10 biggest trade mistakes for the Denver Broncos in franchise history

3. Trading for Joe Flacco was a horrendous mistake

The Denver Broncos only traded a fourth-round pick to acquire Joe Flacco in the 2019 offseason, but their mistake was taking on Flacco in any capacity.

You know the feeling you had in school of absolute dread when the teacher needed a volunteer to do something, and you tried your best to not make eye contact, pleading for the teacher to call on anyone else? That was kind of the feeling among many in Broncos Country in the 2019 offseason.

There was always the possibility of acquiring Flacco, which nobody in the fan base wanted to see happen, but deep. down inside I think everyone knew it was happening. It was all too predictable for John Elway's brand at the time.

Elway himself stated at Flacco's introductory press conference that they felt Flacco was just entering his prime years. Nobody else was fooled. The Broncos sent the 113th overall pick to the Ravens for Flacco (RB Justice Hill) and although the Ravens didn't pick an All-Pro with that selection like some of the other players on this list, a guy like Tony Pollard was still on the board at that point in time.

This isn't about the draft compensation, though. This is about the Broncos taking on Flacco and his contract, which was a horrendous move at the time. The Broncos would have been better off rolling with Case Keenum for another year. Flacco had an embarrassingly low touchdown percentage of 2.3 percent in his time with the Broncos (8 games). He threw just six touchdown passes compared to five interceptions, and he had eight fumbles.

Joe Flacco is probably the worst quarterback the Broncos have had in the post-Peyton Manning era when you consider his pay grade compared to a guy like Paxton Lynch.