Wes Welker is becoming part of the club — Peyton Manning’s home-away-from-home club, at least.

Manning is at Duke University in Durham, N.C., this week throwing to his three favorite Broncos wide receivers: Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Welker.

Thomas and Decker combined to catch 179 passes for 2,498 yards and 23 touchdowns from Manning in the Broncos’ 13-3 season in 2012. Welker caught his usual 118 passes from New England quarterback Tom Brady last season.

Welker became a free agent last month and signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Broncos.

Duke is where Manning did much of his rehab throwing work last year as he attempted to come back from four neck surgeries. A Broncos contingent that included football operations boss John Elway and coach John Fox watched one of Manning’s throwing sessions on the Duke campus.

Duke coach David Cutcliffe was Manning’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Eli Manning’s head coach at Mississippi.

Another QB visiting Broncos. Matt Scott, a dual-threat prospect from Arizona, will visit Broncos headquarters Thursday.

The 6-foot-2, 213-pound Scott threw for 3,620 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior for the Wildcats. He also rushed for 506 yards and six touchdowns.

Initially projected for the fifth round or so of the NFL draft April 25-27, Scott is gaining momentum for a push up the board. He has had private workouts for Seattle and Philadelphia; both teams now run the read-option offense. Scott visited Tuesday with Buffalo and met Wednesday with Cleveland.

This week, the Broncos visited with Miami (Ohio) quarterback Zac Dysert, who is projected as a middle- to late-round pick.

Denver’s interest in adding a No. 3 quarterback behind Manning and Brock Osweiler could mean the team is considering trading back from its No. 28 slot in the first round of the draft to add a pick.

This year, the Broncos have only six picks in the seven-round draft — they don’t have a sixth-round selection — so their first-round pick figures to be their only trading chip.

The Broncos have greater priorities than third-string quarterback — namely running back, cornerback and defensive line. If the Broncos can trade out of the first round and acquire another fourth-round pick or so, a quarterback could come into play.

Last year, the Broncos twice traded back from their No. 25 draft slot and wound up with the No. 36 pick in the second round, which they used to select Cincinnati defensive lineman Derek Wolfe, and No. 101 in the fourth round, which turned into Arizona State cornerback Omar Bolden.

Manning’s new blind-side protector. Chris Clark, who figures to be the Denver offense’s starting left tackle during the offseason, signed his $1.323 million restricted free-agent tender Wednesday.

Clark was the Broncos’ No. 3 offensive tackle and a special-teams contributor the past three seasons. But with left tackle Ryan Clady recovering from shoulder surgery and expected to hold out from the team’s offseason program, Clark probably will get first-team reps as Manning’s blind-side pass protector.

Clady, who has started all 80 regular-season games at left tackle since he was the Broncos’ first-round pick in the 2008 draft, hasn’t signed his $9.828 million franchise tag because he is hoping to receive the security of a multiyear deal.

Mike Klis, The Denver Post