By Nick Brinkerhoff
The Denver Broncos may have finally turned the corner this offseason. After years of searching, and failing to find a quarterback good enough to take the Broncos to the next level, John Elway finally took a step back, letting new general manager George Paton get his man.
Russell Wilson, Mr. Unlimited, will be joining his opponent from Super Bowl XLVIII, leaving Seattle and heading to Denver. It’s a positive step for the Broncos who have been known to build strong rosters at a majority of the 22 starting positions in football except, the most important, the quarterback spot. But this year’s Broncos are finally built to succeed.
They are riding a high into 2022 and it could be for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it’s the altitude, the Avalanche Stanley Cup win, the arrival of Russell Wilson, or marijuana, we’ll let you be the judge. But you cannot doubt that things are looking up in the Rocky Mountains.
With a new head coach, Nathaniel Hackett now in the fold, the Broncos offense is finally ready to leap into the modern NFL. Surrounded by weapons, Wilson should thrive with a two headed monster in the backfield of Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams. Not to mention a receiving core of Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and Tim Patrick as well.
On paper, the Broncos are poised to make major strides forward this year in potentially the toughest division in football, the AFC West. But Wilson, despite playing through injury, was still injured for a good majority of the 2021 season, so can the Broncos sustain success without him?
Who is the Denver Broncos backup quarterback?
Hold your nose, Broncos fans and future Broncos bettors. Let’s welcome Brett Rypien and Josh Johnson to the article.
Yeah, it’s less than ideal. Regardless, there is a training camp battle set to take place in Denver, with the incumbent Rypien possibly having the inside track. The good news for Rypien is his incumbent status allows the now third year quarterback to provide valuable information for Wilson.
Despite having no previous experience with the coaching staff, Rypien has been around the current group of Broncos skill position players longer than anyone else in the quarterback room, which can be of great importance to the new faces. Working against him though is the lack of playing experience, having played in four games, starting in one of them.
Rypien’s only career start came against the lifeless disgrace that was the Adam Gase version of the New York Jets, a win for Denver in which Rypien had two touchdowns and four interceptions.
Josh Johnson, on the other hand, has been around the NFL block a few times now. An eight year veteran, Johnson appeared to be destined for the NFL afterlife, until stints with the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football league and Los Angeles Wildcats of the XFL revived his career.
Johnson spent 2021 with the Jets and Ravens, starting only one game for Baltimore in a losing effort. He is only 1-8 as a starter with 13 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. It isn’t a spectacular career by any means, but it’s impressive that Johnson has managed to stay on the NFL radar since entering the league in 2009.
Bottom line, the Broncos are set to be in a tough spot if Wilson misses time. If fans thought the last few years were lifeless and scary with Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater, this is about to be an entirely different animal.
Fans will leave the Broncos bandwagon so fast that it’ll make it look like O.J. Simpson was obeying the speed limit. Talk about an easy lob and slam on that line.
Anyway, let the competition commence. Not that it’ll make that much of a difference.