The Denver Broncos have the wrong need (QB) at the wrong time (2016 offseason)

The Denver Broncos find themselves in the most unenviable of positions.

To put it simply, the Orange & Blue need another veteran player at the league’s most expensive – and overpaid – position but currently have only $9.57 million in salary-cap space even after trading Ryan Clady and his $9.5 cap hit. And there’s still Von Miller‘s long-term deal to be hammered out and signing their draft picks — of which Denver currently has 10.

Like I said, a rather unenviable position.

And it all can be traced back to March 9 when Brock Osweiler stunningly spurned the Broncos’ contract offers to sign a four-year, $18 million deal ($37 mil guaranteed) with the Texans. It was a great deal – an outstanding deal – for a QB with all of seven career starts but it’s left John Elway and Co. in a complete lurch without a Plan B.

The Broncos did trade for Mark Sanchez soon after, giving them at least one veteran quarterback with actual NFL starting experience to pair with untested second-year seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian. But as Elway explained the day of the trade, it was only “the first step,” and the Orange & Blue since have been linked to practically every available, semi-available or might-soon-to-be-available quarterback in the league, ranging from Colin Kaepernick to Johnny Manziel to Ryan Fitzpatrick to Josh McCown to Tyrod Taylor to Mike Glennon to Brian Hoyer.

And with all of roughly $10 million of salary-cap space to work with.

That firmly in mind, Elway reportedly has tried to convince Kaepernick to take an annual pay cut of nearly $5 million to facilitate a trade to the Mile High City, and so far the QB has resisted (and understandably so) when the Niners – currently owning the league’s most cap space with a cool $55.16 million – seemingly are content to keep Kaepernick around, whether he’s starting or not.

And with his $11.9 million base salary and $15.9 million 2016 cap hit, Kaepernick is actually one of the cheaper QBs in the league when it comes to starters playing on their non-rookie contracts.

Consider the 2016 cap hits  for the Falcons’ Matt Ryan ($23.8 million), the Lions’ Matthew Stafford ($22.5 million), the Redskins’ Kirk Cousins ($20 million), the Cardinals’ Carson Palmer ($17.9 million) and the Bears’ Jay Cutler ($17 million) – five starters with a combined career playoff record of 3-11.

Then there’s Andy Dalton, Sam Bradford, Ryan Tannehill and Osweiler – all boasting average salaries of at least $16 million – who don’t have a single playoff victory between them.

There’s your league’s most expensive – and overpaid – position all rolled up into one.

So if Kaepernick continues to refuse to budge, the cap-strapped Broncos might be down to waiting to see if the Browns release the soon-to-be-37-year-old McCown or the Texans dump Hoyer, who’s last outing in Houston was that brutally ugly five-turnover playoff loss.

In the end, though, the Orange & Blue’s 2016 QB solution might lie with one of the two quarterbacks already on the roster – Sanchez or Siemian – while spending a first- or second-round pick on the position in the draft.

That’s the (unenviable) position the defending Super Bowl champs currently find themselves in.