Peter King correctly predicted the Broncos' quarterback outcome last year, and the dot-com don is calling his shot once again.

King made a Denver-related entry to his latest 10 Things I Think I Think column, following the team's bombshell trade for Joe Flacco. He's of the mind that the former Super Bowl MVP is merely another band-aid being applied by John Elway, who will draft his long-term successor — and soon.

"I think I wouldn’t get too fired up about “quarterback of the future” Joe Flacco in Denver," King wrote. "He is no more of a lock to make it beyond one year with the team than Case Keenum was—as it turned out. I could see the Broncos picking a quarterback in the draft this year, and high. Maybe Missouri’s Drew Lock or Duke’s Daniel Jones, somewhere between Denver’s first-round pick (10th overall), though I doubt they’d use this pick for a passer, and its second-round pick (41st overall). No question in my mind John Elway will pick a young quarterback this year or next."

The Denver Broncos are headed to the NFL Combine! Don’t miss out on any Broncos news and analysis, take a second to sign up for our FREE Broncos newsletter, delivered three times daily!

That King eschews a first-round QB in his Broncos forecast is interesting in that 9News insider Mike Klis echoed a similar projection crafted around Elway's history.

"The Broncos are going to closely evaluate the top quarterbacks: Haskins, Lock, Kyler Murray for the first round, and others for the later rounds," Klis wrote. "With Flacco in the fold, it would make sense to wait until at least the second round before taking a QB – as they did in 2012 with Brock Osweiler to follow up the veteran acquisition of Manning."

Most presume the Broncos will acquire a young signal-caller in the not-so-distant future. They're not fooling anyone with 34-year-old Flacco and ... literally nothing else currently behind him. Elway unnecessarily shook the hornets nest by swapping Case Keenum for Flacco — a mostly lateral move — and now faces more undue pressure to finally land his QB bargaining chip as the days tick away on his contract.

It's a matter of when and who, not if. Lock? Haskins? Murray? Jones? Grier? Or caution to the wind and gamble with Flacco until the superior 2020 class?

This is the million-dollar question that only Elway can answer, and he hasn't made up his mind yet. But it now appears throwing good capital at a bad problem — selling the farm for a quarterback — is not in the cards this April.

"One, Flacco," Klis argues. "He’s now the Broncos’ starting quarterback. And, two, the Broncos have so many other roster needs, they can’t surrender all those top picks to get what would be their backup quarterback in 2019."