Broncos To Sign QB Brett Rypien
The Broncos are set to sign quarterback Brett Rypien, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic (on Twitter). The Boise State product went undrafted last week, but there was a ripe market for his services. 
The Broncos are giving Rypien a “six-figure guarantee,” according to Jhabvala, which would give him one of the most lucrative signing bonuses of any UDFA.
With the signing, the Broncos’ quarterback room just got a bit more crowded. Already, Joe Flacco may be feeling some heat from second-round pick Drew Lock, and the club also has journeymen Kevin Hogan and Garrett Grayson on the depth chart.
Rypien completed 67.3% of his passes for 3,705 yards in his final collegiate season. He also threw for 30 touchdowns against just seven interceptions.
Rypien has been lauded for his intangibles, but many NFL evaluators wonder if he has the arm to compete at the NFL level. His 9-inch hand measurement at the combine also didn’t do him any favors.
John Elway Continued To Mention Drew Lock In Pre-Draft Meetings
- Joe Flacco‘s work in the early days of the Broncos‘ offseason program dissuaded John Elway from selecting a quarterback at No. 10 overall, something many mock drafts had the Broncos doing. “What made that decision is, Joe is fitting really well with what we want to do offensively, and he looked great in our minicamp last week,” Elway said Thursday, via King. “He really put on a throwing exhibition last week in camp. I truly think we’ve got a guy coming into his prime.” Of course, less than 24 hours later, Drew Lock was a Bronco. Both King and SI.com’s Albert Breer report the Mizzou prospect was the top passer on Denver’s board, with Breer adding that Elway continually brought up Lock in pre-draft meetings, pointing further to the potential value investment at No. 42.
- As for what would have happened if the Broncos did not receive a strong Steelers offer for No. 10? Denver would have a new starting inside linebacker, with King writing the Broncos would have taken Devin Bush and addressed their offensive needs later.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/29/19
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: C Kyle Friend
Denver Broncos
- Signed: K Taylor Bertolet (AAF)
Green Bay Packers
- Waived: OL Nico Siragusa, DB Jason Thompson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: C Tejan Koroma
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: OL Jeremiah Kolone
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: WR Steven Dunbar, DB Godwin Igwebuike, CB Tarvarus McFadden, LB James Onwualu, WR Jordan Smallwood, P Justin Vogel, S Terrell Williams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- K Phillip Anderson, LB Riley Bullough, DE Hunter Dimick, P Hayden Hunt, DE Nick Thurman
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: NT Darius Kilgo
Broncos Didn't Want Daniel Jones
- Giants GM Dave Gettleman raised eyebrows everywhere when he selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones No. 6 overall. After the draft, he defended the pick by saying that two teams were prepared to select Jones before the Giants’ next pick at No. 17. So far, it has been hard to identify who these two teams might be, and Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter) confirms that the Broncos were not one of them. The Broncos, he hears, ruled out taking any QB at No. 10 overall and, furthermore, had Drew Lock as their top-ranked QB – not Jones.
Latest On Broncos, Chris Harris
The situation surrounding cornerback Chris Harris and the Broncos has taken several twists and turns recently. Harris is seeking a new contract, and so far the Broncos have been unwilling to meet his demands.
That led to the Broncos initiating trade talks, which had been picking up steam recently. We heard early on Friday that the Broncos were deciding between various offers, and a deal appeared imminent. It seemed like only a matter of time before Harris changed teams, and it looked like he would be shipped out sometime during the draft. The draft came and went without Harris going anywhere however, and it turns out a trade was never actually that close to happening.
Broncos GM John Elway said after the draft that the team didn’t have any contact “with Chris or about Chris” this weekend, per Lindsay Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). Elway also said he’ll resume negotiations with Harris and his agent on a new contract now that the draft is over. If Elway is telling the truth, then the Broncos weren’t ever that serious about moving Harris. Denver didn’t draft any cornerbacks, so it sure seems like they’re planning on having Harris on the roster.
After demanding a new contract or a trade, Harris has toned down his rhetoric and insisted that he wants to stay with the Broncos, who signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Kansas back in 2011. Harris is one of the last remaining players from Denver’s once vaunted ‘No Fly Zone’ secondary, and he’s made the Pro Bowl in four of the last five seasons.
He’s reportedly seeking at least $15MM per year on a new deal, and as of right now the Broncos are unwilling to pay that. Harris reportedly felt disrespected by Denver’s decision to give Kareem Jackson, who is older and less accomplished than Harris, a three-year, $33MM deal this offseason. It’ll be interesting to see if Harris is able to get $15MM annually, but either way it doesn’t sound like Elway plans on trading him anytime soon.
Giants GM Dave Gettleman Defends Drafting Daniel Jones At No. 6
Giants GM Dave Gettleman has already dealt with plenty of criticism for selecting Duke QB Daniel Jones with the No. 6 overall pick of this year’s draft. We heard on Friday that Gettleman may have been concerned that the Redskins — who held the No. 15 overall pick — were going to nab Jones, which forced him to take the former Blue Devil at No. 6 rather than wait until the Giants were on the clock again at No. 17.
And as Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv tweets, Gettleman says he knows for a fact that at least two teams would have taken Jones between pick nos. 6 and 17. Those two teams, according to Vacchiano’s sources, are the Redskins and Broncos.
However, ESPN’s Dianna Russini tweets that the Redskins were never going to draft Jones, and Russini says the Broncos were not interested in Jones either. Mike Klis of 9News tweets that Denver was not going to take any QB with its No. 10 overall selection, and that Drew Lock was the team’s top-rated quarterback. Klis says the Broncos were considering a trade into the back end of the first round to take Lock, but Jones was not on the radar at No. 10.
Of course, other clubs, like the Bengals (No. 11) or Dolphins (No. 13), could have been in the market for Jones in the first round, but it appears that the top two purported threats to Gettleman’s favorite QB weren’t threats at all.
If Jones ultimately is successful with Big Blue, this will all become an amusing footnote to the story of his career. But if he’s not, Gettleman will have a major blemish on his run as the team’s GM.
Broncos Acquire No. 187 From Panthers
After a long stretch without a trade, the draft saw a deal finalized. The Broncos will use the Day 3 trade route to add a wide receiver to their mix.
The Panthers dealt No. 187 to the Broncos. They will move back 25 spots to No. 212 and pick up a seventh-rounder (No. 237). Denver selected Colorado wideout Juwann Winfree.
Winfree joins Noah Fant as incoming Broncos pass catchers and will reunite with Colorado alum-turned-Pro Bowler Phillip Lindsay. Winfree shares an agent with Lindsay and had a strong pro day, running a sub-4.5-second 40-yard dash. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound wideout will be the fourth first- or second-year wideout in the mix in Denver. The Broncos have Courtland Sutton, DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick supplementing Emmanuel Sanders on their roster.
A one-time Maryland transfer, Winfree did not boast stellar stats at Colorado. He did not exceed 325 receiving yards in either of his two Buffaloes seasons, scoring four touchdowns in that span as well. Although, Winfrey dealt with injuries as a senior.
Broncos Acquire LB Dekoda Watson
We have a player trade. The 49ers have dealt linebacker Dekoda Watson and No. 212 to the Broncos for No. 148, reports ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter).
This will be a reunion for Watson and the Broncos, as the linebacker played in Denver during the 2016 season. The former seventh-rounder has bounced around the NFL during his nine-year career. He spent the past two seasons with San Francisco, playing mostly on special teams.
Watson was limited to only four games in 2018, as he battled hamstring and calf injuries.
Broncos Trade Up For Drew Lock
The Broncos will be making back-to-back picks in Round 2. They will send the Bengals two late-round picks to do so.
Denver will ship Cincinnati fourth- and sixth-round picks, along with No. 52 overall, to move into position to go back-to-back. After choosing Kansas State offensive lineman Dalton Risner with the No. 41 overall selection, the Broncos traded up to take Drew Lock.
Linked to the Missouri-developed quarterback before their Joe Flacco trade, the Broncos indeed made the move. Mentioned by many to be headed to the Broncos at No. 10 overall, the four-year college starter will head to Denver as Flacco’s backup 32 picks later. The Broncos moved ahead of the Dolphins, Lions and Packers — who each visited with Lock — in this deal.
While Flacco lost his job to 2018 No. 32 overall pick Lamar Jackson, the Broncos may be eyeing a longer-term developmental project by getting Lock here. John Elway mentioned the 2020 quarterback crop. A second-round quarterback investment this year probably doesn’t remove the Broncos from that discussion, but Lock’s development will now heavily factor into their decision on that front.
Lock completed a career-high 63 percent of his throws last season, and as a junior in 2017, the Kansas City, Mo., native threw 44 touchdown passes. Certainly, this will put Flacco — who has no guaranteed money left on his deal — under far more pressure than it appeared he would be coming into Round 2.
Draft Notes: Broncos, Bush, Lock, Colts
The Broncos were widely connected to Devin Bush in the buildup to the draft, but they wound up trading back when they had the opportunity to draft him. Apparently, they weren’t as high on him as many believed (Twitter link via Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic).
“I don’t know if we would have taken him if we didn’t trade,” head coach Vic Fangio said. “He was certainly one of the guys we talked about, but we just felt the trade value trumped the guy we would get there.”
The Broncos didn’t necessarily feel that Bush was the right choice at No. 10 overall, but the Steelers did. That worked to Denver’s benefit, as they came away with a solid haul in exchange for moving down. Denver secured the Steelers’ No. 20 pick – which they used to take tight end Noah Fant – plus the Steelers’ second-round choice and a third-round pick next year.
While you mull the Broncos’ decision, here’s more draft news:
- Word has it thatMissouri quarterback Drew Lock went undrafted in the first round due to the nine-inch measurement on his hands (Twitter link via Howard Balzer). For comparison, this year’s first-round QBs Kyler Murray (9 1/2 inches), Dwayne Haskins (9 5/8 inches), and Daniel Jones (9 3/4 inches) proved to have larger hands at the combine. Lock was undoubtedly disappointed, but he probably won’t linger long on Friday night.
- The Colts may not be done trading back even after moving out of the first round. The idea of sliding back from the No. 34 overall pick is “attractive,” GM Chris Ballard says (Twitter link via Mike Chappell of CBS4).