The San Francisco 49ers have their own quarterback situation to sort out, but I still find myself keeping an eye on the other notable QB competition. The Denver Broncos acquired Mark Sanchez via trade and drafted Paxton Lynch after seeing Peyton Manning retire, and Brock Osweiler leave for the Houston Texans in free agency.
Over the weekend, Broncos general manager John Elway sat down with the Denver Post to discuss the state of the team. In discussing the quarterback position, Elway recognized outsiders view the group as wanting. His quotation in support of the group, and Sanchez in particular was somewhere between enlightening and entertaining (emphasis mine):
“It may not look as good from the outside as people want it to look. But we feel pretty good about how it looks from the inside. We feel good about that spot in the years to come and of what Mark can do. We think he’s got the ability, if we get him in the right situation, to be a very sufficient and adequate quarterback.”
I get what Elway is saying, but it cracks me up to hear him essentially describe Sanchez’s upside as “very sufficient and adequate.” That’s not exactly a strong vote of confidence. At the same time, if that defense is as good as they proclaim themselves to be, you really only need an adequate quarterback. And of course, the Broncos won the Super Bowl with sub-optimal quarterback play from Manning and Osweiler. Maybe they can get enough out of Sanchez (or Siemian or Lynch) with that potentially great defense. Of course, if the defense were to struggle, that team could go down in flames.