The loser of the Broncos QB battle could still have a lot of value

George Paton has made one thing abundantly clear during his short tenure as general manager: He wants competition, particularly at the quarterback position. Unfortunately, the timetable for that competition to conclude has been much less clear.

The Broncos traded for Teddy Bridgewater on April 28 and yet, 13 weeks later at the start of training camp, the evaluation of Bridgewater and Drew Lock was just “two to three percent” complete. Which means even now, one full week into camp, the quest for a starting quarterback in 2021 has barely begun.

Even if that were true, which is highly unlikely, Paton and Vic Fangio would be wise to pick up the pace, make up their minds and take advantage of a unique opportunity that has just manifested itself this week.

With the news that quarterback Carson Wentz will miss anywhere from five to 12 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his injured foot, the Colts have found themselves in a very precarious position.

The team is clearly built to win right now. After finishing last season with an 11-5 record during the swan song of former-Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers, the Colts lost a heartbreaker to the Bills in the wild card round. They then promptly entered and won the Wentz sweepstakes in an attempt to capitalize on the final years of their championship-contending roster. They cannot afford to concede a game or two, let alone the 11 that could pass by if Wentz’ timetable isn’t favorable and stretches to Thanksgiving.

Enter the Broncos.

Equipped with two quarterbacks who started the majority of their teams’ games last year, Paton is sitting on a surplus of a product, albeit a relatively mediocre one, that is suddenly in demand.

And while Lock and Bridgewater often found themselves at or near the top of some unfortunate leaderboards last season, it is safe to say they could be better trusted to lead an offense than second-year signal caller Jacob Eason and rookie sixth-round draft choice Sam Ehlinger, who are all that remains of the Colts’ quarterback room without Wentz.

It is a virtual certainty that the Colts will look to add a quarterback to their roster in the coming weeks, so why shouldn’t the Broncos look to capitalize on their misfortune?

Someone is going to win this “50-50” battle in Denver and, when that happens, how much use will the loser of said battle be to the Broncos? If the team was to move away from their chosen starter after that, it would only be due to injury or extremely poor play.

And if that’s the case, things are likely looking bleak and any wild card aspirations that existed are a thing of the past anyways. Why not just roll with Brett Rypien, who actually won a game last year despite his best efforts?

The decision to trade for Bridgewater was centered entirely around bringing competition to the quarterback position and, one way or the other, it will work. One quarterback will win the battle and, after that, the loser will have done his job.

The Broncos have clearly stated their intention to slow-play this evaluation process but, if they’re smart, they’ll speed things up, take advantage of a team in desperate need of quarterback help and perhaps give Paton (who has a sterling reputation as a talent evaluator) some extra draft capital in the process.