No news is good news when it comes to free-agent QB for Broncos

The Denver Broncos haven’t signed a QB in free agency yet, and that’s actually a positive development.

When it comes to another signal-caller joining the roster this week, fans should take the “no news is good news” approach.

That might sound counterintuitive considering Russell Wilson is headed to the Steelers and only Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci remain on the roster, but patience is key.

Does adding Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill, or Mason Rudolph really fire anyone in Broncos Country up? Perhaps Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield would have, but they’re both off the board. Cousins is headed to Atlanta, while Mayfield will return to Tampa Bay.

Bringing in yet another veteran looking for a new team would be a good way to attract dozens and dozens of fans to training camp later this summer. There’s a reason those guys can be had, because it hasn’t worked out in multiple other stops along the way.

Heck, when Gardner Minshew went to the Raiders on Monday afternoon or Jacoby Brissett to the Patriots on Monday evening, that was one less possibility for Sean Payton and the Broncos. Sam Darnold doing a deal with the Vikings while you slept was another possible candidate gone elsewhere.

Because in theory, the backup / bridge quarterback is already on the roster. And that’s Stidham. He’ll make $6 million in cash in 2024, and that’s plenty. We don’t need another Stidham-esque player to compete with Stidham.

One is enough.

No, the best strategy for the Broncos is to take a Round 1 quarterback in next month’s NFL Draft. Why create even more of a logjam for J.J. McCarthy or Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. to be the starter by adding another body to the QB room? It’d be an addition for the sake of an addition, not a viable path to eventually bring a fourth Lombardi Trophy to Denver.

We’ve seen the veteran “band-aid” solutions with this team in recent years. And none of them worked. Joe Flacco didn’t. Case Keenum didn’t. Teddy Bridgewater didn’t. And of course, Wilson didn’t.

Not that Wilson was supposed to be a band-aid, but rather the piece that could cover up even the biggest of wounds. It didn’t happen, and will go down as the worst trade in the history of the franchise.

Still, that doesn’t mean you should be feverishly refreshing Twitter in the coming days hoping for a new Broncos QB. No, smaller moves on other parts of the roster are just fine for now. The night to get worried about on social media is April 25, the first night of the NFL Draft.

That’s the evening that will ultimately define Payton’s tenure in Denver. Whether he trades up to get his quarterback of the future, or stays at No. 12 and select his guy, it’s how he’ll be judged. Not panic-signing a journeyman in the first 24-48 hours of free agency.

While Stidham wasn’t impressive in his two games to end the 2023 season, that doesn’t matter. Again, the Broncos don’t have a championship path moving forward with him or any of the other free-agent QBs still out there.

For once, they need to hit in the draft. Paxton Lynch burned John Elway in 2016. So much so, he passed on Josh Allen in 2018. It led to the carousel of veterans that has gotten us to this point. And that’s eight years in a row without the playoffs and seven straight losing seasons.

Bringing in yet another free agent quarterback this time around isn’t going to lead to a different result. Of course, Elway is gone and this is Payton’s first offseason hunting for a new Broncos QB, but hopefully he realizes that. It has to be a rookie — that’s the path back to winning 10-12 games a season eventually.

So, as the news keeps coming fast and furious, let’s hope not to see a tweet about a QB heading to Denver from your favorite insider.

No, let’s hold off on that for about 6.5 more weeks.