2. Not signing DJ Reader
It’s hard to fault the Broncos for this one considering DJ Reader ultimately signed a deal worth $13.25 million per season in Cincinnati, but he would have been an absolute coup for the Broncos.
I’m not sure the team would have signed Reader and brought in Jurrell Casey via trade, but imagine if they could have gotten both of those deals done?
Reader’s stats didn’t excite many in Broncos Country, but there is more than one reason why this guy signed one of the richest deals for a defensive front seven player in free agency this year.
Reader received the most total money ($53 million) and the fourth-highest guarantee (just over $20 million) of any defensive front seven player this year, and the reason for that is his ability to attack the quarterback from pretty much any position on your defensive front.
The Broncos value versatility on the defensive line, and Reader is a model of exactly that.
They acquired Jurrell Casey for just a seventh-round pick at around $12 million per season, so the question could come up down the road of whether or not the Broncos made the right call not shelling out the cash for Reader when they were willing to pay Casey a similar amount of money despite being older.