Denver Broncos will prioritize defense in 2020 free agency
The Denver Broncos will reportedly be prioritizing the defensive side of the ball, specifically cornerback and defensive line, in 2020 free agency.
According to Mike Klis of 9News in Denver, the Denver Broncos are going to be prioritizing the defensive side of the football in free agency.
Klis says in his latest mailbag post that the Broncos are going to specifically be targeting the cornerback position as well as the defensive line in free agency, along with possibly linebacker as the top priorities.
This makes a ton of sense and lines up of course with the Broncos’ needs but also the depth of the free agent groups at each position.
We’ve outlined possible strategies for the Broncos in free agency on the defensive line, at cornerback, as well as at linebacker.
The Broncos are projected to have over $60 million in cap space at the start of 2020 free agency. With the projected roster cuts of quarterback Joe Flacco and offensive guard Ron Leary, that cap space could grow to over $80 million.
Even with the idea that almost $13 million could be knocked off by the franchise tag of safety Justin Simmons, the Broncos have enough cap space to truly do whatever they want. They had far less space in 2019 — about $35 million — to work with, and still managed to bring in:
- Joe Flacco – $18.5 million 2019 salary
- Ja’Wuan James – $13 million annual salary
- Kareem Jackson – $11 million annual salary
- Bryce Callahan – $7 million annual salary
- Jeff Heuerman – $4 million annual salary
Plus, the Broncos re-signed restricted free agents and signed their draft class. Average annual value on contracts can be misleading, and this offseason, the Broncos won’t be committing so much cap space to a quarterback (they also had to pay part of Case Keenum’s salary in 2019).
With Drew Lock hopefully getting the Broncos out of quarterback purgatory, the team is poised to make a huge splash in free agency, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.
We outlined 20 free agent defensive linemen the Broncos could consider bringing in this offseason, and there are probably just as many cornerbacks from this outstanding class of players.
Broncos 2020 mock draft with huge veteran trades. dark. Next
With free agency less than one month away, we’ll start outlining some possible scenarios of what the Broncos could put together as far as an actual class of free agents, but this will undoubtedly be the most impactful offseason the Broncos have had since 2014 when they brought in DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, TJ Ward, and Emmanuel Sanders in the same free agent class.