This morning, our fearless leader, James Merilatt, brought up the scary, yet very realistic, possibility that Brock Osweiler may end up bolting in free agency, leaving the Denver Broncos in a very precarious situation.
As Merilatt details, Osweiler re-signing in Denver is anything but a sure thing. While bringing back the supposed heir-apparent may be high on John Elway‘s to-do list, so is re-signing Von Miller, Malik Jackson, Danny Trevathan and about five or six other key contributors on the Broncos’ championship team; there’s only so much money to go around.
And given that Osweiler has already proven, at least to some extent, that he’s a capable NFL starter, it’s hard to imagine the Broncos will be the only franchise fighting for his services; the market for young, talented signal callers rarely runs dry.
So, then, what happens if Osweiler gets wooed away by the Cleveland Browns or the Los Angeles Rams? What if the Broncos can’t afford to match?
Well, the most obvious answer is clearly Peyton Manning, but that’s a little nerve racking, isn’t it? And the Broncos can’t even be sure that Manning will come back. In fact, if Manning did return for one more season, it’d largely be seen as a massive mistake.
So who are the other options?
Here are five quarterbacks who could be playing in Denver next season if, in this doomsday scenario, Osweiler bolts and Manning retires:
