Jeff Thomas • East St. Louis Football

Saylor Swanson says it so casually you can almost miss it. “I’ve always pictured myself playing quarterback,” Swanson, an Arvada West High junior, said Wednesday morning at the Broncos’ training facility. She has been, really, for the past two years playing flag football in CHSAA’s pilot program. She will be this fall, too, but in a slightly different capacity.

Over eight years for any professional organization, there are wins and losses, head-scratchers and knee-slappers, resounding highs and stinging lows. The Broncos are no different, though without a postseason berth since Peyton Manning’s retirement, there are more valleys than peaks since Super Bowl 50. A big part of that, of course, is the quarterback position.

If there’s anything we know about the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, it’s that it will be unpredictable. Still, it doesn’t hurt to predict how things will play out. Here’s our best guess: 1. Chicago Bears (via Carolina Panthers) — QB Caleb Williams, Bears: For months, it felt like Williams to Chicago was a no-brainer.

Paxton Lynch fit the offense like a fish on a bicycle. Let’s start there with why the Broncos enter Thursday’s NFL draft still searching for a franchise quarterback eight years after Peyton Manning retired. There have been 13 starters since Super Bowl 50, tied for second most behind the Cleveland Browns. Only two have produced a winning record: Trevor Siemien (13-11) and Brett Rypien (2-1). Lynch and Russell Wilson represent the franchise’s most dramatic failures, moves that shook the franchise to its roots because of the scramble for replacements and financial shrapnel left in their wake.

A spring tradition unlike any other: the Broncos’ unending search for a franchise quarterback. They are at 13 and counting since Peyton Manning retired following Super Bowl 50. Will this time draft be different? A look at the unlucky 13, which largely explains why the Broncos have missed the playoffs for eight straight years and suffered seven consecutive losing seasons: Trevor Siemian John Leyba, The Denver PostDenver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian (13) throws a pass to running back Devontae Booker (23) during the third quarter on Dec.

Youth soccer in Colorado is continuing to rise in the ranks nationally. MLS NEXT announced eight expansion clubs Wednesday morning for its national youth leagues for the 2024-25 season from the U13 level all the way up to U19. Among those are the U13 and U14 squads for the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club, based in Aurora. “At their core, each expansion club has their own unique commitment to player development through high-level leadership and an emphasis on the holistic growth of each player, coach and staff member,” MLS Executive Vice President Charles Altchek said in a news release.