April 27, 2016
Michael Perez/AP
Sam Bradford is like the last slice of pizza. It was the least appealing to everyone as they ate, but people still fight over it.
The Denver Broncos are the reigning Super Bowl Champions, due largely to their stifling defense and quality skill position players. What they lacked last season, oddly enough, was stellar quarterback play from first ballot Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.
After the 2015 season, Manning of course retired and backup Brock Osweiler bolted for Houston to be the Texans' new starting quarterback. The Broncos are a team with a championship roster in need of just a minimally competent quarterback to be serious contenders again in 2016.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, if their season began today, their starting quarterback would be Mark Sanchez, and there's very little in the way of other options at Denver's disposal.
According to Mike Klis, the Broncos "are in" on Eagles starting quarterback Sam Bradford, who has demanded a trade because he doesn't want to compete with a rookie quarterback doesn't view himself as a stop-gap. Per Klis:
Meanwhile, an NFL source on Wednesday told 9NEWS the Broncos "are in" on Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Sam Bradford. General manager John Elway has talked with Eagles’ general manager Howard Roseman about Bradford, the Eagles' quarterback who issued a trade demand this week.
However, the Eagles so far haven’t expressed a willingness to deal Bradford, even though it's clear the veteran quarterback has now attained lame-duck status after Philadelphia moved up to the draft's No. 2 spot with the intention of selecting quarterback Carson Wentz.
The Broncos' options seemingly are as follows:
In regard to options four and five, Lynch is a project, who is likely not ready to start as a rookie, and Cook is a lower-level quarterback prospect unlikely to find immediate success in the NFL.
In regard to the veterans above, Klis outlined the Broncos' issues with each one.
With all three options there is a hang up. With Kaepernick it's his $11.9 million base salary. With Bradford, it's that Roseman isn't yet ready to surrender his projected 2016 starter. And while it appears Hoyer would like to play for the Broncos, the team has not yet discussed a contract.
I'll be more blunt on Hoyer -- He stinks. There's not much of an upgrade there over Mark Sanchez there, if any. As for Bradford, the Eagles would unquestionably deal him for the right price.
We'll see how "in" the Broncos are soon enough, I suppose.
