ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- There was a time this offseason when Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning needed answers.
Answers about the team’s new offense, answers about his injured thigh, answers about the team’s playoff loss this past January when he looked out of sorts, and answers about how he felt about doing the work it would take to launch himself into his 18th NFL season.
When Manning had gathered all of those answers, he pronounced himself "all in" as the future Hall of Famer enters the season just short of yet another NFL record.
Manning, who set the record for touchdown passes last season when he threw his 509th (he now has 530), is 2,148 passing yards from breaking that career mark as well.
"I just feel like it all has to line up, how you feel, if you feel like you can hold up your end of the bargain, what the team wants from you and kind of are you ready to do the work?" Manning said. " ... And I was pleased when I got back the feedback and the answers and the adjustments I had to make ... I’m in good shape, I’m ready to keep working, ready to go."
So, Manning, now 39, is the answer at quarterback for a fourth season with the Broncos, even as they consider what they will do when he’s not.
Over the next 10 days, we’ll take a position-by-position look at where things stand with the team.
Today: Quarterbacks
Monday: Running backs
How many coming to camp: 4
How many the Broncos will keep: Brock Osweiler is poised to be Manning’s backup for the fourth consecutive season, and if things go as expected for the Broncos in the coming weeks, Osweiler and Manning will be the only two quarterbacks on the roster after the cut-down to 53 players.
Zac Dysert, a seventh-round draft pick in 2013, and Trevor Siemian, a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, are prospects the Broncos like. Dysert spent last season on the team’s practice squad after spending '13 on the roster, so he could again be on the practice squad this time around.
Siemian had ACL surgery in his final season at Northwestern and was not yet full speed in the Broncos’ offseason work. The Broncos like his arm strength and quick release, so though the Broncos have invested plenty of time and effort into Dysert's development and like his progress, Dysert will still find himself in a battle for a practice-squad spot.
The guy to watch: Manning is always the guy to watch, especially in a new offense. Especially since this will be the most, or at least have the potential to be the most radical offseason change Manning has had in an offense in any season of his career.
Coach Gary Kubiak will run a version of the West Coast offense, but he will shape it to Manning’s skills. Manning looked fit and healthy in the offseason workouts and had declared himself "all in" for the new playbook.
Break it down: In Kubiak’s time as an NFL play-caller, his offenses have featured quarterbacks on the move, guys who throw on the run and take advantage of the play-action game to work the vertical routes down the field.
But Kubiak is also a guy one of those former quarterbacks -- Jake Plummer -- has called "one of the smartest guys in the game." So, Kubiak will tailor the things he likes in an offense to what Manning can do.
It means Manning is likely to be under center far more than he’s been in recent seasons, there will be some mini-rollouts and the Broncos intend to protect Manning better by making defenses respect the run game more. But Kubiak said he'll let Manning do plenty of work at the line of scrimmage, and the Broncos will still have plenty of catch-and-run routes through the middle of the field.
Kubiak also plans to rest Manning at times in practice during the season, and the team’s hope is that Manning is as strong down the stretch in the coming season as he was in the first half of the last one.