Why Denver didn’t draft a quarterback and how the depth chart at the position has changed

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As draft picks continued to trickle in the Mile High City, there was one position group in Denver with growing smiles.

The moment the Denver Broncos selected pass rusher Bradley Chubb with the No. 5 overall pick on Thursday night — over quarterbacks Josh Allen and Josh Rosen — Case Keenum went from potential seat warmer to the man for the foreseeable future.

The news continued to get better for Case and the other two quarterbacks on the roster, Paxton Lynch and Chad Kelly, as the final two days unfolded.

Not only did John Elway not pull the trigger on a single quarterback in the draft, despite accumulating a total of 10 picks, his comments moments after the team’s final pick were the final stamp of approval to the trio.

“We’re not going to bring another one in for OTAs,” Elway said, endorsing the current group. “It’ll be those two and Case. We’ll go into OTAs with those guys and go from there.”

It’s not that the Broncos weren’t interested in bringing in a quarterback during the draft, it’s just the draft didn’t unfold in a way to unveil an opportunity to do so.

“Obviously we did a lot of work on them… We looked at it and delved into it, but the way things fell, Bradley was the best pick for us,” Elway explained. “Obviously we’re always looking at the board, and there was a couple of quarterbacks over there, but I thought we had other players in that direction we wanted to go.”

Denver’s starting quarterback job was never really in question for 2018 after No. 7 anointed Keenum the starter after making him a $36 million man. But as day two and three rolled around, there was a belief Elway would look to add depth to compete with 2016’s first-round pick and the last year’s Mr. Irrelevant.

In the end, the youth and potential between Lynch and Kelly was what swayed the organization away from using a draft pick on the most important position in all of sports.

“I told you the other night, with Paxton, we still think he’s young — we’re not kicking him to the curb,” Elway once again stated. “He can still develop. When we drafted him two years ago, we knew that it was going to take some time.”

While the Broncos still maintain belief in Paxton’s growth, there was an interesting development with his expected role on the team.

In March, moments after the team introduced Keenum as their starting quarterback for 2018, head coach Vance Joseph set the rest of the quarterback depth chart. Paxton was the No. 2 and Kelly was the No. 3.

Now, less than two months later, according to the big boss, those definitive lines aren’t as clear as they once were.

“Paxton’s going to compete with Chad for that backup spot,” Elway said.

At the top of the depth chart, there’s no doubt who Denver’s No. 1 man is after the draft

During the draft, the team made it clear through their actions and words there will be no quarterback competition in training camp for the team’s starting role. However, there’s one beginning to brew in the background.