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Ever since Peyton Manning left the Broncos after winning Super Bowl 50, Denver has been a disaster area for the quarterback. That’s why the Broncos were determined to do everything they could to make a difference this year.
Yesterday’s trade, in which the Broncos traded two first-round picks, two second-round picks, Drew Lock, Noah Fant, and Shelby Harris to the Seahawks for Russell Wilson, was the culmination of the franchise’s long-standing effort to find a quarterback who could have such same player. success in Denver that Manning had.
Manning retired six years ago. And it’s been terrible for the Broncos since Manning left.
In 2017 Denver started Trevor Simian, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch as quarterbacks. In 2018, they signed a contract with Case Keenum which lasted for one year. In 2019 it was Joe Flacco, Drew Lock and Brandon Allen. In 2020, Lock returned, Jeff Driskel and Brett Raipin each started a game, and in the greatest disaster of the COVID-19 era, they even had wide receiver Kendall Hinton as quarterback for one game. In 2021 they brought in Teddy Bridgewater and Lock started again when Bridgewater was injured.
Despite all this, nothing worked, and after Super Bowl 50, the Broncos never made the playoffs. With Wilson, it’s finally realistic to think that the Broncos might have a quarterback to get them there.