49ers potential draft-day trade partners for Trey Lance (if that happens)
By Peter Panacy
49ers Trade Partner No. 2: Denver Broncos
Aaron Rodgers and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Deshaun Watson are going to alter the offseason quarterback market, and the Denver Broncos have to be viewed as a primary location for at least one of those two signal-callers.
Perhaps Jimmy Garoppolo, too, given the Broncos have more than $48 million in projected 2022 cap space and would be seeking a veteran to lead what’s a talented pass-catching corps opposite a strong defensive cast.
Read More: Predicting where Jimmy Garoppolo would like to be traded
If there’s anything known, though, Denver isn’t getting the answer with either of its two quarterbacks, Drew Lock or Teddy Bridgewater, and the seemingly endless search for a long-term signal-caller since the days of Peyton Manning won’t appear to end anytime soon.
Yet the Broncos also face the arduous task and reality of having the worst quarterbacking situation in a stacked AFC West that includes facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert twice a year.
Garoppolo might be nice. But Trey Lance’s athletic potential might still be enough to match whatever Mahomes and Herbert are capable of doing themselves.
San Francisco might have to accept Denver’s middle-of-the-round first-round draft pick in 2022, but the Broncos do have two second-round picks, their own and one belonging to the Los Angeles Rams in light of EDGE Von Miller’s trade earlier this season.
That might be enough to get a deal done.