Denver Broncos Briefly: Aaron Rodgers Rumors, Dre Greenlaw Unhappy
Denver Broncos briefly brings the small tidbits of information surrounding the team that didn't warrant entire articles. Like Aaron Rodgers almost joining the team.
The first week of April was full of foolhardy Denver Broncos news, including that Aaron Rodgers was a possibility in Denver.
Considering that news came out on April Fool's Day, I honestly believe one of Mike Florio's sources was playing a prank on him and he went public with it.
Whoopsie.
Dre Greenlaw also spoke out about his time in Denver and said he wasn't happy, but it was more about him than the organization.
Aaron Rodgers to the Denver Broncos? Only a Fool Would Believe That
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk published a piece on April Fool's Day saying the Denver Broncos were interested in brining Aaron Rodgers into the Mile High City.
It was such an outlandish, out-of-right-field take that he literally added "it’s not an April Fool’s Day gag" in the piece.
Dude. I'm pretty sure the one who got fooled was you, Mike.
The Denver Broncos are quarterbacked by Bo Nix, and the day before this Aaron Rodgers to the Broncos piece came out, owner Greg Penner said Nix was ahead of schedule for recovery on his ankle.
Like the Chiefs did with Justin Fields, the only reason Denver could even think about bringing in a veteran quarterback is if Nix was behind not ahead of schedule on his broken ankle.
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And even then, Rodgers is not the guy who the Broncos would sign.
He's a clown show. He's a joke. He's a conspiracy theorist who plays quarterback who says he's been canceled but then appears weekly on Pat McAfee's show in front of millions of people.
Rodgers would be a complete distraction while simultaneously blowing up the locker room's brilliant culture.
And he's also washed as a quarterback.
He had less yards, touchdowns, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns than did Nix last year.
Finally, the Broncos couldn't afford him if they even wanted to. Rodgers made a sensible $14.2 million last year, but Denver only has $18.8 million in cap space currently and still need to sign their draft picks ($7M) at the end of the month.
The Denver Post's Parker Gabriel (likely armed with the team's PR info.) said April Fool's Day the Broncos would not bring Rodgers in for a visit.
Bo Nix is the team's franchise quarterback now and at least for two more years, but likely for longer than that.
Dre Greenlaw was Unhappy with Broncos Because he was Injured
A juicy headline from this week was that Dre Greenlaw said "I wasn't happy" with the Broncos on Terron Armstead's podcast.
But when you dig into the quote, it's about his health issues and how he actually felt bad about taking reps away from Justin Strnad.
“For me, it was like, the fact that I’m not healthy, I don’t feel that twitch or that gear that I felt like I need to have, but obviously I’m out here trying to do everything I can to be on the field,” Greenlaw explained. “It makes it tough when you pay a guy $11 million and he’s only on the field 50 percent of the time. It made it tough for me. It made it to the point where it kind of makes you not happy.”
“Now I’ve got to slowly come in and take reps from somebody else, which the linebackers were playing really, really good at the time, so now I’m just taking reps from this guy,” Greenlaw continued. “And now it’s like, OK, we’re splitting reps, how are we going to do it? One week it’s this, one week it’s that, and it’s like, I’ve never been in that position before. Yeah, I just wasn’t happy. That’s really what it boiled down to at the end of the day.
“Everything works out for a reason. I don’t regret none of it. I’m thankful for it all, for Sean [Payton] and everybody that accepted me into that organization, teammates and all. But, yeah, I’m excited to be a Niner.”
Ultimately, Greenlaw was a disappointment and overshadowed by the great season his former teammate Talanoa Hufanga had for Denver.
Last offseason, the Broncos bought in four big-named free agents and half of them worked great (Hufanga and J.K. Dobbins) while the other two (Greenlaw and Evan Engram) were letdowns. Though, Engram is entering the second year of his deal and could turns some heads this year with Davis Webb calling the plays.
Broncos Knew Waddle was Better than Anyone at No. 30
Sean Payton confirmed what everyone was thinking at the Owners Meetings on Tuesday, saying Denver traded for Jaylen Waddle because they knew he was a better player than anyone who would be there at No. 30.
"We spent a lot of time looking at that selection and trying to determine [who would be an option]," Head Coach Sean Payton said Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting. "We could safely say that pick would've been one of these seven or eight players."
"We didn't feel like that [pick] would help us as much as Jaylen Waddle."
Rich Kurtzman
What does Payton think Waddle brings to the Broncos?
"With regards to the player, he is explosive," Payton said. "I think if you asked me the single biggest thing that I think he does well is he's extremely fast and he stops fast. He can sink his hips in transition."
Jonah Elliss to Move Inside
Jonah Elliss is a talented edge rusher, but he's going to be taking snaps at inside linebacker soon.
"Sometimes you have to look at the skill set, and then project where you think it can go," Payton said, "and your depth on the edge that allows you to do something like that."
Elliss had 5 sacks as a rookie and then 2.5 last year along with a forced fumble as a depth guy on the edge.
His most famous play of the year may have come in the Broncos AFC Championship Game loss, though, as he let Drake Maye get around him outside for the game-sealing first down.
Rich Kurtzman
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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
Pro Football Reference Links
Dre Greenlaw Aaron Rodgers Bo Nix Sean Payton Jaylen Waddle
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