Free agent safety Adrian Amos sees the ‘obvious’ fit he would have with the Denver Broncos, but he’s not making any decisions just yet.
Free agent safety Adrian Amos will undoubtedly have options in free agency, but he has some very strong coaching ties with the Denver Broncos.
Amos has played the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Chicago Bears and all four of those with Vic Fangio as his defensive coordinator.
Fangio is obviously now the head coach of the Denver Broncos, but he’s not the only former Bears coach in Denver. Ed Donatell was with Chicago as a defensive backs coach for all four years of Amos’ career as well, and that relational equity could provide the advantage the Broncos need if they want to sign Amos in free agency.
Amos, speaking to Sirius XM (h/t to Rich Kurtzman for the find), acknowledged the Broncos as a logical landing spot.
"“I don’t know, but obviously that (Denver) would be a fit where I know the defense and things like that,” Amos said. “But it’s not something that I’m pinpointing like, ‘Hey, I want to go there,’ or anything like that. I’m just keeping all options open. First and foremost, I’m a Bear right now, so that’s a main focus early on. But if that doesn’t work out, then I have to explore what team fits me best, what team gives me the best opportunity to take care of my family as well as progress on the football field.”Adrian Amos to Sirius XM"
Amos went on to state he would like to remain with the Chicago Bears, the team that picked him in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, if possible. He also understands things don’t always work out financially, but the Bears would be wise to keep their defensive core intact as much as possible.
The Broncos would probably love to add Amos, though he could get offers well above $7-8 million per season. That could put him out of their price range for a safety with needs on the offensive side of the ball, defensive line, and presumably at linebacker with Brandon Marshall apparently not in the plans.
Ty Walden recently wrote about the Broncos’ need for a safety being somewhat overrated. The idea with adding a player like Amos would be to bring in a player who is a clear upgrade over what the Broncos currently have on the roster.
With Justin Simmons, Darian Stewart, Will Parks, Jamal Carter, Su’a Cravens, Dymonte Thomas, and Trey Marshall coming up late off the practice squad all on the active roster and Shamarko Thomas signing a reserve/future deal, the safety position is one the Broncos don’t have a desperate need.
Stewart could end up being released this offseason as a salary cap casualty but all of those other players are young, have shown promise, and are players who could develop into something.
Simmons and Parks, specifically, should be players the new coaching regime is excited about.
Factor in that the Broncos will also have to re-sign Simmons and/or Parks after this coming season, and the Broncos could be in a bit of a bind with their own guys, financially. Bringing in a player like Amos would be a lot of fun, so we will see if Fangio determines his presence at strong safety is that important to the operation going forward that they need to forsake other needs and put that money there.