As the Broncos continue to watch Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch battle it out for the starting quarterback job, the team has shot down a third option not named Chad Kelly.
Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post reports, citing an unnamed source, that a report linking the Broncos to Bengals quarterback A.J. Carron is “150% false.”
Statistical impossibility notwithstanding, I think we get the point. And it makes sense, for various reasons.
First, the Bengals have asked for a lot for McCarron when contacted in the past about possibly trading him. Second, the Bengals at this point may be inclined to keep him around as a potential replacement in 2018 for Andy Dalton, if Dalton stinks it up this year. Third, trading for McCarron would put the Broncos in the awkward spot of having to justify whatever they give up to get him by either giving him a significant long-term deal or using the $23-milllion-plus franchise tag in 2018. Fourth, trading for McCarron would represent a concession that they blew it when trading up in round one 16 months ago to get Paxton Lynch.
It’s simply too late for an emergency option of that magnitude, and it would cost much more than the John Elway-led franchise ever would give up for a potential franchise quarterback. If Sieman isn’t clearly better than Lynch, it makes much more sense to roll the dice with Lynch, figure out whether he’s the guy, and then move on to other plans in 2018 if neither Siemian nor Lynch can get it done in 2017.