesn’t change my mindset. It really doesn’t,” Keenum said last week. “I’m going to prepare every day with the mindset that I’m going to do everything I can to be the best quarterback for this team and the best leader.”
It’s that “infectious” competitive spirit free agent offensive tackle, and Denver-area native, Jeremiah Sirles said won over the Minnesota Vikings locker room last season.
“When he walked into the locker room nobody really knew what he was,” said Sirles, who co-hosted with Zach Bye on Thursday for “Stokley and Zach.”
“But he left that locker room being a quarterback that took over Week 2 and took us to the NFC Championship, and there wasn’t a single guy in the Vikings locker room that did not respect him, that did not hold him in an extremely high level of esteem as a person.”
And it’s those intangibles Sirles pointed to as evidence that Keenum may not be just a bridge quarterback but one who could lead the Broncos to a world championship.
“It’s not even a question in my mind if he’d be able to go in there and lead that team to a Super Bowl from that position,” Sirles said. “The way the dude works, the way the guy prepares, and the way he practices and plays are all Super Bowl-caliber type qualities.”
Keenum, who started 14 games for the Vikings last season after an injury to starting quarterback Sam Bradford, hard statistically the best year of his seven-year NFL career on way to berth in the NFC Championship.
In 2017, Keenum completed 325 passes on a 67.6 completion percentage for 3,547 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
