Rave reviews from Broncos practice could put unexpected QB on the trade block

The late preseason is a particularly funny part of the football calendar. It’s the time when teams start pumping up players who are down on their depth chart in hopes that another team will trade before roster cuts happen on Aug. 27.

The Denver Broncos are trying to sell Zach Wilson to either the world or themselves.

We all can suspend disbelief but there are limits to that, and this is crossing the line.

Joe Lombardi is a big fan of Zach Wilson's practice, for some reason or another.

In Week 2 of the preseason, the Broncos had a 17-0 lead over the Green Bay Packers with 6:03 left in the third quarter. They had great field position after their defense had recovered a fumble; first-and-10 from the Packers’ 23-yard line. 

It was Zach Wilson’s time to shine, and shine he did. He started his day off with two incompletions on short passes to Brandon Johnson, forcing the Broncos to kick a field goal. When he came back on the field for the next drive, he was starting at his own 11. On a second-and-14, he turned his back on a play-action, and when he turned around again, he was met by a 260-pound Zach Morton for a safety. Those were the only points the Packers scored in that game.

It was a pretty terrible day for Wilson, which seems like a normal occurrence at this point. He completed just two passes for a total of 26 yards, one of which was a touchdown.

But as fate would have it, Wilson turned it around in practice during the week, or at least that’s what his offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi would have you believe. Per The Athletic, Lombardi said: 

“(Wilson) really made half a dozen throws that are really impressive and surprising — that (made coaches) all look at each other after he threw it. I think he throws the ball really well and I think (there is) consistency of how he throws the football. As he gets more comfortable with the receivers and what we’re doing, his accuracy has really improved. I think he was disappointed in the game he had on Sunday, but, man, he’s had two outstanding practices since that game.”

First off, this is a literal example of “Six to one, half dozen to another.” It’s very funny that Lombardi not only uses this language to avoid using an actual number, but then he says that the coaches were surprised by Wilson making six throws. 

Other than that, this is complete fluff, which means one of two things: The Broncos want to trade off Wilson and are trying to act like he has value, or they’re trying to trick themselves into Wilson being remotely serviceable and they might trade off Jarrett Stidham, one of their other quarterbacks.

If it’s the first option, they’re going to have to do much more than just talk about how good he is in practice. They’ll have to start spreading rumors that he got his hands on the drug from Limitless. Otherwise, no one is ever going to believe this. 

If it’s the second option… Yikes. This would be the heat-check of all heat-checks. Sean Peyton fancies himself a quarterback whisperer, and he’s got a challenge ahead of him making rookie Bo Nix a competent QB1. It would be his magnum opus if he were to be able to tackle Nix’s development while also extracting a shred of acceptable quarterback play from Wilson at the same time. 

Not to mention, getting rid of either of their quarterbacks would be a bad idea. In 2024, going into a game without an emergency quarterback would be malpractice. At least having Wilson there provides you with a warm body and a pulse if nothing else. 

Whatever the Broncos’ plan is, it’s not good. They dug themselves into this hole and now they have to deal with it. That being said, it’s funny to see a team realize they’re two weeks out from a season and panic because Zach Wilson might have a roster spot even though he's still Zach Wilsoning.