Denver Broncos: Analytics say Coty Sensabaugh could be quite valuable

The Denver Broncos didn’t have many options to replace De’Vante Bausby in free agency, but Coty Sensabaugh has been a pretty valuable, underrated player.

Midseason free agent pickups are not necessarily anything to brag about or invest a ton of stock into, but the Denver Broncos appear pretty fortunate to have found Coty Sensabaugh unemployed this far into the regular season.

Sensabaugh, who will be 30 for another month, has managed to have a successful career after being drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft out of Clemson.

A late bloomer in college, Sensabaugh showed outstanding athletic traits and speed at the 2012 Scouting Combine when he ran a 4.42 in the 40-yard dash.

The Broncos actually had a couple of picks in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and they used them to select Arizona State cornerback Omar Bolden, who was a standout special teamer for a few years in Denver, as well as Baylor center Philip Blake, who didn’t pan out.

Since he was drafted in 2012 (by the Broncos’ opponent this week, the Tennessee Titans), Sensabaugh has played 101 career games with 43 starts.

He most recently was a full-time starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018 where he was credited with just 10 starts in 15 games, but he played almost 72 percent of the team’s snaps (seventh-most in 2018) and 93 percent of the snaps or more in eight of the Steelers’ final nine games last season.

The Steelers ranked 10th in the NFL in passing yards allowed last season, for what it’s worth, and analytics quite liked Sensabaugh’s abilities in coverage.

Although he allowed some big plays, Sensabaugh also passed the eye test for Steelers-centric analysts who felt he was worth re-signing after the work he did in 2018.

Sensabaugh showed as I reviewed some of his game film from last season (Bengals, Ravens, Saints) that he has not lost any of his deep speed. He had the tall task of covering Ted Ginn Jr. for much of the Steelers’ eventual loss to the Saints, and while he wasn’t necessarily perfect, he did a good job taking away the deepest part of the field.

He showed excellent ability to break on the football against the Bengals and Saints as well with a couple of nice pass breakups in each game.

The Broncos brought in a number of proven veteran guys for this roster spot tryout, which indicates to me they wanted someone capable of playing right away.

While Sensabaugh does not have experience in Vic Fangio’s defense, he has an advocate on the Broncos’ coaching staff in Mike Munchak (who was part of the staff that drafted him in Tennessee back in 2012) and he has recent experience thriving in a primarily zone defense, which is what the Broncos are going to ask him to do.

Sensabaugh’s light activity as a free agent — and he has had quite a few workouts since rosters were cut down in September — is likely due to the fact that he’s already 30, isn’t necessarily a game-altering playmaker from a ball skills perspective, and circumstances around the league have not yet necessitated his presence on a roster.

Yet the fact remains, he was statistically productive when in coverage and could wind up being a huge help to the Broncos in 2019.