Ranking the Broncos' Starting QBs Since John Elway (2024)

The Denver Broncos will begin a new era with a new starting quarterback in 2024, as rookie Bo Nix takes center stage at Mile High.

It’s a historic moment for the franchise as Nix will become the first rookie starting quarterback for the Broncos since Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway in 1983.

Elway went on to become one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, leading the Broncos to four Super Bowls and winning two, including one in his final season in 1998.

Since he retired, with one notable exception, the Broncos have struggled to find their identity at quarterback, especially since winning the Super Bowl in 2015, a near-decade-long stretch where they have not made the postseason. In the 26 years since Elway hung up his cleats, 12 quarterbacks have been the primary starters for the Broncos, meaning they started the majority of the games in a given season.

Here’s a ranking of those 12 primary starting quarterbacks who have led the Broncos since Elway retired, from worst to first (years with the team in parentheses):

12 Russell Wilson (2022-2023)

Wilson’s record as Broncos starter: 11-19

Russell Wilson spent two years in Denver losing games and alienating fans and teammates with his bizarre behavior, which was objectively a bad time had by all. Even with that, the true damage came in the form of the five-year, $245 million contract extension he signed before the 2022 season.

After releasing Wilson following the short two-year experiment, the Broncos remained on the hook for $85 million in dead cap money spread out over the 2024 and 2025 seasons—a financial straitjacket not even the NFL’s richest owners can buy their way out of.

11 Joe Flacco (2019)

Flacco’s record as Broncos starter: 2-6

Joe Flacco started eight games in 2019 and was one of three quarterbacks who started at least three games apiece for the Broncos in during that campaign alongside Drew Lock (five games) and Brandon Allen (three games).

Even with that mishmash of signal callers, the Broncos still managed to finish 7-9. In hindsight, it would have been better to tank and try to get a high pick in the 2020 NFL draft with quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love all available.

10 Drew Lock (2019-2021)

Lock’s record as Broncos starter: 8-13

In Drew Lock's one season as the Broncos’ primary starter in 2020, he led the NFL with 15 interceptions. He also fumbled the ball eight times and lost three of them. Not what you want.

9 Case Keenum (2016)

Keenum’s record as Broncos starter: 6-10

The Broncos may have thought they caught lightning in a bottle when they signed Case Keenum to a two-year, $36 million free-agent contract after he went 11-3 as the Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback in 2015. Instead, they got a 6-10 record and traded him to the Washington Commanders after one season.

8 Kyle Orton (2009-2011)

Orton’s record as Broncos starter: 12-21

Kyle Orton was the quarterback the Broncos received in return when they traded Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears . Orton went 8-7 in his first season as Denver’s starter before reeling off a 4-14 record over the next 18 games until he was benched in favor of Tim Tebow.

7 Tim Tebow (2010-2011)

Tebow’s record as Broncos starter: 8-6

Tim Tebow is only this high on the list because he is one of just three quarterbacks mentioned here who won a playoff game. The Broncos took a wild swing when they selected the former Heisman Trophy winner out of Florida in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft.

Despite producing one of Denver's most iconic plays, a 80-yard TD pass in overtime to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 2011 WIld Card game, the franchise quickly cast him aside and traded him to the New York Jets after signing Peyton Manning before the 2012 season.

6 Jay Cutler (2006-2008)

Cutler’s record as Broncos starter: 17-20

The frustrating part about Jay Cutler's apathetic approach to his football career was that he had more talent than almost anyone in the NFL. In his final season with the Broncos in 2008, he earned the lone Pro Bowl nod of his career after he threw for 4,526 yards, 25 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

In addition to not being a leader and not caring, Cutler was also sensitive to a fault—he forced a trade to the Chicago Bears after he learned new Denver head coach Josh McDaniels tried to trade for New England Patriots backup Matt Cassel.

5 Trevor Siemian (2016-2017)

Siemian’s record as Broncos starter: 13-11

This was a weird time to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback. Trevor Siemian did the best he could as the primary starter in the two seasons after Peyton Manning retired following a Super Bowl win in 2015. At the same time, Denver was trying to shoehorn 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch into the starting quarterback role. We all know how that went.

4 Brian Griese (1999-2002)

Griese’s record as Broncos starter: 27-24

Griese took on the impossible task—and unbelievable scrutiny—of being the quarterback who immediately took over after Elway retired after winning a Super Bowl as a backup in 1998.

In four seasons as the Broncos’ starter, Griese made the Pro Bowl once, in 2000, which was also the only year he led the team into the postseason. He also threw a staggering 52 interceptions in his four years as a starter and in two seasons threw as many touchdowns as he did picks.

3 Teddy Bridgewater (2021)

Bridgewater’s record as Broncos starter: 7-7

Call us crazy, but had Teddy Bridgewater not suffered a concussion and missed the final three games of the 2021 season, he might have been able to lead the Broncos to the playoffs. Bridgewater was about as consistent as it gets and finished his career with a 33-32 record as a starter for five different teams over his decade-long career.

2 Jake Plummer (2003-2006)

Plummer’s record as Broncos starter: 39-15

Jake Plummer seems like a pretty chill guy in retirement, smoking weed and growing mushrooms somewhere in the wilderness. He wasn’t so relaxed when he was the Broncos’ starting quarterback for four seasons, where his off-field issues sometimes overshadowed his play.

Still, Plummer could ball. And in three out of those four seasons, he led the Broncos to the playoffs, including an appearance in the AFC Championship Game in 2006.

1 Peyton Manning (2012-2015)

Manning’s record as Broncos starter: 45-12

Manning spent the last four years of his Hall of Fame career with the Broncos and led them to the playoffs four times, including a Super Bowl win following his final season in 2015.

In Manning’s second season in Denver in 2013, he set NFL single-season records for passing yards (5,477), passing touchdowns (55) and passing yards per game (342.3). The offense also set a new NFL record for most points in a season, with 606.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.