As little desire as I or anyone else has to even mention this, the Denver Broncos and GM John Elway have done their darndest this offseason to at least address areas of need in some way or another.
Whether we like it or not, Elway has found someone with starting experience to fill every hole this team had going into the offseason, completed by the addition of fullback/tight end James Casey on Saturday.
The Broncos kicked off free agency by adding Owen Daniels at tight end, as well as re-signing Virgil Green and bringing in sleeper Joe Don Duncan, who can also play fullback.
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They continued by adding Darian Stewart at safety, Vance Walker and Antonio Smith on the defensive line, Shelley Smith at left guard, and trading for Gino Gradkowski at the center position.
It hasn’t been as flashy or as pretty as people might have expected, but the Broncos went shopping in the clearance section of NFL free agency, and like it or not, they enter the draft with few — if any — pressing needs that have to be addressed with their first pick.
That’s certainly arguable, depending on who you ask. The Broncos are unsettled at right tackle with Michael Schofield, Paul Cornick, and Chris Clark. They are questionable at nose tackle with the loss of Terrance Knighton, who was replaced by Sylvester Williams and Marvin Austin. Then there’s the question of what will happen at the inside linebacker spot, where many people still question the starters (Brandon Marshall, Danny Trevathan) or the depth (Lamin Barrow, Corey Nelson, Todd Davis, Vance Walker, etc.).
But like I said, for the most part, the Broncos could put together a starting lineup of players today that you’ll likely see as the group of starters on the opening day of training camp, regardless of who is drafted, though that could certainly change.
Putting together mock drafts for the Broncos got a little bit harder, because the additions made this offseason and the shuffling of players around means — at least, to me — that the Broncos are not dead set on taking an offensive tackle in the first round. They might not be 100 percent committed to taking an offensive lineman either, though their additions this offseason certainly shouldn’t preclude them from that.
What all this essentially means is that the Broncos are going to have great flexibility come time for the 2015 NFL Draft. They don’t have to back themselves into a corner and take a certain player or position. They can let the board play out the way they want it to, which is exciting and also a little bit scary.
As much as we wanted to see the Broncos address needs via free agency, they didn’t sign guys that people feel are going to be immediate insertions into Pro Bowl lineups, where a first round pick might be. For instance, Gino Gradkowski being added at center would hopefully not prevent the Broncos from taking Cameron Erving in the first round over a quarterback or something like that, because a QB isn’t going to help the Broncos at all this year.
That’s just an extreme example, but you get the point.
The Broncos are going to be able to play the board the way they want to going into the draft. With the addition of James Casey on Saturday, they have 76 players under contract and will eventually wind up with 90. They have 10 draft picks and then, of course, undrafted free agents.
Four of those draft picks have to be made, so unless the Broncos end up trading a bunch of picks, there’ll be quite a few new faces coming to this team on draft weekend.
There will need to be some contracts shed, of course, and the rookie minicamps could take care of plenty of that, but the Broncos will make the necessary adjustments and can even add unrestricted free agents after May 12th with no penalty on their compensatory draft pick formula in 2016.
So, if the Broncos wanted to sign a player like Michael Crabtree (name off the top of my head) to add some depth to their wide receiver group, they could do so in roughly mid-May and it would have no effect on their compensatory pick formula next year.
Either way, this will be another very exciting draft for the Broncos, one that is sure to keep fans guessing.