NFL Rumors: 5 quarterback targets for Denver Broncos

While it’s not an overwhelmingly strong decision, the best bet for the Broncos to replace Manning and Osweiler in 2016 and be a contending team nonetheless is to sign former New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick is a top 25 passer in the league and though he’s never played in the playoffs, he’s good enough to get a team there with the weapons Denver has on offense. Yes, it helps to have great playmakers on defense like Von Miller, Aqib Talib, and DeMarcus Ware, but if Denver wants to even think about repeating as Super Bowl Champions, they’ll need some Fitz-Magic in the Mile High City.

Fitzpatrick is a former seventh round draft pick out of Harvard University that has made a living on one-year deals as a strong stop-gap quarterback. He’s shown for the last decade that he can make plays with both his arms and his legs. His improvisational skills under center would certainly add some intriguing wrinkles to Kubiak’s methodical offense in Denver.

The former Jets quarterback is coming off his best year as a starter where he nearly led the 10-6 2015 Jets to the AFC Playoffs, as the best team to not qualify in 2015. He played well enough outside of that Week 17 disaster to the Buffalo Bills to give New York a chance to field a competitive football team.

Essentially, he’s as good of a scheme fit to Kubiak’s system as is Hoyer, but does have some of the dual-threat capabilities of both Griffin and Kaepernick, without the threat of busting in the offense. If Denver wants to stay competitive in the AFC West, they may want to get a quarterback that is at least capable of keeping an offense afloat when he’s under center in Fitzpatrick.

It’s not the next quarterback Denver may have wanted, but Fitzpatrick could be like a Jake Plummer type of player while Elway figures out a long-term solution under center in the next couple of years. There are worse players to start under center than Fitzpatrick. He’s actually pretty good all things considered.