The NFL Combine gathers every team’s braintrust into one city to poke, prod, measure, test and eventually scout the next wave of players coming into the league. As the Denver Broncos begin their process this week in Indianapolis, it’s clear that there’s a focus on quarterbacks.
With several enticing options available — like Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield — two quarterbacks the Broncos coached in the Senior Bowl — the Broncos will have their eyes on the young players on the field, but their minds will be partly off the field, and on one particular player that they can’t talk about.
Kirk Cousins — until the new league year kicks over in March, at least — is a Washington Redskin, meaning no tampering is allowed in discussions with the quarterback. Broncos head coach Vance Joseph spoke with the media Wednesday about Cousins and how he handles pressure. Well… sort of.
“I haven’t coached Kirk Cousins, so I can’t speak to that, to be honest,” Joseph said.
“He’s a Washington Redskin at the moment, so I can’t speak to that. But obviously, watching the guy over the years, he’s a good football player. He’s thrown for over 4,000 yards the last three years, and that’s tough to do in this league. He’s a good one, but I’ll leave it at that.”
After side-stepping the Cousins question, Joseph was asked about the Broncos’ current quarterbacks on the roster; he explained that, for now, at least — they’ve got three.
“We’ve got two guys on the roster — well, three, actually — with Chad Kelly,” Joseph said.
“We’ve got Trevor [Siemian], we’ve got Paxton [Lynch] and we’ve got Chad Kelly. I can’t speak to the future right now. Right now, they are our quarterbacks.”
Joseph went on to address how coaching Mayfield, Allen and Washington State’s Luke Falk at the Senior Bowl probably gave the Broncos a head start. “It’s a long process, and having those quarterbacks on our team was obviously a good thing,” Joseph said.
“All three guys were good guys. They’re all talented guys. They all worked at it. Again, it’s a long process. As we move forward, we just want to find out more about the guys as people and as quarterbacks. This week is always a good week to sit back and watch them compete and watch them perform.”
Click here to listen to the full press conference with Vance Joseph, including what he had to say about potentially losing certain players, more details on the quarterback position, young players and more, or watch the full press conference below.
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