Let’s be honest, unless you’re a diehard USC fan who has been in a coma for the last four years, nobody in Broncos Country heard the news about John Elway trading for Mark Sanchez and had any reaction other than, “WHY?”

And that’s quite understandable. When the most-memorable moment of your career is called “The Butt Fumble,” it’s hard to imagine you’ve had many great moments.

But if you listen to what Elway had to say following the move, maybe there’s more to the process than we can see.

“This is the 1st step in our process.” It’s almost as if Elway could already feel the negative reaction about to come his way, and he wanted to assure everybody that this wasn’t the final plan.

And let’s hope not. Sanchez hasn’t been a winning quarterback since 2010, and even then he completed just 54.8 percent of his passes and posted a QB rating of 75.3.

If this truly is “step one,” then the next question is obviously: What is step two? According to Mile High Sports Radio’s Benjamin Allbright, it may very well be the same thing we’ve been hearing for the last few days: Colin Kaepernick.

https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/708364264176619520

Others have echoed that sentiment.

Maybe the 49ers are hesitant to part ways with Kaepernick because they fear they don’t have a logical veteran to replace him. Could Sanchez be the trade chip that allows the Broncos to pry Kaepernick from San Francisco’s grasp? Or does Elway have something else in mind?

Hopefully, we’ll all find out sooner than later.