Denver Broncos vs Minnesota Vikings: Four top storylines

Who’s winning the backup battle?

After two years of quarterback battles for the starting quarterback position, Denver can finally have an offseason without a starting quarterback controversy.

There is, however, a battle brewing for the backup spot behind Case Keenum. Former first-rounder Paxton Lynch is in a heated battle with troubled fan-favorite quarterback Chad Kelly.

To be fair to Paxton Lynch, Chad Kelly isn’t your typical seventh-round draft pick. Kelly was a highly recruited quarterback coming out of high school, committing to Clemson. Due to undisclosed team violations, Kelly was dismissed and ended up in Scooba, MI at East Mississippi Community College.

East Mississippi may sound familiar. It’s where Netflix’s hit documentary, Last Chance U takes place.

Kelly took his last chance and made the most of it turning it into a scholarship offer to Ole Miss.

Despite outstanding play throughout his time, Kelly battled injuries and more off-field issues that caused his stock to drop significantly.

Paxton Lynch is the exact opposite.

The lightly touted recruit used his stellar play at Memphis to catapult his name into first-round consideration.

Since getting drafted, however, he has been nothing short of disappointing. In two seasons, Lynch has made two starts each season. His QBR in each season? 23.3 and 29.9.

What Broncos Country forgets, however, is that Lynch was expected to be a 2-3 year project when drafted.

By signing Case Keenum, Elway bought Lynch a few more years to hone his craft, but he should still be able to beat Kelly in a backup quarterback competition. So far, it has been a mixed bag of results. Both have had up and down practices throughout.

Predominantly Orange’s Editor Sayre Bedinger noted in his training camp day five observations that Lynch had a good day of practice.

Meanwhile, Kelly had a fantastic day this weekend as noted by Mike Klis:

What we don’t know is how will either of those guys perform during game time. Lynch will likely come in after Keenum, but the performance of these two could dictate who gets the majority of the number two reps in the Broncos second preseason game against the Bears.

Regardless of how these storylines play out, I am just excited to see the Denver Broncos take the field for the first time since last season’s regular-season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs.

It’ll be nice to see the newly revamped team on display and get some of these offseason questions answered as we head into the season opener in September.