Denver Broncos players who need to step up in 2019

Safety: Su’a Cravens

Big Su’a Cravens is the hybrid safety/linebacker the Broncos’ defense so desperately needs.

Broncos Country was unfair to Cravens last year, in my opinion.

Many of us — myself included — expected him to come off of a year away from football and be this matchup king in the secondary, even after he was placed on IR to start the year.

Cravens returned from IR and struggled, to the point that he was actually benched by Vance Joseph.

Joseph was weird about what guys he was willing to let earn their lumps on the field. Darian Stewart — who has made significant contributions to this team and is due major respect — was a complete liability when he was on the field (and he was on the field more than 80 percent of the time, third highest snap count on the team).

The Broncos kept trotting Stewart out there, didn’t they?

Bradley Roby was cooked time and time again. He kept getting sent out there, didn’t he?

I’m sure Su’a’s laid back, often goofy attitude rubbed the ever-serious Joseph the wrong way.

We’re not here to play the blame game, though. We’re here to talk about guys who need to step up in 2019 and Cravens does.

If Cravens can be the matchup linebacker the Broncos coveted when they traded for him, the outlook for this defense is completely different.

Like Josey Jewell, Cravens wins with instinctive play more than he does pure athletic ability. He’s a very good football player he just needs to put things together consistently like he did his rookie season.

I’m not in the camp that thinks Cravens should be cut regardless. I want to see this guy live up to the first-round billing he had coming out of USC in 2016.