The Denver Broncos were in the QB carousel for years and years, but they truly avoided disaster by getting out of it. For years and years after Peyton Manning retired, the Broncos tried and failed to find a long-term QB solution. Names like Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, Drew Lock, Teddy Bridgewater, Russell Wilson, and a few others had their moments, but never established themselves.
And it always felt like Denver was in on the QB market. Well, last offseason, the team made one of the more notable moves in the NFL in recent history when they cut Russell Wilson, which forced them to take on an NFL-record $85 million dead cap hit, spread over two seasons.
The Denver Broncos dodged a huge bullet here...
They have about $32 million in dead money remaining, so they are almost done. The move to cut Wilson was actually a bit of a mixed bag. Many people bashed Denver for it, citing Russell Wilson's passing stats from 2023, but anyone who watched the Denver Broncos could see that the offense was not nearly efficient enough.
The Broncos got hammered even more when they used the 12th overall pick on Bo Nix, who ended up being the sixth QB taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. All Broncos fans heard last offseason was how Nix was going to be a bust and how the team should not have kept Russell Wilson.
But one year later, we can see what Sean Payton was trying to do, and as we approach the official start of the 2025 NFL Offseason, there isn't a word in the dictionary to describe just how amazing it is that the Broncos do not have to again dip into the QB carousel.
Can you imagine if the Denver Broncos had to think about signing an Aaron Rodgers or Justin Fields this offseason...?
Fans would again have to convince themselves that this time, the veteran QB addition would work out. Denver tried and failed for years what some teams in the NFL are going to try this offseason - signing a veteran QB and crossing their fingers that it works out. Sean Payton realized that if the Broncos wanted to become contenders again, they had to do it the hard way and draft a rookie QB.
There really isn't a secret to success in the NFL - find the QB and be strong in the trenches. Denver did both of those things in 2024, so they enjoyed success as any other team would have who have these two things settled.