We’ve had 11 starters at QB since Peyton left. Buckle up Broncos Country, I promise it’ll be fun. Ranking Denver Broncos QBs since 2016.
We’re doing it. We’re ranking every quarterback who’s suited up in Orange & Blue since Peyton. Trust me, it’s going to be therapeutic.
It’s been a long time, and now that we have a Hall of Fame franchise quarterback again, I think it’ll be healthy to look back at the past six years to see where we’ve been and appreciate what we now have. I’m sure everyone will be very civil in the comments.
Ranking every Denver Broncos quarterback since Peyton Manning
Let’s start with the quarterback cliff that we fell off of on March 7th, 2016. Peyton Manning, the Sheriff, the MVP, the Legend, retired. Coming off of a Super Bowl victory, in a 2015 season where he powered through planar fasciitis that restricted his mobility and footwork as a 39-year-old pocket passer, and lingering nerve damage from his 2011 injury.
After a decade-plus of ups and downs at quarterback since Elway retired, Peyton came in and brought Hall of Fame passing back to Denver for 4 incredible years.
And then he was gone. The Broncos had been prepared for his retirement since the 2012 draft when they took Brock Osweiler in the 2nd round.
He was groomed over the next four seasons as the heir apparent and showed up great when Peyton went down in 2015. He led the team to a 5-2 record, keeping the Broncos on course to a first-round BYE as the No-Fly Zone & Company took the lead on defense.
Yet when Peyton was retired, and it was Brock’s turn in the saddle, he switched horses. He turned down the Broncos’ three-year $45 Million for a 4-year $72 million deal with the Houston Texans. The Broncos were left scrambling for a new quarterback to helm their Super Bowl roster.
Denver Broncos QBs: The Other Guys
We’ve seen a lot of names come and go these past few years, so there are naturally a few who slipped through the cracks. It’s a mixed bag of circumstances, but for whatever reasons, these guys didn’t make the rankings. Not necessarily a bad thing, but let’s just dive in.
Kendall Hinton – 2020
14 Pass Yards, 2 Int. 7 Rush Yards
Kendall Hinton is a legend. Don’t think me putting him here negates that. He stepped up and took snaps at quarterback for a team that was so desperate after losing their whole depth chart to Covid protocols they wanted coaches Rob Calabrese and Justin Rascati to suit up.
Tough days for Broncos country, but you gotta appreciate how Hinton showed up for the guys. Still think he’ll be a quality receiver for us too.
Mark Sanchez – 2016
What happened here? Who knows. Four days after we lost Osweiler, the Broncos traded a conditional 7th-round pick for Mark Sanchez. And you know what? I didn’t mind the move.
Sanchez showed out pretty good in Philadelphia, and in a pretty weak 2016 FA class, it was a low-risk signing for a veteran with experience and pedigree.
After a camp battle and a pretty solid preseason showing, Trevor Siemian won the job, and Sanchez was gone.
Chad Kelly – 2017-2018
2017’s Mr. Irrelevant actually came into a pretty good situation with the Broncos. Paxton Lynch was already struggling to impress the coaching staff, and Kelly had a legit shot to stick.
By mid-2018 the team was 3-4, and people were wondering if the kid from Ole Miss was going to get a shot. Yet after Von Miller’s Halloween party, Chad Kelly was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespassing after entering a random person’s home and sitting on their couch.
He was released the next day.
Kyle Sloter – 2017
Sloter came in and posted some great preseason performances. He threw for 413 yards and 3 TDs, and I love rooting for an underdog/diamond in the rough kinda guy so I really wanted him to make the team.
He ended up not making the cut, but hung around a few QB rooms in the NFL and is currently leading the USFL in passing.
Colin Kaepernick
In April 2016, just a month after losing Osweiler and trading for Sanchez, John Elway tried to pull a trade for the 49ers quarterback.
However, contract negotiations stalled. Kaepernick was set to make ~ $12 million in base salary and wasn’t willing to take a pay cut. And that was that.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton Manning: The Heir Apparent
Paxton Lynch (2016-2017): 792 Pass Yards, 4 TD, 4 Int. 55 Rush Yards
Bringing up the rear in our rankings is Paxton Lynch. The Broncos traded up to get him with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 draft, in the wake of losing Osweiler, trading for Sanchez, and trying to acquire Kaep. And I get it.
We needed a body in the room.
Lynch had the arm strength, the athleticism, the build. On paper, he was a carbon copy prospect of Brock. 6’7″ big-armed passer.
He came into an open camp battle with 2015 7th Round pick Trevor Siemian, and Mark Sanchez. Despite a good preseason showing, Trevor Siemian got the nod. Paxton got to play three times his rookie year.
In his first game, he flashed promise, throwing for 170 yards and his first TD in relief of Siemian in a win over Tampa Bay, and earned the start the next week. After 223 yards, 1 TD, a pick, and a loss to Atlanta, he was back on the bench until Week 13, where he helped Denver to a 20-10 win over Jacksonville.
In 2017, he went down with a shoulder injury in the preseason. Paxton made a brief appearance in Week 12, throwing an interception and injuring his ankle. We saw him again in Week 17 vs the Chiefs, where he threw 254 yards, 2 scores, and 2 picks.
It was the last time he played in a regular season game in Denver.
The team signed Case Keenum that spring, and Paxton was off the team by fall, just two years after being drafted.
What’s so noteworthy about Paxton Lynch as a Broncos quarterback is that he barely played.
In 2016 and 2018 he was unable to win the starting job in the offseason, and in 2017 he was hurt. Why was bait cut so quickly? It felt like the team internally gave up on him very quickly, and what we got to see on the field didn’t move the needle.
In fact, since 1960, no 1st Round QB who suited up for an NFL team played in fewer games than Lynch, who appeared in 5.
Stathead is a heck of a tool. Nowhere to go but up from here guys, it’s really not that bad. Cleveland did this for 20 years, and they still have a quarterback controversy. Chins up.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The Experienced Backup
Jeff Driskel (2020): 432 Pass Yards, 3 TD, 2 Int. 28 Rush Yards
I’ll start by saying I like Jeff Driskel. I think he’s a solid QB2 option who’s absolutely capable of posting decent quarterback play in this league.
That being said, this isn’t what we saw in Denver. In a 2020 offseason where we were all-in on Drew Lock, Driskel was brought in to back him up. Even in retrospect, I still appreciate the move.
To his credit, Driskel came in and almost beat the Pittsburgh Steelers after Drew Lock went down early in 2020. Yet in his first start in Denver the next week, he wasn’t able to get much going as we fell 28-10 to Tampa Bay.
The next week, it was Brett Rypien’s turn and Driskel was either inactive or on the COVID-19 list for the rest of the year.
The only other time we heard about him that year was when he was one of 4 quarterbacks ruled out vs New Orleans due to COVID protocols.
Driskel played better football before Denver, and he’ll play better football after, but it just didn’t work out here.
I want to put him higher on this list but he’s the only one here without a win in his pocket.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: QB3 thrust into starting role
Brandon Allen (2019): 515 Pass Yards, 3 TD, 2 Int. 39 Rush Yards
Brandon Allen was claimed off waivers just before the 2019 season after the team parted ways with QB3 Kevin Hogan.
A solid addition behind Joe Flacco and Drew Lock, he soon found himself in the starting role as both went down with an injury.
Drew Lock hurt his thumb in the preseason, and Flacco hurt his neck in late October.
Allen’s first NFL start came against the Cleveland Browns, and he looked great.
Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant both had great games with him throwing the ball, and he threw for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first NFL win.
He nearly won the next week vs Minnesota in a 23-27 loss, but after a 3-20 blowout vs Buffalo, it was time for a change again.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton Manning: Brock Osweiler 2.0
Brock Osweiler (2017 Only): 1088 Pass Yards, 5 TD, 5 Int. 64 Rush Yards, 1 TD.
I had to really focus on what we’re looking at here because if we’re including Brock Osweiler’s 2015 campaign, he would easily be near the top of this list for helping us get a Championship.
But, we’re looking at 2016-2021, I said it right there in the title. So. If we look at just his performance in the 2017 season, there are fewer positives to point at.
We brought Brock back in after his four years in Houston turned into one, and he was traded to, then cut by the Browns.
We signed him shortly after. And you know what? I was glad to get him back. It felt like maybe we could get things right this time.
There were moments where it really seemed like things were clicking again. I had hope. It started rough, with a three-game skid on the heels of Trevor Siemian getting benched.
But in Week 15 vs the Colts, Brock’s number got called, and he looked great. He tossed 194 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win, and for a second I thought we might have finally made it back.
Yet the next week was another loss, and the carousel spins on.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The Understudy
Brett Rypien (2019-Present): 295 Pass Yards, 2 TD, 4 Int. -5 Rush Yards.
I like Brett Rypien. He’s 1-0 as a starter, let’s start there. The man’s undefeated in Orange & Blue. After the Jeff Driskel experiment ended, and Drew Lock still needed more time to nurse his shoulder, it was Brett’s turn.
And he let it rip.
There were some really fun moments in that win over the Jets, remember Jerry Jeudy’s TD? The coldest thing I’d seen in a while.
Sure, there were one or two, or exactly two passes-out-of-bounds-turned-interceptions, but hey. We got the dub, and I bet Brett will sail them far and wide forever onwards when throwing it away.
Mind you, he did this in a Pat Shurmur offense without Courtland Sutton, but boy did he make Noah Fant, Jeudy, and Tim Patrick shine.
I like knowing we have a guy who can come in and do stuff like that, and he is the only guy from this list still on the roster. Have a feeling he’ll be around for a while, and he looks like he could have a bright future in coaching.
See that? Warm & fuzzy, moving right along.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The Ex-Super Bowl MVP
Joe Flacco (2019): 1822 Pass Yards, 6 TD, 5 Int. 20 Rush Yards.
I saw the logic. We were a defense-first team with good weapons, and Joe Flacco won a ring with that formula. It seemed like a bit of a lateral move after signing Case Keenum, but I was here for it, ready to see what he could do.
Flacco came in and played some pretty efficient football to start the season, but we lost four straight games to get the year rolling.
It was tough, and even though the numbers looked ok on paper we just weren’t able to get the ball moving at the right times.
The team just looked like it wasn’t all on the same page, for all the talent we had on paper.
The man of the hour himself seemed frustrated with how we were playing ball, famously saying that the team was “Afraid to lose a game“. The ultra-conservative ball might have made sense, in theory, looking at how the roster was built, but it wasn’t working, and he knew it.
An untimely neck injury ended his tenure as the Broncos starter, but despite a 2-6 record Joe Cool came in and posted eight games of quarterback play.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: Minnesota Miracle Man comes to Denver
Case Keenum (2018): 3890 Pass Yards, 18 TD, 15 Int. 93 Rush Yards, 2 TD
Ahhh, Case Keenum. Who didn’t love the Minneapolis Miracle? It was a great moment for everyone except Bill Burr.
John Elway saw Case take the Vikings to the NFC Championship, and brought him in to bring Denver back to the playoffs after a couple of down years.
In an offseason where Kirk Cousins was the top quarterback on the market, I was surprised the Vikings didn’t stick with Case and run it back to the playoffs. He was ranked 51 in the NFL Top 100 that year, and a veteran addition was necessary for Denver with the sun setting on the Paxton Lynch Era.
He won his first game in a big victory against Seattle & the remnants of the Legion of Boom, but the end of the Vance Joseph era in 2018 was a tough time for Broncos Country.
Case had some good performances out there, but we fell to a 6-10 record on the year.
Case is a good quarterback in this league, but it just didn’t fall together here the way it did in Minneapolis, and I guess there’s just a difference between miracles and Mile High Magic.
He did, however, post the only 16-game performance under center that we’ve seen since 2014. No small feat.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The next Heir Apparent
Drew Lock (2019-2021): 4740 Pass Yards, 25 TD, 20 Int. 285 Rush Yards, 5 TD.
It was little secret in the 2019 draft process that John Elway had his eyes on two quarterbacks. Justin Herbert, and Drew Lock.
But when Herbert stayed for his senior year at Oregon, Lock was his guy. Drew did some big things in the SEC at Mizzou, including a 44 TD season in 2017.
We nabbed him in the 2nd round of the Draft, and it wasn’t hard to like the guy. He had charisma, a huge arm, and Von Miller thought he was a rockstar.
A thumb injury held him out early in his rookie year, but he came in and posted a really good five-game run to close out the season. He went 4-1, and we got to see a heck of a ceiling in his win over Houston.
He completed 81% of his passes for 309 yards, 3 TDs, and a pick in that game, and I was hyped up about the quarterback he could become with the Broncos.
That offseason, I will not confirm or deny whether I put $100 on 20,000:1 odds that he’d win MVP. And if I did, it’s because I wanted a new car.
In the 2020 offseason, we swapped out his OC Rich Scangarello for Pat Shurmur. It was Drew’s year to be the man, and we now had Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Jerry Jeudy, and Noah Fant, not to mention Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay.
This offense was loaded.
Covid hit hard in the offseason, and 2020 was a tough year for everyone. Yet Drew regressed from his rookie campaign, no matter which way you slice it. It was rough going, though we did still get to see flashes, like his 280 yard, 4 TD win over Carolina.
Yet, after such a sophomore campaign, the Broncos explored options in the offseason. There were rumors tying us to every quarterback on (or off) the market.
We ended up with Teddy in 2021, and though Drew got multiple opportunities throughout the season, none of them turned into wins.
His inclusion in the Russell Wilson trade shows that other teams in the league still see his potential, but it just didn’t turn kinetic often enough in Denver. Wish him the best in Seattle though!
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The Survivor
Teddy Bridgewater (2021): 3052 Pass Yards, 18 TD, 7 Int. 106 Rush Yards, 2 TD
Amid an era of up-and-down football under center, steady Teddy Bridgewater was a breath of fresh air for me.
He easily brought Denver the most consistent brand of quarterback play we’ve seen since 2014, and though the Pat Shurmur offense didn’t become a top unit, Teddy did a damn good job all things considered.
He takes what’s given to him, can extend plays with a little razzle-dazzle on his feet, and seems like a good leader to boot. And yes, he can throw it deep.
We got a good price for him in the trade, sending a 6th-rounder to Carolina. I was glad to again have a proven commodity at quarterback at least, and despite a weird year with the Panthers, I thought we could perhaps get him to his New Orleans level of performance with all our weapons.
It started out great with a three-game win streak to start the year where he had the highest passer rating league-wide but suffered a concussion in Week 4. He was back the next week, and Teddy had some great games for us this past year.
There was some frustration at the tempo of the offense in Denver, and it’s well-documented that weapons like Jerry Jeudy and Noah Fant were deeply unhappy with how they were being schemed into the system.
Yet despite all that, Teddy put up respectable performance after respectable performance, and ultimately put it all on the line for the team, suffering a season-ending concussion scrambling for a 1st down, leaping through the air like Elway himself.
I think in a vacuum, Teddy’s play may actually be the best we’ve seen in Denver since Peyton, and while this offense did have trouble clicking this past year, Teddy brought us all 7 of our wins.
Would have loved to see him in a Kubiak/Shanahanian offense, but it’s a poor historian who plays “what if”.
Denver Broncos QBs since Peyton: The Underdog
Trevor Siemian (2015-2017): 5686 Pass Yards, 30 TD, 24 INT. 183 Rush Yards, 1 TD.
It’s Trevor Siemian. 7th Round draft pick turned Pro Bowl (alternate) quarterback, the understudy to the understudy came in and seized the starting job in 2016.
Trevor is our sole representative in Pro Bowl voting at quarterback since Peyton, and the only guy under center to lead us to a winning season. It wasn’t always perfect, but he did a good job keeping things on the rails in 2016 as Gary Kubiak contended with health issues.
It really seemed like he could be the guy to keep our Super Bowl squad competitive moving forward after a 9-7 rookie year.
Siemian was a pretty great fit in Kubiak’s innovative offense, and he had some big, big games in 2016. We’re talking, two 4 TD games, and a 3 TD game, and while there were growing pains, I liked our offense with him at the helm that year.
And then one year later, he was in a Mike McCoy offense so tepid that McCoy was out by November. The spark that Kubiak’s genius was able to capture didn’t translate to McCoy’s offense or Bill Musgrave’s after him.
It just wasn’t the same without Denver’s offensive guru at the helm, and while he still had moments in 2017, he was replaced on several occasions by Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch. The carousel had begun.
Nevertheless, Siemian’s 2016 Pro Bowl campaign is definitively the best sample we’ve seen in Denver during this stretch, and as the last guy to see a winning season here, we pay our respects. Eat your heart out, Siemian stans, he’s the GOAT here.
Well Broncos Country, we made it through. Doesn’t that feel better, knowing that it’s over now?
3 players the Denver Broncos may regret passing on in the 2022 NFL Draft
The Denver Broncos feel good about their 2022 NFL Draft class, but what players might they end up regretting passing on? We take a look at three names.
Let’s sit back, watch Russ cook for about a decade, and then we’ll see George Paton draft a franchise QB for the 2030s. Go look at some more pictures of Russ in Orange & Blue. We’re back, lets’s ride, goodnight.