The real risk isn’t injury. The real risk is that Kyle Sloter plays well – as in, extraordinarily well.
That could be a problem. Not for Sloter, but for the Denver Broncos. A solid performance from the former Northern Colorado wide receiver turned quarterback (ehem, professional quarterback) in Thursday night’s once meaningless now meaningful preseason game could alter the Broncos as we know them. If Sloter plays out of his mind, Denver’s dominoes might fall in a bunch of strange places – nothing like John Elway and Co. had planned.
And to think, an undrafted, third-string “camp arm” could possess that kind of power.
This is not to be considered overly dramatic hyperbole. It’s not to say that Sloter will become Kurt Warner, even without the arena league warm up. It’s not to say the Broncos’ playoff hopes fall on young Sloter’s (healthy) shoulders. None of that is true.
Given the current situation in Denver, however – Trevor Siemian having earned the starting role, Paxton Lynch getting injured in preseason game No. 3, and Sloter looking as good as he can possibly look thus far (against the opponent’s third- and fourth-stringers, of course) – Sloter can shape the 2017 Denver Broncos in major ways.
If things had gone as planned – the first-rounder Lynch was supposed to seize the opportunity, Siemian was supposed to become what he most likely is (a very effective backup), and Sloter simply took reps before taking some kind of post-college internship – then Thursday night would indeed be meaningless. But none of that happened. Now, decisions – on Sloter, no less! – must be made, particularly if he lights up the Cardinals Thursday night.
And there’s no other choice but to start him. That’s the beauty of it all. Since Lynch can’t go (and all indications point that way), there’s absolutely zero sense in risking injury to Siemian; as such, it’s four quarters of the Kyle Sloter Show. This gives Sloter the one chance he hasn’t been given thus far – an opportunity to showcase his skills against the top half of the opposing depth chart, rather than the bottom.
Sloter’s stats through three preseason games have been more than impressive. He’s completed 80 percent of his passes (16-for-20), which ranks him eighth among all QBs in the preseason (second if you take into account only quarterbacks who have thrown 20 or more passes). He’s got a 9.7 yards-per-completion average; that places him in the top 13, top five for those throwing 20 or more times. He’s thrown zero interceptions, two touchdowns and has a rating of 140.2, good enough for fourth highest. In front of him are Josh McCown (only three passing attempts), Philip Rivers (a future Hall of Famer) and Cam Newton (just 2-for-2). For the most part, the top-10 highest-rated QBs are starters; it isn’t a list of third stringers who have been beating up on other third stringers. Make no mistake, Sloter has impressed.
But…
But, he’s not doing it against starters or even backups.
But, he’s doing it in the preseason, where defenses are vanilla and the fourth quarter doesn’t matter.
But still…
He’s got Elway squirming with a tough decision to make. You’d better believe that. By all accounts, Sloter has “looked” better than Lynch. But Lynch isn’t about to get cut; you just don’t do that to a first-rounder a mere 18 months into his career. Lynch isn’t about to get put on the injured reserve list either; that would prohibit him from practicing for six weeks and playing for eight, and that would severely stunt his already stunted development. Besides, do the Broncos really trust that Siemian is the starter from here on out? Whether it be injury or poor performance, it’s reasonable to suggest that this entire situation is anything but sturdy. Lynch might even be needed sooner than later.
Given all that, what does John Elway do with a red-hot Kyle Sloter? (For the sake of argument, let’s just assume he stays that way against Arizona.)
If Elway goes with the theory that Sloter is only a “camp arm” – the beneficiary of his place on the depth chart, maybe even a little lucky, and certainly not capable of leading a team in just his second year of playing the position at an advanced level (Sloter only played one season of quarterback at UNC) – and places him on the practice squad, then Sloter is as good as gone. As Elway said himself, “quarterbacks don’t grow on trees,” and there’s surely another team out there in worse shape than Denver, a team that has seen what Sloter did this preseason and is more than willing to bring him in and potentially put him on their 53-man roster.
If Elway concludes that Sloter looks good enough to be a backup – maybe there’s no rent-a-veteran out there worth signing cheaply – and decides to keep him, that bumps someone else from the Broncos 53-man roster. Maybe it’s a running back. Maybe it’s a receiver. Maybe it’s that one, annual cut that seems to surprise everyone. Maybe it’s a young, likeable player who gets picked off the practice squad. Plus, what happens when Lynch is healthy? What if Sloter looks even better in practice? What if he – gasp! – actually has to go in and play backup? Where does that leave Lynch?
By being better than expected, with a four-quarter chance to show he might just be for real, Kyle Sloter has somehow made things very, very interesting in Denver.
Many will suggest that John Elway has already swung and missed on two big, athletic quarterbacks in Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch. (It’s still early, but Elway’s critics are getting anxious.) Thursday night, a fastball is headed down Broadway, right into Elway’s wheelhouse.
What will he do? Nobody knows; we’re only sure he doesn’t want to swing and miss for a third time on a quarterback. The former Yankee most definitely doesn’t want to strike out on the very unexpected Kyle Sloter.