John Elway won a Super Bowl the last time he brought in a veteran quarterback who'd won a Super Bowl previously, so maybe he's hoping to strike gold again. But Peyton Manning was an elite performer whose only question was the neck injury he was coming back from. Joe Flacco? That's a less-certain win for Elway.
Flacco won that Super Bowl some years back, and he's proven capable of playing at an elite level at times. Particularly in the playoffs. But can he get the Broncos there? It's debatable whether he'll be any kind of upgrade on Case Keenum.
Flacco is 34, three years older than Keenum. And the last two years worth of games show a quarterback who doesn't seem to bring any more to the table than Keenum has.
| JOE FLACCO, 2017-2018 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | G | Att | Com | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2017 | 16 | 549 | 352 | 64.1% | 3,141 | 18 | 13 | 80.4 |
| 2018 | 9 | 379 | 232 | 61.2% | 2,465 | 12 | 6 | 84.2 |
| Total | 25 | 928 | 584 | 62.8% | 5606 | 30 | 19 | 82.3 |
| Per Game | 37 | 23 | 62.8% | 224 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 82.3 | |
In those same two seasons, in new offenses each year -- and then with the same cast of players that Flacco will be working with this year -- Keenum's numbers are pretty similar.
| CASE KEENUM, 2017-2018 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | G | Att | Com | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2017 | 15 | 481 | 325 | 67.6% | 3,547 | 22 | 7 | 98.3 |
| 2018 | 16 | 586 | 365 | 62.3% | 3,890 | 18 | 15 | 81.2 |
| Total | 31 | 1067 | 690 | 65.0% | 7437 | 40 | 22 | 89.8 |
| Per Game | 34 | 22 | 65.0% | 240 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 89.8 | |
It's hard to fault Elway for favoring taking stabs at veterans over draft picks. Paxton Lynch busted quickly. So did Brock Osweiler. Chad Kelly washed out even more quickly, due to off-field stuff.
But hard to look at this move as anything more than a lateral one for Denver and its offense.
--Andy Richardson