Now that the meat of free agency has concluded, the Broncos have turned much of their attention to the NFL draft. What to do at quarterback is one of the key questions lingering for Denver, which has assigned a large number of resources into exploring the position in this year’s draft.
Former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott visited the Broncos this week. Former Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch worked out for the Broncos at his pro day Wednesday and is expected to come to Denver for a predraft visit. Both are likely to be selected in the draft’s first three rounds.
“How they get sorted out, you never know,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said before the Boy Scouts of America sports breakfast at the Pepsi Center on Thursday. “You hear different things every day. You watch different workouts every day. It’s a good group. We’ll do our work on all of them. Hopefully when we come out of the draft, we’ll be a better football team at a lot of positions, not just quarterback.”
Kubiak was complimentary of Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian, the only quarterbacks on the Broncos’ roster as the team heads toward offseason workouts April 18.
Long snapper signed. The Broncos signed long snapper Casey Kreiter to a one-year contract Thursday, filling the void left by Aaron Brewer.
The team held tryouts for a group of long snappers Thursday morning to find a replacement for Brewer, who was released in March after four seasons with the team.
Kreiter, a 6-foot-1, 250-pound former Iowa team captain, signed with the Cowboys as a college free agent in 2014. He’s spent the past two offseasons with the team and has competed in six preseason games. He has yet to play a regular-season NFL game.
Lunch pail guy. Kubiak plucked another one of his former Texans, defensive end Jared Crick, Wednesday. It’s a move Kubiak said the team worked on since the start of free agency because of Crick’s familiarity with the scheme of Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and defensive line coach Bill Kollar.
“Jared is an effort player. Bill kind of raised him in Houston,” Kubiak said. “We think that he stands for what we want for our football team and how he goes about his business and how he plays.”
Crick will compete with defensive ends Vance Walker, Kenny Anunike and likely at least one rookie to replace the void left when Malik Jackson signed with Jacksonville as a free agent.
The night before paradise. The Super Bowl still is vivid in the minds of the Broncos coaches. When asked by Boy Scouts to recall their memories of the Super Bowl, they pointed to the postgame celebrations with their families and the veteran leadership the players showed all week, especially quarterback Peyton Manning and linebacker DeMarcus Ware, who gave emotional speeches the night before their Super Bowl 50 victory.
“When we left our room that night, we felt pretty good about our chances,” Kubiak said.
The Broncos lost significant pieces and have a few holes to fill before the 2016 season. Still, coaches are confident there won’t be a Super Bowl hangover.
“Our defense will be good again and our team will be good again,” Phillips said.
Cameron Wolfe and Nicki Jhabvala, The Denver Post
