The Broncos are firmly in the market for a quarterback with Aaron Rodgers presumably at the top of the list if he chooses to leave the Packers.
But because Rodgers is under contract with another team, Denver General Manager George Paton cannot talk about Rodgers publicly.
Still, the two-time defending MVP is the proverbial elephant in the room whenever Broncos personnel gets asked about a quarterback. Speaking to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Paton said, “We just want the best guy.”
“We don’t care if it’s free agency. We don’t care if it’s the draft. We don’t care if it’s a trade,” Paton said. “We’re going to exhaust all options to try to get the best guy for the Broncos.”
To that end, Paton noted that finding the right quarterback is always a priority until it happens.
“It’s the most important position in sports, so we’re always looking,” Paton said. “And we do have Drew Lock under contract, we have ‘Rip’ [Brett Rypien]. But we’re always looking. And we’re gonna [leave] no stone unturned to find that guy. We know we need better play out of the quarterback position, so we’re going to be aggressive.”
If things don’t work out in trading for Rodgers, there are other veterans on the market like San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo. Or they could turn to someone like Mitchell Trubisky in free agency. Or the Broncos could draft a QB, as they currently have the No. 9 overall pick.
“We’ll sit down with all of them, obviously, watch them compete with other really good quarterbacks,” Paton said. “And this class is an interesting class. You have five or six talented guys and they’re all different. So we all need to really hone down and sort it out and stack them and see who’s best for the Denver Broncos, if we go that direction in the draft.”
Whether or not the Broncos end up acquiring Rodgers, it certainly appears as if they’ll have someone new behind center when the season opens in September.