Denver Broncos: Has the market altered for Case Keenum?
The Denver Broncos may be among the favorites for Kirk Cousins, but what if they ultimately have to go for plan B? Case Keenum’s market may have altered…
The Denver Broncos are widely expected to be top contenders for Kirk Cousins, but they will undoubtedly not be alone.
The New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals are expected to also have interest in Cousins, and there are reasons to think he could sign in any one of those places.
If the Vikings, specifically, are the team that Cousins prefers, that would free up players like Case Keenum for the Denver Broncos to pursue.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that the Broncos and Keenum are not a match. The reasons were pretty simple. The Broncos are looking for a long-term solution at the quarterback position, and to me, it felt like Keenum’s likely price tag of somewhere between $20-23 million per season on a multi-year contract was not worth the Broncos’ investment because of the rumors that they would want both Keenum and a draft pick.
But with Blake Bortles’ recent contract extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the market for Keenum has seemingly shifted.
Because Bortles was guaranteed roughly two years at $18 million per season on a new contract, there are simply not many reasons to justify Keenum at a higher price or for many more years than that.
Keenum had an excellent season for the Vikings in 2017, the best of his NFL career. Entering his age 30 season, however, it stands to reason that the price tag for Keenum will be much closer to the one Bortles got than the one Jimmy Garoppolo got, or what Kirk Cousins will ultimately get.
Thanks to the Jaguars and Bortles, a team like the Denver Broncos or whoever tries to sign Keenum will be able to get him at a reduced price.
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So now, I’ll have to retract my previous statement that the Broncos and Keenum are not a fit strictly because of financial or long-term reasons. If this is the contract being given out to a quarterback like Bortles, who is 26 and has put up more numbers than Keenum over the past four years, then I think you could possibly even snag Keenum as low as $15 million per season given he’s already 30.
The only issue that arises here is that if the Broncos bring in Keenum, he may not agree to sign if the team still intends on drafting a quarterback early. Thankfully for him, that doesn’t seem to be the Broncos’ preference at this point.
As Mike Klis put it, drafting a quarterback is a ‘deep backup’ option for the Broncos.
As everything is in NFL free agency, this whole situation is fluid but based on how things are currently shifting, I could see Keenum getting much closer to the money being given to Bortles ($18 million APY) thank anything else. That could save the Broncos tens of millions of dollars, and you would be getting a guy who — as of the 2017 season — played just as well (if not better) and in more meaningful games than Cousins.
I still view Cousins as the clear top option in free agency, but with Bortles’ new deal changing the market a little bit, I think Keenum would be an okay consolation.