Should the Broncos draft a quarterback in this weaker class or get a free-agent one for next season and look for a quarterback in 2020?

-- Jon Looney

The answer to your question depends on how much they like the quarterbacks in this year's class. This group is a bit like the 2017 crop -- it's a bunch of guys about whom you say, "Yeah, but," in that they all have a flaw in their game or on their résumé. For example, with Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins, the "yeah, but" involves only starting for one season. That's a similar "yeah, but" to Mitchell Trubisky two years ago.

The term I like to use is "conviction" -- as in the word's second definition according to Webster's, which is "a strong persuasion or belief."

If you have a conviction on one of this year's potential Round 1 quarterbacks -- Haskins, Missouri's Drew Lock, Oklahoma's Kyler Murray, Duke's Daniel Jones -- and believe that guy can be your franchise quarterback, the one who can lead the team and guide an offense that can go punch-for-punch and win against the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs, then you do whatever it takes to get him -- even if it means sacrificing a future high draft pick or a key player in order to move up to a higher position in the top 10.

Conversely if you do not believe any of this year's quarterbacks can reach that level -- and you believe that they can be pretty good, but not pushing to an elite standard -- then you sit and wait. You can take a flyer on a Day 2 or Day 3 quarterback who intrigues you later in the draft -- West Virginia's Will Grier, Mississippi's Jordan Ta'amu and Buffalo's Tyree Jackson are among numerous possibilities here -- but unless that prospect emerges like Russell Wilson from the third round for Seattle in 2012, you're not locked in to putting the future in his hands, and you can feel free to take a quarterback high in 2020.

And if you choose to go for a free-agent quarterback this year, you must ask, "Is this quarterback better than the starter we have under contract?" For example, there is a great deal of speculation about Baltimore's Joe Flacco. The Ravens have already announced that Lamar Jackson is their No. 1 quarterback. Their head coach, John Harbaugh, said on Jan. 6 that "Joe's going to have a market" and "a lot of teams" are going to want him. But the bottom line on Flacco is that in the past four seasons, Case Keenum had a better passer rating (86.1 to 82.7).

Furthermore, Head Coach Vic Fangio, while saying Keenum was the starter "right now," cited Keenum's Minnesota form in 2017 from going against him twice that season, saying, "I know what he's capable of and we're going to try to get that out of him."