If they draft a QB, the Broncos don’t need a bridge quarterback

The Denver Broncos have not figured out the quarterback position since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50. We’ve seen nearly a dozen quarterbacks in the starting lineup for the Broncos since then, and none of those passers have shown enough for the team to consider them as potential franchise quarterbacks.

It’s time for the Broncos to get this right. I think that’s trading for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but the Broncos need to have a plan B in place in case a deal for Rodgers falls through.

That plan B may be a rookie quarterback – perhaps even a first-round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft. It’s not a great class of quarterbacks, and none of the passers available would have graded higher than Justin Fields (who the Broncos passed on) last year. However, it’s a quarterback-desperate league, so guys like Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh) and Malik Willis (Liberty) are going to perhaps both be top-15 picks.

Since these quarterbacks may be seen as a lower grade of quarterback compared to last year’s class (and other talented QB classes), that has some on The Fan proclaiming the Broncos need to get a veteran quarterback to start until the rookie is ready. This is known as the “bridge” quarterback, and the thought it some journeyman with starting experience could start for Denver while a rookie develops as the No. 2 quarterback.

This is a bad idea for many reasons. The Broncos don’t need a bridge quarterback, and in this article, I will tell you why.

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Bridge to Nowhere

We’ve seen the Broncos try the bridge quarterback before, and it leads to nowhere. After doing this multiple times, you’d think – or at least hope – the team has learned their lesson.

When the Broncos selected Paxton Lynch as their potential franchise quarterback in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft, they used soon-to-be journeyman Trevor Siemian as their starter that season. Yes, Siemian was the better choice at the time, as Lynch came from a simple system at Memphis, but this move did the team no good. Instead of finding out Lynch couldn’t play quickly by thrusting him into the starting lineup, the Broncos kept pushing back his time as the starter emphasizing that he needed further development. Lynch was a bust and barely played, Siemian was below average at best and the team didn’t seriously investigate drafting players like Patrick Mahomes (2017) or Josh Allen (2018) because they were waiting on Lynch.

The Broncos did the same thing in 2019 when they selected Drew Lock in the second round. Lock did need development, mainly mechanically coming out of Missouri, but the Broncos felt it would be best to get veteran Joe Flacco – who was supposedly “in his prime” although most everyone knew he was not. The Broncos didn’t want to start Lock as a rookie, but injuries to Flacco and backup Brandon Allen put Lock in the lineup towards the end of the season. He went 4-1 as the starter and looked like he could finally be the answer they’d been looking for. After that, the Broncos changed coaches on offense (mainly replacing Rich Scangarello with Pat Shurmur) and stunted any possible growth Lock would have.

Lock did get 2020 to prove himself as the starter, but things were rough with him missing time due to injury and violating league COVID protocols. He was so bad that the team decided yet again that they needed another bridge quarterback to compete with Lock and push him properly. Enter Teddy Bridgewater in 2021, who eventually won the starting job and kept Lock on the bench for most of the season. Bridgewater beat out Lock, but the Broncos weren’t good and failed to miss the playoffs for the sixth year in a row – becoming the worst team in NFL history after winning the Super Bowl.

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“Pro Ready” Doesn’t Exist

One term you’ll hear thrown around about quarterbacks in the pre-draft process is “pro ready” as some great compliment. It’s a fallacy as pro ready college quarterbacks don’t exist. I’ve said it for years, and it is worth repeating here. Pro ready is like when friends say they’ll have kids when they’re ready. YOU’RE NEVER READY. Either for kids or playing in the NFL, you don’t have an idea of what to expect until you’re in the mix.

There have been many quarterbacks dubbed as “pro ready” when they came out of college who struggled mightily in the NFL – not just as rookies but for their entire career. Years ago, Rick Mirer came out of Notre Dame as the most pro ready guy in his draft class. Drew Bledsoe came from a spread system at Washington State and was seen as the guy who was not as pro ready. While Bledsoe went No. 1 overall in the 1993 NFL Draft and Mirer went No. 2 overall, a great debate about who would be better ignited.

Bledsoe went on to be a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback in his career, while Mirer quickly flamed out as a starter and bounced around as a backup for a decade. It’s not just Mirer, look at guys like Mark Sanchez (more pro ready than Matthew Stafford, right?), Brady Quinn, Matt Barkley, Jimmy Clausen, Jake Locker and Brandon Weeden. All these players were seen as pro ready because of the system they played in or the fact they had starting experience, or the skill set they had as a pocket passer. None of them did much of anything in their careers.

Pro ready doesn’t exist. If you play quarterback in college, then you’re throwing to wide open receivers most of the time. College offenses spread the field and the wider hashmarks mean passers in college don’t have to fit passes into tight windows. Quarterbacks need to get used to the speed of the game, and they need to get used to the discipline of defenders which creates smaller windows to pass into. So, how do you get pro ready? YOU PLAY THE GAME. The best way to get better – sink or swim – is to play the game.

Look at the example of Lock in 2021. How was he supposed to develop as a backup? Sure, in training camp, he was getting reps with Bridgewater – but each one of them received 50 percent of the practice time. How is a player supposed to develop when he gets half the time of other starters? Then, when the regular season starts, Lock barely received any reps with the team. When he had to come in off the bench, Lock struggled and looked like a bad quarterback. However, when he received a full week’s worth of reps as the starter (when Bridgewater was hurt), Lock looked and performed better.

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Bad Free Agent Class

As we’ve highlighted here on DenverFan.com, it’s a bad year for free-agent quarterbacks. It’s not a great year in the draft for quarterbacks, but it’s really a bad year for teams looking for quarterback help in free agency.

Does anyone really want a repeat of Teddy Bridgewater in 2022? How does starting Mitchell Trubisky while a rookie sits the bench sound to you? What if the Broncos thought they could get something out of Marcus Mariota?

All those moves would be terrible for the Broncos. You’re unlikely to be in a playoff window or be any sort of contender if any of the aforementioned passers are starting for your team. Yes, maybe a rookie quarterback doesn’t put you in that window for 2022 but the Broncos need to be thinking beyond that.

If they select a rookie quarterback, especially in the first round, then they had better start him immediately. That way, a guy like Pickett or Willis would get much-needed experience and get up to speed in the NFL as fast as possible. If they flash, then you’ll get hope for the future. If they don’t flash or fall on their face, you’ll know you don’t have your guy – or at least have questions about that – and prepare to make another move.

Until you find your guy, do whatever you can to find your guy. The Broncos can’t waste any more time waiting for development. They need to see what a young quarterback has while setting up the offense to play to his strengths – even if he ran a simple offense in college. The Broncos obviously need to have a better plan at quarterback – and a “bridge” quarterback is just a bad plan.

Follow @CecilLammey