The Denver Broncos elected to keep their quarterback room intact as the legal tampering window of free agency opened, re-signing third-string quarterback Sam Ehlinger to a one-year, $2 million deal. The signing was reported by Parker Evans of the Denver Post.
This signing might be more important than it seems given the injury status of starting quarterback Bo Nix. Nix was reportedly instructed not to put any weight on his broken right ankle for the first month in his recovery, which could be an indication that his rehabilitation is going to be a slow crawl compared to the usual timeline for this injury.
The Broncos have already gotten interest in backup QB Jarrett Stidham, according to Evans, although the current thinking of coach Sean Payton and “new” offensive coordinator is to keep the QB room functioning the same way it did last year.
Payton talked up Ehlinger a couple of times late in the season, but he typically does that with nearly every player at one point or another. Webb offered some more detailed comments about the third-stringer, which isn’t surprising given that he worked closely with him last year as the quarterbacks coach.
“I was always like, man, if somebody just spent a little more time mechanically with him or had a former quarterback coaching him, I think the best is yet to come for him,” Webb said back in August. “When he was available and we needed a No. 3 or a guy that could push our No. 2, that was a pretty easy decision.”
For Ehlinger, though, the decision to stay on with the Broncos hasn’t been quite as simple. He had a chance to return to the Indianapolis Colts after quarterback Daniel Jones sustained a season-ending leg injury, but he elected to remain on Denver’s practice squad, citing his relationships with Nix, Stidham and safety Brandon Jones, who was his teammate at the University of Texas and is now a close friend.
He also cited the coaching of Webb and Payton, who have elevated the Broncos’ quarterback situation considerably after recovering from the disastrous Russell Wilson debacle.
“I think Davis is one of the best quarterback coaches in the league, and I think he’s on a fast track to doing whatever he wants,” Ehlinger said in August. “Our conversations during free agency, when making that decision, was that he believed in me. It was a rough couple first years there for a little bit (in Indy), but he really believed in me, watched the tape and and said, ‘I know what you’re capable of and I want you to come and develop and continue to get better, learn a new system.’”
Ehlinger won’t see the field if things go according to plan for the Broncos, but he’s well aware that backup QBs can increase their value by showing out in preseason in a solid system. That’s exactly what he has in Denver, so ultimately this move made a lot of sense for him.