Since the retirement of Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos have been searching for their next quarterback.
Despite using a second-round pick on Drew Lock, that search is apparently still going on. If the Houston Texans make Deshaun Watson available via trade, it seems that the Broncos are locked and loaded to make a move.
Whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, but because of all of the rumors floating around, it would seem that of the three quarterbacks currently on the roster, Lock doesn’t have the best chance to be back in 2021.
If a trade is made, it’s likely that Lock would be part of the package. If not, the Broncos could trade him to a different team entirely, much as they did with Tim Tebow after signing Manning in 2012.
The other two quarterbacks on the roster are Brett Rypien and Jeff Driskel. Both players are backups and that’s all they will likely ever be in the NFL. It’s not likely that the Broncos have both on the roster in 2021, and based on what they each showed on the field this past season, the team may be able to make a clear choice as to which player to keep.
When Lock was injured in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Driskel was given the first chance to replace him as the starter.
Driskel wasn’t terrible, but he was far from good. In three games, he completed just under 55 percent of his passes for 432 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Rypien had a much better completion percentage at 67.5 percent and threw two touchdown passes. He also led the team to its first victory of the season over the New York Jets. The knock on him is that he threw four interceptions and most of those were incredibly bad throws.
Of the two players, Rypien seems to offer the most upside and is a guy the Broncos could still groom and keep on the roster as a No.3 quarterback.
If the Broncos keep Lock, they could sign a veteran as a backup. A player that makes a lot of sense is Ryan Fitzpatrick.
With a potential trade being discussed internally and no real reason to bring Driskel back this coming season, the quarterback on the roster with the best chance to be wearing a Broncos jersey in 2021, at least as of this writing, would be Rypien.
The quarterback carousel around the league has been wild this offseason, but it hasn’t stopped moving in Denver for over five years now.