Osweiler Out, Sanchez In: Ryan Edwards

Osweiler Out, Sanchez In

Ryan Edwards

Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

“We’ve stayed true to our philosophy of building a team with players who want to be Denver Broncos and want to be here. That’s been a successful approach for us,” said John Elway, Broncos Executive VP of Football Operations on the reason he didn’t match the Texans offer for QB Brock Osweiler.

Plan A was for Brock Osweiler to be the starting quarterback. This statement turns out to be true for more than just the Broncos as the Houston Texans inked the former Denver backup on Wednesday to a 4-year contract for $72 million ($37 million guaranteed). Good for Brock. Fans should never fault a player who takes more money when offered. It’s the nature of NFL contracts and as long as this system is in place, it will always favor the organization over the player.

So, now that we know Plan A didn’t work, what’s Plan B, Mr. Elway? The immediate answer is former 1st round pick in 2009, QB Mark Sanchez.

Acquired QB Mark Sanchez for a conditional '17 pick. He brings veteran leadership & will compete. This is the 1st step in our process.

— John Elway (@johnelway) March 11, 2016

Before you drive out to Dove Valley and start throwing rocks at Broncos Headquarters, let’s examine this trade to see if it makes any sense. There isn’t an NFL analyst alive that would argue the Broncos have just found their future franchise starting QB. At best, Sanchez will compete for a starting role. At worst, he’s mostly affordable depth behind the actual starting QB yet-to-be-named. The Broncos traded very little to the Eagles in acquiring Sanchez and his contract isn’t outrageous by any means. Denver sent a conditional 7th round pick and acquired Mark’s $4.5 million contract for one season. One other piece to this: According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Broncos are still looking to add another QB so Sanchez could be part of the competition OR part of a trade piece to acquire a certain 49ers QB. Most of this, of course, will shake out in the coming days.

Even after trading for Mark Sanchez, Broncos plan to bring in another QB to compete for starting job. Denver not done at QB yet.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2016

Mark Sanchez, after starting his first four seasons with the Jets, signed with the Eagles in 2014. His first two seasons in the league, he quarterbacked a Jets team that made it to the AFC Championship games only to lose to the Colts in 2009 and Steelers in 2010. While with the Eagles, he has played a total of 13 games, thrown for 3,034 yards, 18 TDs and 15 INTs. If you take the butt-fumble celebrity away from his name, his stats sound like a decent backup, right?

Since 2014: Sanchez 13 GP, 18 TD, 86.6 passer RTG; Osweiler 11 GP, 11 TD, 86.6 RTG. You can look it up #9news #9sports

— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) March 11, 2016

It’s not that adding Mark Sanchez makes the Broncos an immediately better offense but to be fair, last season left a lot to be desired and at least the former Eagle doesn’t make them any worse. Denver’s QB performance in 2015 was just ahead of the Rams with a QBR of 76.3 and they were worst in the league with 23 INTs. Broncos offense went from 2nd in the league in 2014 scoring 30.1 points per game to 19th at 22.2 ppg. (Broncos were 1st in the league in 2013 scoring 37.9 ppg, falling over 15 ppg in 2 seasons!) To be fair, Peyton Manning brought the average of the two QBs down with his abysmal 17 INTs and 67.9 QBR (Brock had 6 INTs and a QBR of 86.4 which was 25th in the league). Peyton Manning’s turnovers were clearly an issue for the Broncos however, the team scored only 17.8 points per game with Brock Osweiler at the helm including going scoreless in the 2nd half of three straight games. The bottom line with these stats is that the Broncos don’t have big shoes to fill this next season and there should be an expectation of at least marginal improvement.

“Mark Sanchez is the backup,” according to The Fan’s 9 News Insider Mike Klis on Sandy and Stokley Friday afternoon. “They are either going to go get a front line starter or draft a QB behind Sanchez. Maybe Sanchez starts half of the year and you take a first round draft pick and develop him along. There will be another QB who will be viewed as the starter immediately or the franchise QB of the future. You don’t hand the keys to the kingdom to Mark Sanchez. What this does, is takes Robert Griffin III out of the picture.”

Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Everything Mike Klis said makes sense and is logical. Today, the Broncos added a backup that gives them flexibility at the quarterback position. If they can’t close the deal on 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, FA QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, or possibly someone else, the only developmental player they are willing to add is through the draft. This could be tremendous news for Broncos fans as the team may make a run in the 1st round at one of the Top 3 QBs in NDSU’s Carson Wentz, Cal’s Jared Goff or Memphis’ Paxton Lynch. Remember how vanilla the Broncos offense looked with Brock Osweiler at the helm? Don’t you think Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison could design something that would work for Mark Sanchez or possibly a rookie QB to have success? The identity of this team, regardless of the QB, will remain the defense but there is no question that the Broncos want to see improvement from the offense and will need it if they are to make a playoff run in 2016.

Does Mark Sanchez make the Broncos a playoff team? Nope. Does adding Sanchez as a backup give Denver flexibility to add the guy they hope will be their franchise QB? Absolutely. The Broncos had to pivot when Brock Osweiler signed with the Texans. So far, that pivot is trading almost nothing to the Eagles in exchange for a reliable backup. Now, John Elway can pursue a franchise quarterback “who wants to be Denver Bronco and wants to be here.” The real question is, who should it be? Should it be established QB Colin Kaepernick (if the 49ers are willing to trade) or one of the top 3 rookies in the 2016 NFL Draft? Both scenarios present obvious pros and cons, however, it should put the Broncos back on track in establishing at least an “effective” offensive threat next season. Option C, according to Emmanuel Sanders, could be a sleeper none of the analysts are talking about.

#BreakingNews Uncle Rico considered real target to fill QB void. Has great experience throwing n or over mountains. pic.twitter.com/2cgoYX5445

— Emmanuel Sanders (@ESanders_10) March 10, 2016