Should the Broncos Draft a Quarterback this Offseason?

Jan 1, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Baylor Bears quarterback Bryce Petty (14) passes against the Michigan State Spartans in the 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Bears 42-41. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Bryce Petty, Baylor

2014 stats: 3,855 yards, 29 TDs, 7 INTs

Petty is another guy that I’ve seen connected to the Broncos. With Elway in charge, it seems like the quarterbacks who he fawns over are guys with big arms, which is Petty’s biggest asset.

However, that may be his only asset that would be a positive in the NFL right now. He needs a lot of work and the offense he was in didn’t do him any favors.

On every play, Petty basically had at least one of three routes to choose from: a comeback, slant, or go route. While he threw a lot of deep balls and he has a cannon for an arm, he wasn’t an accurate deep ball thrower. He was bailed out a lot by his speedy and athletic receivers. Oftentimes it was just his receivers making great adjustments to the ball instead of Petty allowing them to not break stride.

About the only place on the field Petty is accurate is short outside the numbers and on screens; he can throw those in his sleep. Just about everywhere else he’s unpredictable. He has the arm strength to throw over the middle, but rarely did so and didn’t show promising ball placement.

The reason why I think Petty is draftable is he has three things that I think could be worked upon in his arm, athleticism, and flashing good poise in the pocket. Other than that, he’ll need to get a ton of reps to get confortable throwing routes he’s not used to and working on where to throw the ball.