Denver Broncos: Confidence level for each position post-NFL Draft
Defensive Line: 8
A big reason for this rating is due to the addition of Jurrell Casey via a trade with the Tennessee Titans.
Casey is a great nose tackle who can make plenty of tackles, as well as get to the quarterback. He has 51 career sacks.
Shelby Harris, Dre’Mont Jones, and DeMarcus Walker each showed some promise in their first year in Vic Fangio’s defense. Walker struggled as a rookie but was placed at linebacker. He finally found his way on the field and has made a strong impact.
Linebacker
Outside linebacker: 10
The Broncos’ outside linebacker group is very deep, with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb being the main men, and Jeremiah Attaochu being a solid backup. The team drafted NDSU pass rusher Derrek Tuszka, who played defensive end in college but will compete for snaps at outside linebacker.
Inside Linebacker: 7
At inside linebacker, Todd Davis and Alexander Johnson are currently the starters. Davis has had two consecutive seasons with 100+ tackles. Their depth at inside linebacker consists of Josey Jewell, Josh Watson, Justin Hollins, rookie Justin Strnad, and Joe Jones.
It will be good to see how much better Davis can get. We may have seen the best of Jewell this early in his career, and unfortunately, he has become a reserve. Strnad could see a good number of snaps as a rookie in 2020.
Cornerback: 6
The top of the cornerback group is going to look a whole lot different in 2020 than it did in 2019. Chris Harris Jr. is gone, Bryce Callahan will get his first snap as a Bronco despite spending the whole year with the team last year (injured).
The Broncos also traded for A.J. Bouye, who becomes the top guy. I am extremely excited about this addition. Bouye is a good interceptor, as he has picked off fourteen passes in his career.
Behind Bouye and Callahan are Isaac Yiadom (who still has work to do to show that he can stick around), Davontae Harris, Duke Dawson, rookie Michael Ojemudia, Shakial Taylor, and De’Vante Bausby, who showed a lot of promise last year before getting hurt for the remainder of the season.
I’m a huge Bausby fan and think that he is a lock to make the team because of his efforts last season. He played in just five games but recorded 13 tackles and defended three passes.
Safety: 9
Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson could be the best safety tandem in the NFL.
Batman and Robin, if you will.
Simmons has shown that he can be reliable in terms of staying on the field. He rarely misses a snap. In fact, he played one hundred percent of the team’s snaps in 2018 and followed that up by playing 99.72 percent last season.
He was one of the best safeties in the game last season. It is a horrible thing that he was not named as a starter in the Pro Bowl.
As for Jackson, he had some awesome games in 2019, including the game against his former team, the Houston Texans. He laid a vicious hit on DeAndre Hopkins that rocked the whole stadium and then was handed a backward toss if you will. He returned that one for a touchdown.
Following the 2020 NFL Draft, I was concerned that the Broncos did not address the safety position. But if these two can stay healthy, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. This will be a fun unit in 2020.
Special Teams
K: 9
P: 10
LS: TBD
Kicker Brandon McManus has been very reliable for the Broncos since arriving in 2014 from the New York Giants. He has missed just two field goals from within 20-29 yards, two within 30-39 yards, but ten within 40-49 yards.
McManus has attempted 35 field goals of fifty yards or longer. He has made seventeen of them. That’s not great, but it’s hard to blame him for that. It’s not easy.
The Broncos moved on from punter Cody Wadman after a failed two seasons. He punted 143 times in 28 games, pinning opponents inside the 20 yard-line just 51 percent of the time. He has a career net average of just 38.7 percent.
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His replacement is former Detroit Lion Sam Martin. Martin has a lot more experience, punting 473 times for 21,760 yards, and a long of 72 yards. He has pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 175 times. This is a major upgrade.