Brett Rypien to start for banged-up Broncos against Jets

Brett Rypien will make his first career start on Thursday Night Football.

Vic Fangio and the Denver Broncos have been bailing water after quarterback Drew Lock went down with an arm injury. After signing Blake Bortles and starting career backup Jeff Driskel, Denver appears to be going in a completely different direction for their Thursday Night Football matchup against Adam Gase and the reeling New York Jets, as they will start their third different quarterback in four weeks.

Driskel will not make the start on TNF, as 2019 undrafted free agent Brett Rypien will make his first career start in primetime. In limited action last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rypien completed eight of nine passes for 53 yards, but he threw an interception.

Brett Rypien was a very productive quarterback at Boise State

Rypien has the right DNA, as his uncle was former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, who won a Super Bowl with Washington. Rypien started for four seasons at Boise State, throwing for 13,578 yards and 90 touchdowns against 29 interceptions. In his senior season, Rypien completed 67 percent of his passes and threw 30 touchdowns while leading the Broncos to a 10-3 record.

Despite those numbers and a standout performance at the East-West Shrine Bowl, Rypien went undrafted in 2019, as his accuracy and poise weren’t good enough to answer questions about his arm strength and iffy athletic ability. He spent last season on Denver’s practice squad. While he will start on a short week, he is going against a Jets defense that has allowed at least 27 points in each of their first three games.

Rypien isn’t going to launch bombs 50 yards down the field, but Fangio can count on him to complete a high percentage of his passes and make some plays with his legs. Against a reeling Jets team, Rypien might just win his first start.