His wide smile wasn’t deceiving.
Caught on the Pepsi Center jumbotron was an ear-to-ear grin Gary Kubiak couldn’t and wouldn’t hide Thursday morning as he sat on a raised stage and looked out at a group of some 1,000 local business leaders and Boy Scouts.
As the keynote speaker for the Boy Scouts of America’s annual sports breakfast, Kubiak reflected on the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 run and spoke confidently of their plans for 2016.
But he couldn’t escape the obvious.
The Broncos have been searching for a third quarterback to add to their arsenal after acquiring veteran Mark Sanchez in a trade last month and bringing back Trevor Siemian, a 2015 seventh-round draft pick. Denver’s work is far from complete this offseason, but the call for patience has been heard. Kubiak doesn’t seem worried.
“I feel good about the two guys we have,” Kubiak said. “We’ll see what happens. You continue to move forward and try to move better. I’m going to stay focused on Mark and Trevor right now and do everything I can to get ready for this draft right now, because it’s extremely important. Mark has a lot of experience in our system, so I think we’ll make up ground very quickly.”
The Broncos also have set their sights on San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick, who requested a trade and was granted permission to speak with other teams. The Broncos have met with him at least once, at John Elway’s home in Denver, but no accord has been reached on a trade.
“We were granted the opportunity to have that visit, and that was good,” Kubiak said of the meeting last Thursday. “Very impressive. But our focus is on our football team right now.”
With limited salary-cap space, the Broncos need Kaepernick to restructure his contract to lower his base salary, or for the 49ers to pay part of his salary in exchange for a higher draft pick.
But the current roster, recent additions and the draft remain Kubiak’s priority now, he said.
“There’s always going to be change, there’s always going to be things that happen from year to year, but the most important thing is that our standards stay the same,” Kubiak said. “And you have to be patient, too. You can’t make poor decisions. You make poor decisions and they could hurt you in the long haul.”
But the uncertainty extends beyond the quarterback position to the Broncos’ current stable of players. Outside linebacker Von Miller received the team’s exclusive franchise tag, worth about $14.1 million, all guaranteed. But he has yet to sign it as he and the team work toward a long-term contract. Miller has not stated his plans for the offseason program. Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas held out last year while negotiating his long-term deal, which he signed about an hour before the July deadline.
The agent for offensive tackle Ryan Clady has met with the Broncos multiple times to discuss a contract revision because Clady is due $9.5 million in salary and has a $10.1 million cap hit in 2016. If a resolution is not reached, the team could release him, especially if discussions for acquiring Kaepernick continue.
Kubiak said he expects Miller and Clady to attend the Broncos’ voluntary offseason workout program, which starts April 18.
“I’m expecting everyone to be there,” Kubiak said. “I’m looking forward to getting started. I know there’s been some talk about a couple different things, but we’ll see when it’s time to go work.”
Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or @NickiJhabvala
