BSN Breakdown: Broncos' No. 1 need is fewer QB turnovers

Colin Kaepernick … Trevor Siemian … Mark Sanchez … Paxton Lynch … Ryan Fitzpatrick … QB X.

Whoever winds up starting at quarterback for the Denver Broncos in 2016 has one primary job: Reducing the number of turnovers from the QB position.

Here are the ugly but undisputed facts:

• The Broncos’ 2015 quarterbacks — the since retired Peyton Manning and the since-departed Brock Osweiler — combined to throw 23 interceptions and commit 26 total turnovers. Both figures led the league. Manning then went on to throw a pick and lose a pair of fumbles in the playoffs.
• Overall, Denver finished 30^th in the league with 31 regular-season turnovers. Only the 4-12 Cowboys and 3-13 Titans — with 33 giveaways apiece — were more generous.
• In the Orange & Blue’s last 40 seasons, only the 1980 (25) and ’92 teams (29) threw more interceptions than the aforementioned 23 Manning (17) and Osweiler (six) tossed last season.
• The Broncos became only the third team in the last 30 years — and seventh overall — to win the Super Bowl after posting a negative turnover differential in the regular season, finishing with a minus-4.

Obviously those numbers are far from ideal for any team, let alone one which finished with the best record in the AFC and went on to hoist a Lombardi Trophy. Of course, it took arguably the league’s best defense — the Broncos finished first in fewest total yards allowed (4,530), fourth in fewest points surrendered (296) and tied for seventh with 27 total takeaways — a string of late-game clutch plays and a dominating post-season performance to carry the team to the top.

No matter how many defensive starters the Broncos bring back, the above combo of stats and events is far from likely to bring about the same end results.

And that’s precisely why cutting the number of quarterback turnovers is so vital.

However, the Orange & Blue aren’€™t exactly off to a promising start — at least on paper.

As Broncos Country is well aware, the team currently has only two quarterbacks on its roster. The longest tenured is Siemian, a seventh-round draft pick a season ago who saw all of one regular-season snap.

The other is Sanchez, the former No. 5 overall pick who was acquired in the trade from the Eagles only last week and was officially introduced at a Monday news conference. The seventh-year pro now is on his third roster, and his penchant for turnovers is no small reason why.

Among QBs with 1,000 or more pass attempts over the last seven seasons, Sanchez owns the league’s highest interception rate at 3.71 percent (84 picks in 2,267 attempts). Christian Ponder, who spent a brief time on the Broncos’ roster while Manning was hurt late last season, is second at 3.41 percent, and Fitzpatrick is next at 3.34.

Sanchez also has fumbled 51 times in that span — the fifth-highest total in the league — and has coughed up 25 of them, including a league-leading eight apiece in 2011 and 2012, which stand as his last two seasons as a full-time starter. And, of course, the infamous “€œButt Fumble” also is included here.

In all, that adds up to 109 turnovers in 75 career games — an ugly 1.45 per contest – for Sanchez.

Like we said, not a promising, on-paper start for a franchise which desperately needs to cut back on its QB charity.