Klee: From Tim Tebow to Paxton Lynch, a wild era for Broncos quarterbacks
DENVER – He recovered the onside kick that ultimately led to Tim Tebow’s first football miracle, the one in Miami. Remember those days?
Wild as they were, it’s gotten weirder since.
He caught touchdown passes from Brock Osweiler, in a 33-point blowout of the Raiders, and Peyton Manning, in a did-that-just-happen win at Kansas City. He’s seen it all. So far, at least.
“What I’ve learned the past couple years is you can never predict what’s going to happen,” Broncos veteran tight end Virgil Green said with a laugh in a quiet hallway at their Dove Valley headquarters. “Never, ever.”
Not in this state, not in this decade, not at quarterback.
What happens next in the most high-profile job in Colorado, QB of the Broncos? Judging from the past half-decade, here’s a better question:
Who knows?
When the general manager and head coach both are former quarterbacks and the five-year conversation has centered on splashy names like Tebow, Manning, Osweiler, Sanchez and Lynch, the drama in Denver is never-ending. This is the quarterback capital of the NFL.
With the departures of franchise veterans Ryan Clady and David Bruton, only four men still on the Broncos roster have witnessed the dizzying, dramatic march from Tebow to Lynch, with a pit stop at Peyton’s Place in between: Demaryius Thomas, Chris Harris Jr., Von Miller and Virgil Green.
I asked Green, a seventh-round pick in 2011, for a quick oral history on a quarterback parade that included some of the biggest names in sports.
On playing with Kyle Orton (in 2011): “He was a tough guy to play for, play with. His level of expectation for the guys was very high. He was a very good quarterback to me. A lot of people look at him differently than Peyton, but he was very professional as a quarterback. He knew everything that was going on – the different positions. He was a smart guy, a tough guy. That’s what you want in a quarterback.”
On playing with Tebow (2011): “We were doing a lot of different things with Tim, much different than we do now. The run game was a lot more intriguing. The pass game was a little more simplified. But in terms of understanding our offense, we had a lot of things to remember with the run game.”
On playing with Manning (2012-15): “Peyton, he was omnipotent when it came to football. He was so detailed. He didn’t just know his position; he knew everybody’s position. Just seeing how he operated, he was a guy who was there early and always wanted to know everything that was going on. For a young guy like me, it made me want to understand not just what the O-Line was doing, but what the receivers were doing, what the running backs were doing. He knew everything. Guys in the locker room, they fed off that – offense and defense. He was the true professional every day, the quarterback you want to learn from.”
On playing with Osweiler (2015): “Brock was a guy who took a lot from Peyton. Playing with Brock was kind of like playing with Peyton. That’s all he knew. The way he called the huddle, the way he did things in the huddle was almost a carbon copy of Peyton. So that was an easy transition, despite what it looked like (from) the outside. I think he’s going to do some great things out in Houston.”
Last but not least – hopefully – what about the new guys, Mark Sanchez and Paxton Lynch?
“They kind of have the rookies scaled off a little so they can learn the offense,” Green said. “I’ve been working a lot with Mark and Trevor (Siemian), so I haven’t been able to work with Paxton too much. They’re doing everything you’d want. It’s been good so far.”
Tebow-to-Thomas against the Steelers. Peyton’s passing records. The 2015 QB shuffle. Super Bowl 50. It’s been wild, weird and wacky, to say the least.
Green, a 255-pound tight end, is built like a house that lifts weights. He’s as quiet as a house with no one in it. How’d he celebrate Super Bowl 50? “I thought a lot about our journey, all the things that had to happen for us to win a Super Bowl,” he said. That should offer some insight on how often Green uses hyperbole. He doesn’t.
To properly describe the QB drama he’s seen over just five seasons, Green could turn hyperbolic and be forgiven. But there’s no need. In the case of Colorado’s quarterbacks, reality often is stranger than fiction.
In 2011 the Broncos led the NFL rushing. Two years later they set league records for passing. Then, John Fox to Gary Kubiak. Your job description must have been constantly in flux, right?
“Not so much. Last year Kubes brought in his offense, but we still did a lot of things that Peyton liked,” Green said. “I watch games on Sundays and Sunday nights and Monday nights. I watch a lot of football. For the most part, the way I look it at is a lot of teams are trying to do the same things. The one thing that’s different is the verbiage. But we’re all trying to do the same things. Not too much has been changed.”
What happens next? At quarterback for the Broncos, anything’s possible.
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Twitter: @bypaulklee







