John Elway says he would like Case Keenum back at a reduced rate, but is also allowing him to seek out a trade

Denver Broncos General Manager John Elway spoke to the media today and was asked about the future of former starting quarterback, Case Keenum. Elway stated his desire for Keenum to be back at a reduced rate, but did say he would allow Keenum and his reps to explore the trade market.

As we know, the Broncos agreed to trade a 4th round selection to the Baltimore Ravens for quarterback Joe Flacco. This obviously knocked Keenum out of his starting position and reportedly put him on the trading block.

Elway did say he would like to have Keenum back at a reduced rate and likely at his $7 million guaranteed numbers as Jason from Over The Cap points out here in this tweet. However, why would Keenum take a pay cut to stay with a team that benched him when he due an $18 million dollar base salary this year and just signed a two year, $36,000,000 contract not even one year ago. While this scenario is possible, I think it’s unlikely to happen.

I think a trade is the most likely outcome to happen here. There are more quarterback needy teams than top tier free agent quarterbacks and starting ready quarterback prospects in the draft. A team like the Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills and so on make sense. A team in need of a veteran stop gap or a veteran backup for their young quarterback.

Once the Nick Foles market is figured out, I would expect Keenum’s situation to be figured out pretty quickly.