Denver and Los Angeles engaged in trade talks centering on Rams quarterback Case Keenum during the preseason, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. No deal came to fruition, of course, as the Broncos ultimately didn’t come up with an offer appealing enough to convince the Rams to trade the 28-year-old (Twitter links).
The reigning champion Broncos, who open their season tonight in a Super Bowl rematch with Carolina, ended up naming second-year man Trevor Siemian their starting quarterback to replace the retired Peyton Manning. That came after Siemian beat out the since-released Mark Sanchez, now with the Cowboys, and first-round rookie Paxton Lynch for the job.
Siemian, a seventh-rounder from Northwestern, hasn’t yet attempted a regular-season pass. Keenum, on the other hand, has thrown 455 in a combined 16 games with the Texans and Rams, completing an unimpressive 56.7 percent of attempts to go with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
After a respectable six-game showing last season, the Broncos had interest in Keenum over the winter, but the Rams’ decision to tender the restricted free agent at a first-round price led Denver to look elsewhere. Despite that, Keenum hardly looked like a shoo-in for Los Angeles’ starting job after it sent a massive haul to the Titans to acquire the first pick, with which the Rams chose ex-California signal-caller Jared Goff. However, the 21-year-old didn’t show enough progress during the summer to beat out either Keenum for the starting role or Sean Mannion for the No. 2 spot, so he’ll begin the season inactive.
As the Rams wait for Goff to get up to speed, Keenum will try to do enough to remain at the helm and help them snap their 11-year playoff drought in their return to LA.
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