The Broncos already have Danny Trevathan’s replacement

The Denver Broncos already have their replacement for Danny Trevathan in Todd Davis, a former mid-season pickup from New Orleans…

There’s plenty of worry to go around about how the Broncos’ offseason is going so far, but there are certain things we shouldn’t worry about. The Broncos have proven without a shadow of doubt over the last five years that they are to be trusted when it comes to personnel and roster moves, having won five straight AFC West titles as well as two AFC championships and one Super Bowl.

So, before you freak out too much, give that some serious thought…

One move that didn’t sit particularly well with me was letting linebacker Danny Trevathan go to the Chicago Bears on a four-year deal worth less than $25 million. That is pretty fair market value for Trevathan, and I would not have been upset in the least if the Broncos had decided to offer him that.

Apparently that wasn’t something they prioritized, and the team’s leading tackler in 2013 and 2015 is now gone.

Those are going to be big shoes to fill, but the Broncos have now been grooming Todd Davis for the last two seasons to be the guy to start there, and the former mid-season pickup from New Orleans in 2014 is going to be the starter at OTAs and likely the outset of training camp.

When Nate Irving went down with an injury in 2014, the Broncos looked to the young prospect from Sacramento State who was apparently someone they had liked in the pre-draft process rather than two guys that they drafted that year — Lamin Barrow (now in Chicago) and Corey Nelson (still on the Broncos).

Davis ascended into the lineup quickly, racking up 19 tackles in six games with two starts. He had 21 tackles this past season in rotation with Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan at the inside linebacker spot, and he will have every chance to win the starting job next to Marshall in the Broncos’ base defense.

And we should be excited about that. Davis is a good player, one that the Broncos feel very comfortable with.

With Davis and Nelson currently on the Broncos’ roster, there figures to be competition coming from a mid-round draft pick at the inside linebacker position. It’s not a dire enough need that the Broncos would reach for someone with the 31st overall pick, but if the right guy was there in the 2nd or 3rd round, they would probably pull the trigger.

Davis has been groomed for the last two years and will now have this offseason to work in with Brandon Marshall as the other starting linebacker. The Broncos asked a lot of Trevathan, one of the league’s better cover linebackers, but they could look to add another safety this offseason and use T.J. Ward as that ‘cover linebacker’.

That’s just a guess on my part, but it would make sense.

At any rate, this is the circle of life in the NFL. The Broncos have been breeding successful players at the linebacker position one after another it feels like. Starting with Wesley Woodyard, who departed for Tennessee, the Broncos got incredible production out of Trevathan and then Brandon Marshall when Trevathan went down.

By the way:

Woodyard: Undrafted
Trevathan: 6th round pick
Marshall: Practice squad pickup from Jacksonville

You certainly don’t have to be a first round pick to succeed, and the Broncos have proven that. Davis is going to be a good fit next to Brandon Marshall.

Next man up.