Denver Broncos: John Elway slippery as ever with Case Keenum trade

Trading Case Keenum shows that Denver Broncos general manager John Elway still has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

There he was again, John Elway, facing down a storm of a situation in his quarterback room, searching for a solution. Then, Elway dusted off another beauty maneuver and the Denver Broncos escaped a very bad situation with a win by agreeing to trade Case Keenum to the desperate Washington Redskins.

After trading for Joe Flacco on Feb. 13, Elway was left with a crowded quarterback room that carried with it Flacco’s cap hit of $18.5 million alongside marquee 2018 free agency acquisition Case Keenum and his own cap number of $21 million. If Elway were to cut Keenum, he would be left having to force a $10 million piece of “humble pie” down his gullet.

As for a trade, many fans in Denver scoffed at the idea, for the figures of Keenum’s pact mentioned above. Much like his days on the field, Elway met this doubt with the NFL’s version of a “hold my beer” as he targeted arguably the most quarterback-needy team in the league in Washington.

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Elway set this problematic situation up by reaching for a quarterback solution multiple times in a dark “post-Manning” period in Broncos Country that included the following scenarios:

• The Brock Osweiler debacle (Passed on Russell Wilson).
• The Paxton Lynch whiff (Passed on Dak Prescott).
• The Trevor Siemian misread (a seventh round pick with a history of injuries).
• Even the Chad “Swag” Kelly flirtation (Google him for any number of red flags, pre NFL).

So it was of little surprise when he chose Keenum as a band-aid solution to this self-created problem. Let us not forget, he chose Keenum over all others available in 2018 free agency, a group that included Kirk Cousins. Whether Elway had any real shot at Cousins anyway is of no consequence, as he did not even give a full “Elway effort” in attempting to sign him.

Elway went for the momentum of a brilliant 2017 season by Keenum in Minnesota that led to a berth in the NFC title game, ultimately won by the eventual Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles. Keenum’s pedestrian career to that point was irrelevant. This was the “hot player” who would not demand a reset of the quarterback market to come aboard.

One year later? Elway was right back where he has been every year since Peyton Manning walked off the field for good. He faced a mess at the quarterback position. This time, however, the mess came with restrictive cap implications after Flacco had been brought aboard.

Elway, as he has so often done for 30+ years in Denver as both a player and executive, escaped a mess of his own creation by exploitation of his opponent’s most glaring weakness. Washington badly needed a quarterback, perhaps even moreso than Denver after Alex Smith’s potentially career-ending injury and rocky looming recovery.

Colt McCoy and Josh Johnson were not getting this team anywhere in 2019. A selection from this particular the 2019 draft’s quarterback class at the Redskins’ currently held 15th slot was not any more appetizing than a potential swap of that pick for Josh Rosen would have been. Elway took notices and took his still-smoking mess, threw $4 million at it, and got the Redskins to see Keenum’s skills while on the move in Gruden’s offense as a gamble worth taking.

Most any NFL franchise in the Redskins position would take this deal with Elway subsidizing the guaranteed money this season. Even coming out one round ahead in the swapped 2020 picks within this deal is impressive.

Elway now has paid another franchise in order to gain money to play with in NFL free agency, just days away. Say what you will about the man, but give him his due. Elway saved the Redskins from themselves by acquiring Flacco, only to pay them to take his career statistical equivalent. This might not be on par with his playoff scramble against the Oilers, a “helicopter” dive in Super Bowl XXXII or a hail mary Manning signing, but it is an impressively slick escape nonetheless.