The Denver Broncos traded for Su’a Cravens in 2018, but he wasn’t able to get on the field long enough to make the impact he’s capable of.
The Denver Broncos didn’t get the impact they had hoped for out of Su’a Cravens in the 2018 season.
Cravens, who was acquired in a trade with the Washington Redskins before the 2018 NFL Draft, was expected to come in and be this tight end and running back coverage specialist, but he suffered an injury in camp and was placed on IR to start the season.
Even though he came back after missing the first eight games of the year, Cravens’ effectiveness was limited by the lingering effects of his injury/rehab as well as the rust of not having played regular season football in over a year.
Cravens looked like a stud his rookie season with the Washington Redskins in 2016 but wound up taking a year away from football to get his mind and body right.
The Redskins traded him to the Broncos in 2018 and after being benched by Vance Joseph, much of Broncos Country seems to think the writing is on the wall and that Cravens is gone before he gets to show what he can do in Vic Fangio’s defense.
Fangio stated all of the new players he’s inherited will get a clean slate with him at the helm, and few if any players on Denver’s roster benefit more from that than Cravens.
We know from when he found out about being traded to the Broncos that Cravens is quite the character on social media. He uses Instagram and Snapchat to give fans a fun look inside his daily life, and he recently posted some videos on his Instagram story where he talked about getting up to 235 pounds.
He came out of USC at 226 pounds and was listed on Denver’s roster last year at 224 pounds.
What does this bulk up mean for Cravens? Does it mean the Broncos plan to use him more at the linebacker position?
If they’re asking him to put on more weight, my best guess is they plan on using him more in the box this year and are hoping he can be a similar weapon like he was at USC where he attacked the line of scrimmage, blitzed quite a bit, and being bigger should help him match up even better with tight ends.
This is a big offseason for Cravens. He has to prove to this new Broncos staff that he can still be an asset in the NFL and that he is the same player this team spent a month trying to trade for.
If he can become that player, it will validate the Broncos’ decision to pass on the linebacker position in the 2019 NFL Draft.