Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was benched after a four interception performance against the Kansas Chiefs on Sunday and won't start this week while he recovers from a foot injury, but there's no guarantee that he'll get his job back. According to ESPN's Mike Sando, the Broncos might prefer to stick with backup Brock Osweiler:
A personnel director I spoke with two months ago said he thought the Broncos would be eager to make the move to Osweiler at their earliest opportunity. They weren't going to move on from Manning outright, but they knew the end was near and wanted to see Osweiler in extended game action before the 2012 second-round pick played out the final year of his rookie contract.
"If anybody is going to make the change like that, the person who is going to do it is Elway," this director said. "No one else would do that in the middle of the season with possibly the greatest quarterback of all time. If stuff does not perk up, there will be a mystery injury and there will be no coming back."
Manning has been anything but his usual self this season, throwing just nine touchdowns to an NFL-high 17 interceptions, and the Broncos offense has struggled. Denver ranks just 28th in the league in total offense.
Osweiler gave the Broncos a boost when he entered the game against the Chiefs, passing for 146 yards, one touchdown and one interception in just over a quarter of action.
This move would certainly be met with a lot of scrutiny, but one that some around the league think is necessary.
"You have to commit to Osweiler," one evaluator said. "If you play him, you have to go with what he wants to do. Brock would have to really play bad for them to go back. He is a free agent at the end of the year. If he plays well enough, that could be an interesting situation. They can find out if he is a guy for the future. There is a lot going on there."
Denver hits the road to face the Bears in Chicago this weekend.
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