Head coach Vic Fangio has named Teddy Bridgewater as the Broncos’ starting quarterback. That leaves incumbent starter Drew Lock as the team’s QB2, raising long-term questions about his future in Denver.
The Broncos have started ten players at quarterback since Peyton Manning‘s March 2016 retirement. They’ve tried all possible avenues: free agency (Case Keenum, the second Brock Osweiler acquisition), the trade market (Joe Flacco, Bridgewater) and the draft (Lock, Paxton Lynch). After all of that, they’ve done no better than 9-7 since Manning left.
Now they’ll hand things over to Bridgewater. His three-year, $63MM deal didn’t pan out for the Panthers, but the Broncos have him at a much more reasonable rate. Bridgewater’s 2021 cap hit will be just $4.4MM. After that, he’ll be a free agent.
Bridgewater finished 17th in QBR last season while Lock ranked 29th. The 2019 second-rounder tied for the NFL lead in INTs (15) despite missing three games. In his defense, he was thrust into an unusual spot in 2020 — learning a brand new offense in a virtual offseason. He was also without top receiver Courtland Sutton for most of the year.
Bridgewater, meanwhile, will aim for better results. He’s got a lot working in his favor, including familiarity with Pat Shurmur‘s offense.
Sounds like another mediocre year for Denver. Bridgewater seems more like a stopgap QB, which raises questions on why they passed on Fields and didn’t trade Lock in the draft.
Do you mean he is a bridge QB lol till Rodgers is a free agent !
At the end of the day he is serviceable but they won’t be in the playoffs. There is no chance even if he did to compete with the likes of Rodgers , Allen, Mahomes etc.
Mac Jones is the QB they should’ve drafted with that pick. Perfect fit with all the weapons they have to distribute the ball to.
The passed on Fields because he’s not ready to start, and would require a lot of development to be ready to do so. You don’t just draft any old quarterback to fill a need and ignore his specific profile versus your team’s. Denver has proven that it is not the place to develop quarterbacks-they need to draft a starting ready quarterback out of college or acquire a veteran. They’ll try for Rodgers next year, and/or draft a more starting ready quarterback than Fields with a high pick if it comes to it.
At least Denver was smart to pass on fields. They clearly knew he’s a bust. Bears on the other hand… SMH can’t believe the Bears made one of the dumbest draft picks and I’m embarrassed to be a Bears fan right now…
Look hear ☝️are you a joke what do you and Nagy have to see that are QB1 is goood now great later.
Go Fields
Yeah I’d prefer fields go away. He’s gonna lose us more games than all of the Bears QBs combined in Bears franchise history, if the Bears are dumb enough to keep him for 5 years.
If they want to redeem themselves for this hideous mistake, they better find a dumb team dumber than the Bears to trade fields to, and getting tons of picks back.
I don’t agree with Nagy. He’s the one who drooling over fields. If we kept Mitch and let Nagy go, we would have won a few rings and Mitch would be an automatic shoo-in, in the Hall of Fame but nope. Nagy had to ruin Mitch’s reputation so I hope for his sake, Mitch will start on a team elsewhere and succeed then he will own the Bears’ a$$ for years to come cuz the Bears rightfully deserved that.
Personally, I want Nagy and Pace gone — Nagy for being so freakin’ mediocre the last 3 seasons with his limited 3 plays on one page and “BE YOU” on the other 1,000 pages and Pace for his atrocious drafting, 75% of his drafts have been busts, with the most recent one in fields.
The Bears should have TRADED for a proven, reliable QB if they wanted to let Mitch go but they too dumb to realize Mitch is the real deal. They had to listen to Nagy’s dumb a$$.
I think Bridgewater can do it if their defense is good. I just don’t think their defense has got it like that anymore.
You must not follow Denver. Their defense will be top 5, they are very deep.
John Elway: Hall of Fame quarterback, Hall of Shame front office executive.
I think Lock not starting is a clear indication Elway is not the decision maker any longer which is good for the Broncos
Overall, he’s not bad and he was able to get Manning which led to a Super Bowl. His problem lies in taoent evaluation, specifically in QB talent. Paxton Lynch, Drew Lock, Trevor Semian, Chad Kelly, Brock Osweiler. Horrible list of mediocre to bad QBs.
Elway likes height in QB’s too much. Looking for a new version of himself.
Elway didn’t make the decision!!! Player personnel was made by Paton GM and the starting QB by Fangio and Shurmer
If every Hall of Shame executive won a Super Bowl, I think they’d be okay with that.
Gave up on Lock way too soon. He has been as good as Bridgewater and is younger. Bad move
Agree,Lock has much more upside than Teddy.
I agree. Lock looked well in 2019 and then had a tough time inheriting the team in 2020 when they had no preseason and he relies heavily on personal contact – which they lacked during Covid and it eventually cost all the QBs to miss a game.
Bridgewater and his weak arm is simply the best of two bad choices.
The Broncos real problem, however, is their offensive coordinator. Pat Shurmer’s offense doesn’t leverage the strengths of his players.
Finally someone is paying attention. The Bottom line unless someone tells him Run the ball or your gone like I am sure Mike Zimmer did after the Vikings started 5-2 under Norv Turner who fired himself. Actually Vikings were 5-0 with Turner. Then finished 3-6 with Shurmur. It was brutual. All of a sudden with Case Keenum at QB the next season Shurmur Ran the ball the offense had a pretty much 50-50 balance. The only time it has happened under Shumur in his career. The Guy never deserved a HC Job or a Coordinator position. The only reason he got either was he is related to Fritz. Zimmer fired the guy who took over for Shumur. It scares me that one of the Browns Head Coaches Mentor’s is Shurmur.
Do we have a clear idea what kind of offense Shurmur is going to run? When he set his ego aside and ran a balanced offense for Mike Zimmer in 2017, the Vikes scored the 10th most points in the league, and running a balanced offense for Chip Kelly in 2013, the Eagles ranked #4 in points scored. But when Shurmur has had control over the offense, he goes pass crazy, and aside from a 3rd place finish in points scored with Kelly and the Eagles in 2014, his pass happy offenses have ranked 13th-32nd in points scored.
Fangio and Shurmur would be much better off running a balanced offense with Bridgewater (or Lock, I’m betting) as their QB1.
I agree completely with cka2nd. I don’t have much faith in Shurmur (and even less-by a lot-in Mike Shula), but Denver has good pieces everywhere except at QB. The offense has more than enough talent to produce. If they don’t, it will be the fault of the coordinator and offensive staff even more than the players. The real sad part is that Fangio would likely be the one who would suffer the consequences.
It does not matter who the QB is with the Broncos they have Putrid Pat running the Offense. You basically have to give him an ultimatum to run the ball. His teams on a regular basis have 60% or more pass plays
He did it with the Rams, He did it with the Browns, He did it with the Vikings in relief of Norv Turner who fired himself. Then the next season mysteriously with Case Keenum at QB his offense was Balanced Vikings go to the Playoffs. Only playoff team Shurmur has had when he called the plays. Oddly enough due to Covid and not having any QB’s going into that Saints game he probably had his lowest Pass Play % of his Career other then that playoff year in Minnesota where I think Zimmer Told him run the ball or your gone because the next guy John DeFillipo pulled the same Shurmur crap with that offense in Minnesota and got fired with a few games to go in the season. On the season the Broncos were 57.1% pass. In wins 51.6% in Losses 59.4% Before the Saints 60.4% pass Saints game and after 51.2% wondering if Fangio said something to him now. Shurmur should be relegated to coaching Centers. Its sad that he is actually related to one of the Great Coordinators in NFL History DC Fritz Shurmur.
Was it Chip Kelly calling the plays in Philly, not Shurmur. I ask because the eagles did run a balanced offense in 2013, and actually scored in the top four in both 2013 (balanced) and 2014 (pass-happy).
Definitely agree with you that Shurmur needs to have his pass-happy tendencies reigned in. Zimmer seemed to accomplish that in 2017, but Pat needs to set his own ego aside.
Shurmur was only allowed to call plays that one game in Philly. He is 48-90 Calling plays as an OC or a HC.
There are so many teams with Very Bad Offensive Coordinators who call play and or Head Coaches that call plays. If your team attempts less then 20 Runs in a game you should be canned. When teams do that they won like 15% of the games last season. Some of those Bozo’s were retained. You have guys who pass so much they get their head coach fired. Then somehow they are retained and start to run the ball more. I have been breaking down 60% pass play teams in the Superbowl era so ended up going thru every team since 1966. Surprisingly 4 NFL teams had 60% or more pass plays in 1967 then nothing until the 1980 Saints who were balanced in 1979 and nearly made the playoffs finishing 8-8 next yr 1-15. Shurmur never should have been hired in Cleveland an never should have been hired with the Giants. I have been breaking down these 60% pass play teams in Wins and in losses. In wins in his career Shurmur’s teams 51.9% pass in Losses that jumps to 64.2%
The question is whether Teddy can stay healthy or not. If he took the clot-shot, then we will see him sitting out most of the season. Good luck Denver.
Okay so just did a Breakdown of Putrid Pat Shurmur in his career as a Head Coach or an offensive Coordinator who actually calls the plays his Record 48-90 .348
take out the abomination in 2017 when his offense was actually balanced for the only time in his career. that Record drops to 35-87 .287. His career pass play % is 59.8 take out that 2017 season again jumps to 60.8 in those 48 wins his pass play % is 51.9% in his losses 64.2%. in 2016 when he became the Vikings OC after Norv Turner fired himself the Vikings with Shurmur were 66% pass. In wins 54.7% in losses 71.3% in 2017 the one year his offense was ever balanced 65.9% pass in the 3 losses in wins 49.6% pass. For the most part Shumur’s teams only win games when they are balanced on offense. with the Vikings in 2016 one of his three wins was because of the Defense and ST’s scoring Tds. His 1st yr with the Giants they were up 19-3 on the Eagles rushed 18 times for 126 yards in the game. End up losing. 14 runs in the 1st half only 4 in the 2nd half. They were up 19-11 at the half. In 24 of Shurmur’s 48 wins calling plays his teams Actually ran the ball more then they threw it. WOW!!!!!!!!!! In 36 of the 48 wins his offense was actually pretty balanced pass to run. So when Saquon was a Rookie with the Giants. You would see Shurmur on the sidelines yelling at his QB to throw the ball to Odell then you would see Odell with bad body language when Barkley did something well. Shurmur actually had a winning record when he gave the ball to Barkley 20 times or more on runs. in 2018 Barkley 261 Rushes 1307 yards 11 Tds a 5.0 avg. Then why did Shurmur throw the ball 64% of the time. The Giants were 5-1 under Shurmur when Barkley ran the ball 20 times or more. I truly feel bad for Mike Shula who is the QB Coach and was the OC with the Giants but was not allowed to call plays.
Man, you are killing what respect I still retained for Shurmur from his run with the Vikings. Good work, really.
Same here haha
I like Bridgewater but I’d rather have given Lock the chance. With a short leash.
Lock has more upside. Didn’t get a fair shake. He deserves to go to another team. Maybe Houston this year. Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia, Panthers next year.
If he can stay healthy, Bridgewater should do fine but Lock got jobbed for more reasons than his bad play last year. In a BLM league you think it hurts or helps having the black QB win over the white QB? Lock did nothing in the preseason to lose the job and Bridgewater did nothing to take it away from him in my humble opinion. So why does Bridgewater start when Lock has actually bled with these guys for two years while Teddy toiled for another team? Go ahead and call me a racist (if everything is racist then doesn’t that mean nothing is racist??????) but it doesn’t hurt the BLM cred of the Broncos if Bridgewater starts.
Such are the times we live in and such things do matter and you would be a fool thinking the Broncos didn’t notice the skin colors of their QB’s. Yes it is a business, and yes winning is everything but bad PR (white wins over black=racism for instance?) is bad for the team, the league, and those who profit off of both.
All that said, I hope Teddy has an All-Pro season and the Broncos get back to the playoffs. I just think it sucks when political correctness matters more then honest competition. As I said, such are the times. Sad.
Okay kids, take your shots………
The elephant in the room is that the Broncos still haven’t resolved the ownership issue. Which direction they are going to take in the future with front office personnel and subsequent player moves is pure speculation until there is clarity on that front.