Dekoda Watson
Age: 31
2019 salary cap hit: $1.55 million
Years under contract: 1
Dekoda Watson is the elder of the Broncos’ edge group, and while he has just one year left on his contract and was acquired for the hefty price of a fifth-round pick, I’m liking this trade the Broncos made more and more by the day.
Watson is an excellent special teams player and despite not having a high volume of work or huge sample size, he’s got some serious juice as a pass rusher.
He and the 49ers’ defensive front absolutely abused the Oakland Raiders last season, and perhaps it was that game tape that caused the Broncos to trade for Watson.
That, and his stellar pass rush work from 2016 when he was with the Broncos in preseason play.
Watson seems like a pretty ideal fit for this defense as a guy who can come in and rush the passer, play off the ball, and then come out and play on all of the special teams units.
Maybe the Broncos will give him a one- or two-year extension after the season to keep him around and make that fifth-round pick worthwhile.