The San Francisco 49ers will host the Denver Broncos in a pair of open practices and a preseason contest next week, and it comes as the Broncos quarterback situation is kind of a mess. Trevor Siemian is getting the start this week in their preseason opener, but 2016 first round pick Paxton Lynch is expected to get the start next week against the 49ers.
There is now a rumor out there that could throw all of this on its ear. Denver radio personality Sandy Clough is reporting that the Broncos are “aggressively pursuing” Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron. Back in March, as the new league year was approaching, McCarron was the subject of a variety of trade rumors. One report had the Bengals wanting at least a second round pick for McCarron, but nothing ever developed with anybody.
Another Denver radio personality, Benjamin Allbright tweeted initially that he had no information on the rumor, and then tweeted he “just got a text message” saying the rumor was false. I assume he was saying a Broncos person texted him, but he did not actually say.
The Bengals could be trying to boost McCarron’s trade value, the Broncos could legitimately want to do a deal, Clough have made this up out of thin air, or it could be somewhere in the middle. Good money is usually on the latter of all these, although given that the Broncos traded up to get Lynch last year, it’s hard to see them sending out more picks to add another quarterback in Lynch’s second season.
My guess is this is more hot air than anything else, but it is worth keeping an eye on leading up to next week’s joint practices.