Denver Broncos want Case Keenum back in 2019

The Denver Broncos apparently want Case Keenum back in 2019 on a restructured contract and will have that discussion with him.

John Elway and the Denver Broncos have apparently not yet closed the door on Case Keenum returning to the Mile High City in 2019.

Wait, what?

That’s right. Elway, speaking with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, stated that it’s even his ‘preference’ that the Broncos find a way to keep Keenum around, but it would obviously be at a significantly reduced salary.

Elway also stated that the Broncos have not been approached by Keenum about a possible trade, but that they would allow it if he wanted to do that.

Clearly, there are some moving parts here behind the scenes no one really knew about before this revelation from Elway. Keenum seemed to be moving on from the Broncos in an interview he did recently.

With Elway coming out and saying the Broncos would like to keep Keenum, does this mean they are going to hold out for a trade? Every team in the NFL knows the Broncos can’t keep Keenum at his current salary, and every team in the NFL knows the Broncos don’t need him now that they have Flacco.

Keeping Keenum would give the Broncos a solid 1-2 punch at the quarterback position, but it could also be awkward if not handled properly.

The more likely scenario still remains a trade or release of Keenum, but it was very interesting to hear Elway talk about the idea of keeping him. The fact that the Broncos will approach him about a re-structure says a lot of what they think of Keenum’s character, that he would even be open to having such a discussion.

After the year he had in 2018, a pay cut is not an irrational ‘ask’ from the Broncos, either. If the Broncos release Keenum, he will still get paid at least $10 million this year. Maybe the Broncos can take his $21 million contract, turn the $10 million base salary into a signing bonus over the next two years, and give him some incentives to earn back some other money and re-structure the base salary to $2 million or so, which would be double the league minimum ($930,000 for a player of Keenum’s years).

That would essentially give Keenum a new two-year, $14 million contract and the Broncos would save a lot of money on this year’s salary cap.

Would Keenum do it? It’s hard to say. He could probably get decent money as a backup elsewhere, but $7 million per season isn’t bad by any means.