In an unsurprising turn of events, Denver Broncos will have a new starter under center for Week 4 game against New York Jets. This time around, second-year quarterback Brett Rypien received an opportunity to lead the Broncos’ offense.
Broncos entered 2020 with Drew Lock as their starting quarterback, but the 23-year-old player suffered a shoulder injury in Week 2 that will keep him out for a significant amount of time. Denver then turned to Jeff Driskel, but the veteran obviously lost head coach Vince Fangio’s trust after a struggling performance in a loss to Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Fangio will now try his luck with Rypien, confirming the news in a chat with reporters on Tuesday.
“We’ve had a year and a second training camp and a couple weeks with Brett here,” said Fangio. “We just think he deserves a chance here to see how he can do here, as a starter with albeit a short week of preparation and take a look at Brett that way.”
Denver won’t give up on Driskel completely, as Fangio added that they could “mix-in” the 27-year-old player against Jets if needed.
Brett Rypien signed with Broncos in 2019 as an undrafted free agent, having played four years of college football with Boise State. Rypien hasn’t seen the field in his rookie season and has only made his NFL debut as a relief for Driskel against the Bucs. He completed eight passes for 53 yards in that game before throwing an interception.
