After moving up in the first round to draft Paxton Lynch on Thursday, general manager John Elway immediately slammed the door on a Colin Kaepernick trade. On Friday, he also told Brian Hoyer the Broncos wouldn't be needing his services.
Mike Klis of KUSA reported that the Broncos notified Hoyer on Friday they won't be signing him to compete with Mark Sanchez for the starting gig.
The initial plan was to add a veteran to compete with Sanchez, while grooming Trevor Siemian and whatever signal-caller the Broncos picked later in the draft. Now that Lynch is in the building, Elway wants to make sure he and Sanchez get the majority of the reps during offseason work.
"We are continuing to look, but we aren't going to do anything right now," Elway said. "We talked about it today, the key thing is to make sure everybody is going to get a lot of reps. We don't want to be in a situation where everyone isn't getting the reps that they need. That's not to say we aren't going to do anything, we just aren't going to do anything at this point and time.''
Lynch is a toolsy project with high upside, but could need a year or two to develop. Ensuring a rubbish veteran quarterback isn't taking snaps away is a necessary move if the team hopes to speed up that development.
Elway wouldn't say Lynch would "redshirt" his rookie season, but Sanchez will begin the offseason as the starter for the defending Super Bowl champions -- which seemed like a ridiculous statement two months ago.
The Broncos could end up adding a veteran down the line to fill out the QB room, but at this stage, Elway wants to make sure his first-round rookie and current starter get plenty of snaps. They both need the work.
