The Denver Broncos could have experienced worse losses in terms of opt-outs for the 2020 season.
The deadline for players to make the decision of opting out of the 2020 season has come and gone. The Denver Broncos had just two players opt out of the 2020 season.
Nose tackle Kyle Peko, who has found himself on and off the Broncos roster throughout his career, was the first player on the team to make the decision to sit out the season. Right tackle Ja’Wuan James was the second—and final.
That list could have been a lot worse.
Von Miller said that he considered opting out of the 2020 season but ultimately cited the team’s safety measures as the reason to play.
Sure, the team does have a problem at right tackle, but there would still be questions regarding James’ health anyway. Would he have been able to make it through the season healthy?
Elijah Wilkinson is going to get the first crack at replacing James and that is not a bad thing as Wilkinson has had experience there. The Broncos could still try to find another player to add to the mix on the offensive line, even if just for competition purposes.
As Shelby Manning suggested, former Raiders right tackle Donald Penn is an option worth exploring.
As for Peko, he may not have even made the roster to start out the season and could have just been what he always has been—a guy who just can’t do enough to stay on the roster for a significant amount of time.
For some teams, there were pretty significant losses. An example is the Bears losing defensive lineman Eddie Goldman to the opt-out decision. The Cleveland Browns also lost three offensive linemen to the option to opt-out.
It would have been pretty bad if the Broncos lost players like Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Von Miller, Justin Simmons, and one of the more significant names—quarterback Drew Lock.
If Lock had opted out, the immediate go-to player would be 2020 free agent addition Jeff Driskel. But that would not go without the team looking for at least depth.
Though the outside linebacker position is pretty stacked, losing either one of Miller or Chubb would have been devastating. And the Broncos’ lack of depth at safety would have been such a big concern had Simmons opted out.
If Sutton had opted out, it would have left Jeudy as the No. 1 receiver. Putting that pressure on a rookie is not really ideal, but Jeudy figures to play a significant role as the Robin to Batman (Sutton). That actually would have been interesting.
But the Broncos will not have to worry about those players sitting out the 2020 season—at least for the reasons James and Peko, and so many other players, opted out.