The Denver Broncos will most likely be embarking on a new adventure at quarterback in 2024. The franchise, which has missed the playoffs in eight straight years, has found itself in this position often.
The question for Sean Payton and the Broncos front office becomes, what is the best route to find a player who can start for this team for years to come? Since Peyton Manning retired following the 2015 season, no player has been the Broncos' starter for more than two seasons.
Russell Wilson was supposed to be that guy following a trade ahead of the 2022 season, but things between he and the team soured toward the end of the 2023 season.
That has opened the door for the team to usher in a new era. But who will that be led by? Looking at eight realistic options, I am going to rank, in descending order, what I feel could happen. Now granted, some of these options are only band-aids rather than long-term fixes, but that is the position that the team currently sits in.
8. Jarrett Stidham
I recently discussed several reasons as to why the Broncos starter was already on the roster, that being Jarrett Stidham. But that doesn't mean it's the best option.
Stidham took over for Wilson, who was benched following a horrendous loss to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve. But Stidham didn't do any better.
In two games, he completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 496 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The team went 1-1 in those games but you never got the sense that the team had the next great quarterback out on the field.
Pedestrian play is what the Broncos would likely get most all of the time from Stidham and that's pretty much what the team has had every year at the position since Manning left.
This scenario may be one of the most likely, however.
7. Gardner Minshew
This is a name that has come up as a potential quarterback for the Broncos ever since "Minshew Mania" was running wild in Jacksonville. This year, he took over as the starter for the Indianapolis Colts when first-round pick Anthony Richardson went down, and nearly guided them to the playoffs.
Minshew threw for a career-high 3,305 yards this season and has 59 career touchdown passes. He has earned a reputation for being one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league and any team would be fortunate to have him in that role.
But as a starter, there would be a lot of questions and not many teams are going to look at him as a long-term answer. That would be the case in Denver as well as Minshew would serve as nothing more than a bridge quarterback.
Minshew will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. If the Broncos were to sign him, they would then have to make a decision on Stidham while also likely drafting a quarterback this year.
6. Jameis Winston
Staying with the veteran quarterback who would need to be signed through free agency, Jameis Winston makes sense for the Broncos due to his past connection with Sean Payton in New Orleans.
Winston, who was once the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, has been relegated to a backup spot since his time as the starter in Tampa Bay concluded. But he still has a good arm and he is a player who will press the ball down the field, something Broncos quarterbacks just have not done in recent years.
Winston may make mistakes, as evidenced by his 33 touchdown/30 interception season with the Buccaneers in 2019, but he is not afraid to make throws. That could be the answer to what the Broncos need on offense and it could be what unlocks the potential of the team's passing game.
Winston has over 22,000 career passing yards and he just turned 30 years old this month, so there should be a lot left in his tank.
5. Michael Penix
There seems to be a lot of support within Broncos Country for the Washington Huskies quarterback who finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting this year, but there is plenty to be concerned about if the team were to draft him.
For starters, he has two torn ACL's in his past and will be entering the league at 24 years old as a rookie. He played in a great offense in college but when it mattered most, last Monday night against Michigan in the College Football National Championship Game, Penix did not rise to the occasion.
He went 27-of-51 for 255 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions on the night against a Big 10 defense but most notably, he did not seem to respond well to the physicality of the game. That physicality will only increase at the next level.
He is an athletic player with a good arm and great accuracy, but he wouldn't excite me as a draft pick for this team in its current state. We will see a lock of mock drafts between now and April that have the Broncos taking him with the No. 12 overall pick in the draft, but the team should look elsewhere, in my opinion.
4. Bo Nix
Bo Nix is one of the most successful college quarterbacks in quite some time, winning 43 games between his time at Auburn and Oregon while putting up huge numbers, including his massive 2023 season that saw him throw 45 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Can he bring this level of talent to the NFL?
That remains to be seen because watching him in a college, you certainly get a mixed bag of what he can do well and what he might not be able to do that well or, at all.
Looking at his numbers, you would think he's an easy first-round pick. But looking at his game more closely, specifically while at Oregon, it's easy to say that he played in a great system and was a beneficiary of that.
The Ducks did not ask him to make crazy, game-changing throws down the field that often. Instead it was a team that relied on its athleticism with screens and short passes to pile on defenses. That is much more difficult to do in the NFL so what Nix is able to do as a processor in the passing game is what will ultimately decide how good he actually is.
However, his game and his physical build do seem to scream Sean Payton kind of player. If Payton could unlock his full potential, you could see some comparisons to Drew Brees being made.
3. J.J. McCarthy
There is a lot to like about J.J. McCarthy, who just guided the Michigan Wolverines to the national championship. Unlike Penix and Nix, McCarthy is only 21 years old and could grow into the best prospect of the three by far.
If the Broncos were to draft McCarthy this spring, he could be a guy who sits a season and learns the nuances of the pro game while gaining experience from Payton and whoever the Broncos had in the starting role.
Signing a guy like Minshew or Winston and then drafting McCarthy or even riding with Stidham and drafting McCarthy are scenarios that make sense.
He is an athletic quarterback who stands 6-foot-3. He does not display elite arm talent and his processing will have to grow before he becomes a full-time starter, but the intangibles are certainly there and those are underscored by winning a championship in a season in which the Wolverines had to overcome Ohio State, Alabama and Washington.
McCarthy, Penix and Nix could all be available as second-round picks depending on how this draft goes but guess what, the Broncos don't have a second-round pick stemming from the trade for Payton. Does the team reach for one of these guys in the first round or go with a veteran?
That will be the question facing the team this offseason.
2. Russell Wilson
Broncos Country is not going to like this idea, but sticking with Russell Wilson for at least one more year would not be that bad. In fact, I'd advocate for it.
Perhaps if Wilson were willing to restructure some of his contract now, the fence could be mended. Maybe he's not perfect for what Payton wants to do on offense, but he's better than Stidham and quite frankly, many of the other options that the Broncos could entertain.
Wilson played the way he did this year (which wasn't bad) while knowing that he likely didn't have the full backing of the organization. Still, he helped the team turn around a 1-5 start and become a serious playoff contender.
Wilson's best days in the NFL are far behind him. But he's still a leader and a player that his teammates like, as evidenced by some comments made following the season. Quite frankly, who can blame them?
The Broncos were protecting themselves from a financial standpoint, that is understandable. But the situation was handled poorly. If the team can keep Wilson around and NOT take than dead money salary cap hit, why would you not do that?
Even if you were to keep Wilson for the coming season and draft a guy like Nix, Penix or McCarthy and then move on from him following this season, that makes much more sense than to cut him now. Keeping Russ as your starter for 2024, at least in my mind, is a much better option than Stidham, Minshew or Winston.
This scenario seems unlikely given the relationship between the team and Wilson, but if cooler heads can end up prevailing, it would be better for the long-term status of the organization.
1. Justin Fields
This is easily the most complicated scenario on this list but it's the idea I like the most. That would be trading for Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears.
The Bears hold a lot of cards this offseason by virtue of the trade they made last year ahead of the draft coupled with how bad the Carolina Panthers were this season. Currently, they have the No. 1 pick in the draft as well as the No. 9 pick in the draft.
What do they do with the No. 1 pick? Do they take a quarterback with that pick when a guy like Caleb Williams is there? Or do they March on with Justin Fields? If they go that route, do they trade the No. 1 pick to acquire more picks?
In my opinion, keeping Fields and trading that first overall pick for an even bigger stash is the right way to go, but if the Bears decide they just have to have Williams or even Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels, then the Broncos should be in on obtaining Fields.
The Broncos had their chance to draft Fields in 2021(and many fans were upset that they didn't) but would they be interested in getting him now?
Fields has not played bad for a Bears team that lacks overall talent. He does turn the ball over a bit too much but he is capable of making huge plays, particularly with his feet. Basically, all of the things that Josh Allen gets credited for.
For me, Fields is the best running quarterback in the league, even ahead of Lamar Jackson, as of right now. He rushed for over 1,100 yards in 2022 and though that number dropped down considerably this year, he still has the capability of making those kinds of plays when a play breaks down or if he has to ad-lib on the fly.
Fields will only be 25 years old when the season starts and he has three years of experience under his belt, putting him miles ahead of guys like Penix, Nix and McCarthy.
He wouldn't come cheap. The Broncos would almost certainly have to part with their first-round pick plus other picks or players, but it's a move that could change the direction of the franchise and be the positive change that the team has been in search of for close to a decade.