Suppose you could time travel back to the point we were about to make the Russ trade. Assume that we’ve just been told Aaron Rodgers wasn’t coming to join his pal Hackett so that is off the table.
The options are:
- Trade for Russ. Remember the price is a 2022 and 2023 1st, 2022 and 2023 2nd, 2022 5th, Drew Lock, Shelby Harris and Noah Fant. The Broncos will get a 2022 4th back as well as Russ.
- Go with Drew Lock as starter. 2022 is the last year of his rookie deal so if we don’t know already, we can find out if he’s the guy. In the event that we suck with Hackett as coach and Lock as starter, we could look to draft a QB in the 2023 draft class with guys like Bryce Young, Will Levis and CJ Stroud expected to be high first round picks.
- Draft a QB. With the 9th pick in the draft we are probably well set to land one of the top QBs in the 2022 draft, like Matt Corrall, Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis or Sam Howell. According to most projections only one QB is likely to be off the board by the time we pick, and if necessary we could trade up to get our guy.
- Sign a veteran. Matt Ryan has been released by the Falcons. Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor and Jacoby Brissett are available. Jameis Winston still hasn’t resigned with the Saints. We could go with a bridge guy for a couple of years and possibly combine it with drafting a late round QB to sit for a year or two, like Bailey Zappe, Skylar Thompson or Brock Purdy.
Which do you choose?
Choose carefully because you’ll soon face the judgement of the 2022 Broncos fans.
A lot of people in here are completely underselling Russ because of lingering disappointment from last year. Forget last year. He has the worst season of his career but he was in a new city with a new system and a new coach. Hackett was a fraud, the line was extremely porous, Javonte was out, our wide receivers were constantly hurt, Russ was also injured for most of it. No QB in the league would have been able to play to expectations on our team last year. Let that shit go when you evaluate Russ performance this year.
The dude is playing REALLY good football. Is it “eLiTe?” No. But it’s really good. Great TD/int ratio. Making plays with his legs when he has to. Extending plays. Not turning the ball over a ton. Have you seen some of his scramble TD passes this year? They’re fucking awesome. His and Sutton have had some great connections this year.
People used to criticize him for always trying to force the moon ball and not seeing utilizing checkdowns. Now he’s NOT trying to force what isn’t there and he’s hitting his check downs and he’s being criticized for missing reads. Like guys, he really only has one person he trusts to go and make a play happen and fight for the ball. And that’s Sutton. He’s protecting the rock and keeping the offense moving and productive. Juedy is proving to not be the play maker we thought he would be. He doesn’t have a receiving TE (which is a key feature of the Sean Payton offense). So yes, he’s making the plays that are there. Call it dink and dunk if you want, but he’s doing whatever he has to do for our team to put us in a position to win. And we are winning.
Who cares if he’s not putting up tons of yards? If we can win the game the stats shouldn’t really matter. That’s just some fantasy football bias creeping in.
I just don’t agree with talking about him as a “bridge” quarterback. I’m not ignorant to the fact that he’s aging, yes we will need a solution in a few years, yes he’d be a great mentor. But I hate that this sub is already talking past him like he’s a temp. We haven’t had a QB this good in almost 10 years and we are still talking past him. That just ain’t right. He’s playing well. He knows how to win. He has postseason and SB experience.
On top of all of that, he works hard as hell and he’s a great role model with all his charity work.
There is so much more to being a successful franchise QB than how many yards you throw for per game. I would love for this sub to stop looking for ways to not give him praise and to just get on the Russ Bus.
We coulda ended up with deshaun Watson, who had all that off the field shit AND he played like ass. We coulda ended up with Rodgers who got hurt immediately and is also a total fuck boy. But NAH. We got a QB who’s playing really good football and doing great things for our community.
THIS MAN IS OUR GOSH DANG QUARTERBACK!! HE DELIVERED US A WIN OVER THE CHIEFS. HE SPENDS TIME AT OUR CHILDRENS HOSPITAL WITH OUR SICK CHILDREN. Let’s start throwing some respect on his name and start cheering his ass on!
Go broncos!