Denver's Paxton Problem Worse Than Imagined

The problem with Paxton is not his really high draft slot, which in hindsight was too high compared to the quality of talent that went much lower than the first round last season. It's not even the high expectations that come along with high draft slots because, no matter the draft slot, Paxton has to justify his reason to stay in Denver just as every draftee or free agent must do given the history of the good Broncos QB's we've seen in the past. Broncos fans could also find a problem with the slow development if they hadn't drafted him with the expectation of him taking two or three years to develop.

We knew it would take time to
mature, but is Paxton digressing?

As a Broncos fan, I would love to see a problem with such a high draft choice getting beat out by a lower drafted player, but that happens all the time at other positions on the field and no one seems to care that the lower drafted player is doing so well except to take brownie points for finding the proverbial diamond in the rough when low draft picks work out.

In fact, the draft is such a crap shoot that very few General Managers get held to account for the overall quality of the high draft options as much as they are expected to add talent overall. John has had some winners, especially on defense, but in the grand scheme of things, John Elway has not done a great job when it comes to drafting quarterbacks unless you count Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler as potential successes. I would say that the jury is still out on both QB's and on Elway as a world class GM too.

So, the problem with Paxton could be an overly sympathetic boss who needs him to work out just to justify that huge contract Elway just got from the Denver Broncos, yet finding quality draft picks and free agent acquisitions can be cyclical. Elway's recent cycle of building this team resulted in a championship victory for Denver. It didn't quite happen from the quarterback position like Elway could be hoping for right now, but it happened, and the cache you build from winning is worth a new contract and a delay of the ridicule you probably deserve.

I am not certain that Elway is really great at picking players, nor do I think his penchant for holding a grudge is helpful to Colin Kaepernick or my Broncos. I won't complain if it turns into another title for us, but I also won't consider my Broncos to be the beneficiary of great leadership if we win either. In fact, the Broncos are shaping up to be the kind of team that other teams will call lucky again if they are fortunate to overcome the quarterback fiasco and finish on top.

All of that being said, none of the Elway stuff is the problem with this team aside from the problem it might become if Siemian can't be just a little better than he was last season when he came one game short of the playoffs. If the Broncos are dedicated to making use of a healthy CJ Anderson as a leader of this team and a lead option of the offense, Siemian will be better by default, and so will this team.

So, nothing about last night's preseason game against the Chicago Bears will prove to be a really big problem except one thing.

Paxton is not only not good enough to beat Siemian for the starting job, he is really not looking good enough to be a viable option at backup either. In a league where concussion protocols are supposed to limit the number of plays that players see on the field, guys who get injured easily are not in a great position to endure a season without missing games. Like it or not, Siemian is good at playing with pain but horrible at avoiding the kind of plays that cause it.

What the Broncos are stuck in the middle of deciding right now is the balancing act between the amount of plays it will take to get Siemian ready to play well enough to limit hits, versus getting Paxton enough nurturing to make him a reasonable choice in the event something does happen to Siemian. As it stands, Paxton is not a good choice to play, period. Which also means he is hardly a great person to be backing up Siemian, who is mostly winning this job because his competition stinks.

Meanwhile, the quarterback that ends up winning this job will not have the confidence of Elway or the Denver community, and, absent a championship victory, will always be the guy that Elway is looking to upgrade from because only a championship can overcome this lack of support and indecision over two players

The combination of Paxton being mediocre and Elway being too stubborn to admit when it's time to go another direction are kind of the same problem; a problem that could reveal itself in the event of a Siemian injury. To the credit of Elway and the coaching staff, that is really the only problem I could uncover after last night, and a lot of luck could leave the Broncos main problem stuck on the bench.