The tale of the 2017 Denver Broncos will likely go down in history as a woeful tale where one the best defensive teams in the NFL (in terms of pure talent) was hamstrung due to below-average play at the quarterback position.
Fans and analysts across the country have already written off the three quarterbacks on the Broncos’ roster as disposable once the team reaches the conclusion of he regular season. Despite the disappointing campaign, there are many other teams in the NFL who are experiencing similar quarterback woes.
Looking around the rest of the NFL, let’s examine how the Broncos’ quarterback situation stacks up against other bottom-5 teams in the NFL based on passing performance.
Chicago Bears: Worse
As a whole, the Bears are still a long way from making any sort of playoff run, sitting at 3-6 and fourth place in their division. The Bears might not have the Pro Bowl-type players that the Broncos do, but they do appear to have found their quarterback of the future. Despite the lack of weapons around him, Mitchell Trubisky has played decent football. While his overall stats and team record are not good reflections of it, Trubisky has shown enough promise to not only take over the starting job this year, but also provide the Bears with promise for the future. Paxton Lynch has yet to do either of those for the Broncos.
Baltimore Ravens: Better
Broncos fans still remember Joe Flacco heaving a pass deep downfield and breaking Denver’s hearts en route to a Super Bowl victory in the 2012 season. But that Flacco is long gone and the quarterback currently leading the Ravens is a shell of his former self. Simply glancing over Flacco’s stats, his performance isn’t too far off from the Broncos’ starting quarterbacks thus far:
Flacco: 187/291 (64.3%), 1551 passing yards, 8 TDs, 10 INTs
Siemian/Osweiler: 191/322 (59.3%), 2116 passing yards, 11 TDs, 13 INTs
While many would still probably take Flacco over either starting quarterback for the Broncos, keep in mind that the Ravens are currently in the second year of Flacco’s massive contract extension, which has a 2017 cap hit of $24.55 million. Consider that the Broncos are paying a fraction of that price for comparable results thus far in the season.
Miami Dolphins: Worse
Not necessarily in comparison to Jay Cutler, but rather the two other quarterbacks on the Dolphins — reliable backup Matt Moore and incumbent starter Ryan Tannehill — who is missing the 2017 campaign with a knee injury. Once Tannehill returns from injury, he should once again become entrenched as the Dolphins’ starter, making him a more viable option than the three quarterbacks currently on the Broncos’ roster. Tannehill’s numbers alone have been better than any quarterback the Broncos have had since Peyton Manning’s 2014 season.
San Francisco 49ers: Draw
In terms of where these two teams are headed for the future, this could be a complete toss-up depending on what happens in the 2018 offseason. The 49ers pulled off a surprising, blockbuster trade, dealing a second-round pick to the New England Patriots for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo before the 2017 trade deadline. While Garoppolo has shown promise in his limited playing time as a Patriot, it remains to be seen if he has what it takes to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL. Currently playing in the final year of his contract, there is also the outside possibility of the 49ers deciding not to retain Garoppolo. Currently, Garoppolo is a better option at quarterback than the trio of Osweiler, Siemian or Lynch, due to the potential upside that has yet to be seen from the Broncos’ quarterbacks.
Cleveland Browns: Better
Sadly, the Broncos still have a superior quarterback situation to the Cleveland Browns, who have mishandled their quarterback situation for what seems like decades now. The combination of DeShone Kizer and Kevin Hogan has been terrible to say the least, as the duo has quarterbacked the team to an 0-9 record. Kizer was once seen as a legitimate quarterback of the future after earning the starting job after the preseason. Since then, he been benched multiple times in favor of Hogan, who is averaging only 129.3 passing yards per game. This is all on top of the bizarre A.J. McCarron trade debacle that fell through with the Cincinnati Bengals. While the Broncos have yet to see whether their “quarterback of the future” is capable of filling that role, the Browns appear to have struck out at quarterback already.