Broncos free agency: Predictions, thoughts, and more

3. Brock Osweiler re-signs, Peyton Manning calls it quits

It sounds too good to be true, right?

Peyton Manning has no reason to keep playing football. We’ve discussed this at length. If he wants to keep playing, he can do it for someone else. If he wants my advice — which why wouldn’t he? — he should do the right thing and retire a champion having done what no other quarterback in the history of the league has done…winning a title with two different teams.

The keys to the franchise are being offered to Brock Osweiler, but there’s a problem — the going rate for a young quarterback is ridiculously high.

Fair or not.

Kevin Kolb once signed a one-year, $12.25 million deal to remain with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nick Foles recently signed an extension with the St. Louis rams worth roughly the exact same through the next two seasons. Sam Bradford is still on his rookie deal, but made $13 million this past season, or very close to it.

Re-signing Brock Osweiler is going to probably cost somewhere in this range, and there’s no reason both parties can’t agree to it. The market is at least somewhat set, despite the fact that Osweiler’s situation is unlike any of the aforementioned guys. He has started six games in his NFL career, where even a guy like Nick Foles made a Pro Bowl in 2013.

Kevin Kolb was just a player that too many teams were obsessed with.

There isn’t a lot of precedence for Osweiler’s situation. If the Broncos can find a way to squeeze him onto the payroll for under $10 million over a two or three-year extension, I would probably be just fine and dandy with that. More likely, Osweiler will cost around $13-14 million.

Are the Broncos willing to pay that?

That’s hefty, but I think one way or another, they’ll retain their young QB.

Next: Danny Trevathan