By Jordan Long
The Denver Broncos are preparing to take on the Seattle Seahawks in week 1 of the regular season. This will be played on Monday, September 12th when they travel to Seattle. Denver and the rest of the NFL franchises had to be down to 53 players on Tuesday at 2 PM Mountain Time. The main competition for the Broncos’ offense during training camp and preseason games was the backup quarterback job. The winner ended up being Brett Rypien.
Rypien took on Josh Johnson for the backup role. Both players started an NFL game. Rypien has only played for the Broncos franchise. He suited up as the starter for 1 game in 2020 against the New York Jets in week 4 when Denver won 37-28.
Johnson on the other hand was the more experienced backup. He has bounced around the NFL since 2008. In that time, Johnson started 9 games, 5 with Tampa Bay, 1 for Baltimore, and 3 with Washington. His record in those games is a disappointing 1-8.
Both quarterbacks saw action in all 3 preseason games. Rypien completed 44 of his 65 passes for 441 yards and 1 touchdown. His completion percentage was 67.7%. Rypien found his receivers in the open field and didn’t make too many awful decisions by throwing the ball into coverage. He was picked off 1 time. That throw occurred last week against Minnesota. He was trying to find his receiver in the endzone but he was covered. The throw was tipped and picked off. A quarterback never wants to throw an interception in the endzone since it takes points off the scoreboard. Either way though, Rypien played well.
Johnson was not as impressive. He ended the preseason by completing 35 of 53 passes. His completion percentage ended at 66%. Johnson passed for 349 yards, 2 touchdowns but didn’t throw an interception. The biggest difference between Johnson and Rypien was Rypien marched the Broncos down the field. Johnson didn’t do it as effectively.
On Tuesday, Denver cut Johnson. This meant that Rypien is the backup quarterback to Russell Wilson. The problem with having 2 quarterbacks on the active roster is if one goes down in a game only one is left. It is a risk. The Broncos though didn’t want Johnson to go anywhere. On Wednesday, Johnson was signed to the practice squad and could be called up to the main roster at any point this season. Johnson can practice with the team during the week but can’t suit up for the Broncos on game day.
The Broncos kept all of the quarterbacks they started training camp with. The Broncos are anticipating Wilson will last the year and won’t be injured. He has only missed 2 games in his 10-year NFL career. Rypien might see time in a game late in the season that doesn’t matter. The only time Denver Broncos’ fans want to see Rypien is holding the clipboard on the sidelines. Either way, the Broncos roster is set at quarterback.
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