Denver Broncos wise to focus on Colin Kaepernick as top target
Now that the Houston Texans have poached Brock Osweiler in their effort to become a darkhorse playoff team, the Denver Broncos are left looking for answers at the quarterback position, and their three options at this point are Ryan Fitzpatrick, Robert Griffin III, and Colin Kaepernick.
At this point, RG3 and Kaepernick are gambles, but they are the players that make the most sense for the Denver Broncos. I don’t buy the fact that Gary Kubiak and John Elway are scared of working with running quarterbacks who struggle to read through their progressions, since both head coach and GM are more than capable of formulating a gameplan for a different type of quarterback; neither of them comes off as lacking in the competency or even in the creativity department.
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I could see Griffin being a viable option for the Broncos, and the fact that they have an elite defense (yes, it’s still stellar even without Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan) eases the pressure off of him. Remember, Griffin never had the cushion of a great defense while with the Washington Redskins, since, when he played, their defenses were regularly torn apart, particularly because they had an embarrassment of a secondary.
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Denver doesn’t have that problem. However, while RG3 could work out for the Broncos, it makes more sense to go with a slightly less risky option with more upside and a far less extensive injury history.
The NFL Network’s Michael Silver reports that the Broncos see Colin Kaepernick as their “chief target”, and it makes plenty of sense for them to pursue Kaep. They shouldn’t get suckered into paying up too much to the San Francisco 49ers, who appear to be trying to drive a hard bargain. Until/unless RG3 signs elsewhere, the 49ers don’t actually have leverage here, since the Broncos can just pick up Griffin if they don’t like what Trent Baalke is asking for.
But if the 49ers are willing to, say, take a third-round pick, then I think it’s worth it for the Broncos to get Kaepernick. He’s shown in the past that he’s capable of playing well enough to quarterback a contender with a stellar defense, since he’s been to a Super Bowl and an NFC Championship game. Kaepernick wasn’t far away from winning either of those two games, and the Broncos achieved big things last season despite having an even worse quarterback in Peyton Manning.
Last year, Manning was the only QB in the NFL to throw an interception on more than 5.0% of his pass attempts, and while you can criticize Kaepernick heavily for his lack of accuracy and inability to read defenses, you can’t call him mistake-prone. As a matter of fact, Kaepernick, who can obviously add a lot to an offense with his rushing ability (just ask the Green Bay Packers), has the NFL’s fourth-lowest INT% since 2010.
On an offense with an elite wide receiver duo in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, having to read through progressions isn’t as important. Furthermore, his rushing ability can bail him out and allow him to overcome the Broncos offensive line play, which figures to be subpar in 2016. As long as the Broncos can avoid losing C.J. Anderson to one of the several interested teams out there (including the New England Patriots, 49ers, and Miami Dolphins), they should have enough around Kaepernick to make it work.
Kaepernick has never played in an offense with a receiver duo like Thomas and Sanders, which is still the best pairing that the NFL has to offer, and he’ll get to leave the toxic 49ers environment. I mean, do you think the dysfunction has really changed? Jed York and Baalke are still the egomaniacs in charge, and they added another hard-liner in Chip Kelly. Just by judging all the strange rumors and leaks surrounding Kaepernick, you can already tell that a blow-up could be on the horizon in San Francisco.
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Denver has no such problem. There are warts here, of course, and it’s never ideal to have to trade for a quarterback like Kaepernick who has put up two seasons of poor tape. But when the 49ers didn’t suck and things didn’t fall apart from the top of the organization down, Kaepernick succeeded and took the league by a storm at times. He’s the best option the Broncos have, and it makes sense for him to be their top target.