Schlereth: Low Broncos QB ranking ‘indictment’ on backups, not Keenum

During a 15 game stretch last season (14 starts), Case Keenum quarterbacked the Minnesota Vikings to 12 wins.

In more than half of those games, Keenum had a quarterback rating of 100 or higher. Just twice did he throw more than one interception, throwing one pick in just three games.

And, as a backup brought in as a safety net for Sam Bradford — who in his own right was traded for after Teddy Bridgewater severely injured his knee before the 2016 season — Keenum led the Vikings to an NFC North division title and a conference championship berth.

So, Mark Schlereth asked on Thursday, “at what point do you say this isn’t a fluke?”

“We’re talking 15 regular season starts and two playoffs. That’s a pretty large sample size to be considered a fluke,” Schlereth said. “You just don’t fluke your way through 15 games.”

The “Schlereth and Evans” co-host’s comments come after USA Today’s “For the Win” graded the Denver Broncos quarterback situation last among all NFL teams.

According to the list’s author, Steven Ruiz, it’s “Case Keenum or bust” in Denver for the next two seasons and a Paxton Lynch-Chad Kelly battle for the backup role will be “entertaining to watch” for everyone but Broncos Country.

“The Broncos have got a good situation right now with Case Keenum,” said Brandon Stokley, co-host of “Stokley and Zach,” about the list. “No. 32, that’s ridiculous. That doesn’t make any sense at all.

“I can’t get myself to go there. I mean, I don’t think Case Keenum’s a franchise quarterback, but he’s a lot better than a lot of these other quarterbacks.”

Schlereth believes that line of thinking could come from the narrative that Keenum is “just a journeyman, and a journeyman can’t get to the point where he’s an efficient NFL quarterback.”

However, Schlereth said the low grade may be more of a reflection of how the rest of the league feels about Kelly and Lynch behind Keenum.

“I guess what I’m saying is this is probably more an indictment on who you have backing up,” Schlereth said. “But I still think when you look at (Keenum’s) body of work, you’re looking through a lens of he’s a journeyman.”

Stokley was more bullish on the Broncos quarterback, saying there were “a lot of rooms” in which he’d take Keenum, Kelly and Lynch instead.

“To put them dead last, to me, it doesn’t make sense at all,” Stokley said.

But even if he didn’t feel that way, Stokley said grading position group needs to be more heavily weighted on the starter.

“I don’t care about the whole quarterback room. The starter weighs a lot more than the group as a whole. So, you’ve got to put 90 percent into the starter and another 10 percent into the rest of the room,” Stokley said.

“Injuries do happen. You might need these guys. But the bulk of these rankings should go into who the starter’s going to be. And that’s Case Keenum.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.