Ranking the Broncos' quarterback options for 2017 (Pt. 2)

When it comes to John Elway, nothing is out of the realm of possibility when examining the potential moves that he will or won’t make this offseason, especially after his first season missing the playoffs.

Although Elway and the Broncos have two young quarterbacks with potential—Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch—there will be, and already is, buzz during the offseason about Elway potentially going after an established veteran, much like he did with Colin Kaepernick last year. While Kaepernick to the Broncos never matriculated, it was the talk of the town for the greater part of the 2016 offseason.

Could Kaepernick be back in the discussion this time around? Or will the two biggest names—Tony Romo and Philip Rivers—dominate the conversation? The only certainty in this whole debate is nothing official will be known until at least March 9—the start of the new league year when free agency opens and trades can be made.

However, much like last season, the quarterback dilemma likely won’t be settled any time soon. Until then, in the second of a three-part series, here are two more quarterbacks that have a realistic shot ending up under center in Denver to start the 2017 season.

Click here to see part 1, featuring options five to seven.

4) Philip Rivers

Amid all of the Romo speculation and talk, there have been murmurs about the Broncos potentially going after division foe, Phillip Rivers. While initially, it seems to make a great deal of sense because of the rebuilding process that the Los Angles Chargers are in—moving from San Diego to Los Angeles and hiring a new coaching staff—there is one major holdup.

If the Chargers decided to move on from Rivers and go into complete rebuilding mode, there is very little reason they would trade him within the division, especially to the Broncos. The only way that this would be possible is if Denver would give up a lot to get him, which Elway hasn’t been keen on doing during his tenure in Denver.

3) Tony Romo

Romo’s biggest advocate for ending up in Denver will be, and already has been himself. Just hours after Romo officially conceded the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback job to Dak Prescott in November, reports came out that his top destination in the offseason was the Broncos.

Then, less than 24 hours after the Cowboys were eliminated from the playoffs, reports surfaced that Romo again said that Denver is where he wants to end up before the start of the 2017 season. Shortly after the new league year on March 9, the country will find out just how much he wants to play for the Broncos.

If Romo really wants to play for Denver, he’ll have to do two things. First and foremost, he’ll have to take a significant pay cut. With a $14 million salary scheduled to be on the books for next season, Romo would have to significantly lower that number for Elway to even consider adding the veteran quarterback. Denver could put many incentives into his deal to allow him to earn much of that money back, much like Manning’s pay cut in 2015.

The other thing that Romo will need to do is convince Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones to either release him—which would put a significant cap hit on the Cowboys—or trade him to the Broncos for relatively nothing. This part is where it becomes difficult for Romo to get his wishes of ending up in Denver.

There is little reason for Jones to flat-out cut Romo, other than to allow Romo to truly dictate the last few years of his career. The difficult part about Denver trading for Romo is that it is likely that other teams would be willing to give up much more to the Cowboys in compensation for the quarterback than Denver would.

Why would Jones trade him to Denver for less than he could get from another team? The only way that would happen is if Romo can convince Jones to do so for his well being.

Even with Romo’s significant injury history, Denver would still be interested in picking up the veteran quarterback if the price was right.

Stayed tuned this week to find out the No. 1 option