Elway not interested in Kaepernick as backup: He 'had his chance to be here'

Despite having the unproven duo of Paxton Lynch and Chad Kelly as the Denver Broncos' backup quarterbacks, general manager John Elway made it clear Tuesday that his team has no interest in again pursuing Colin Kaepernick.

"Well, you know what and I said this a while ago, Colin had his chance to be here," said Elway, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. "We offered him a contract. He didn't take it. And as I said at my deposition, and I don't know if I'm legally able to say this, but he had his chance to be here. He passed it."

Denver had interest in Kaepernick leading up to the 2016 season, but a trade with the San Francisco 49ers couldn't be completed because the quarterback wouldn't accept the Broncos' proposed pay cut.

The Broncos had no known interest in the pivot, however, once he hit the open market following the end of the campaign. Elway was among many high-profile NFLers who were deposed in Kaepernick's collusion case against the league.

Denver inked Case Keenum to a two-year, $36-million contract this offseason to be the team's starter. But Lynch, a former first-round pick, has failed to establish himself as the No. 2 and was outperformed in the first preseason game by Kelly, who was the last pick in the 2017 draft.

"We'll wait and see happens this week and go from there. I feel we still have time, so let the young guys take the reps and go from there," Elway said about the prospect of potentially adding a different veteran passer, according to Ryan O'Halloran of The Denver Post.