The Denver Broncos have quite a bit of work to do this offseason.
Brand new general manager George Paton will have his work cut out for him in rebuilding this Broncos team. Though his primary focus is said to be the draft, he will have to navigate the waters of free agency as well.
The Broncos will take a look around the league at the list of available free agents, but they will need to make some big decisions on some of the free agents that they have in house.
Here, we will examine the players set to become unrestricted free agents for the Broncos and rank them in terms of importance to the team going forward. This list will not include restricted free agents such as Phillip Lindsay or players with a club option such as Von Miller and Kareem Jackson.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the upcoming unrestricted free agents and how important each is to the success of the team in 2021 and beyond.
The also-rans
Joel Heath: After opting out of the 2020 season, Heath has still yet to suit up for the Broncos and probably doesn’t figure much into the team’s future plans. Undrafted out of Michigan State in 2016, Heath spent four seasons with the Houston Texans and has three career sacks.
Sylvester Williams: A former first-round pick of the team, Williams was brought back into the mix this past season when the team was battered by injuries. Though defensive line is one of the team’s bigger needs this offseason, it’s likely the Broncos move on from Sly with Mike Purcell returning from injury next season.
Jake Butt: It’s hard to put Butt in the “also-ran” category, but he has done almost nothing in four years with the team aside from take up space on injured reserve. Perhaps he would have better luck in a different uniform.
Joe Jones: Jones is mainly a special teams player for the Broncos who can add depth at the inside linebacker position. He has a chance to come back on a short-term deal due to his ability to lead the special teams.
Anthony Chickillo: Another player brought in because the team was ravaged by injuries, Chickillo likely won’t be re-signed unless the team was really intrigued by the seven tackles and one sack he registered in 11 games with the team.
8. Will Parks, Safety
Will Parks left the Broncos this offseason to sign a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. But he quickly floundered there, being cut before the season was even complete.
The Broncos swooped in and grabbed their former sixth-round pick off of waivers. In just four games with the team, he was on the field for 200 defensive snaps and was able to get one quarterback sack after leaving Philly.
Parks is a player the Broncos’ organization has always liked and found ways to include on defense, particularly in sub packages, where he has found success. In his career with the team, he has 167 tackles, four interceptions and two sacks.
Whether or not he will be back in orange and blue remains to be seen, but whether or not the team actually needs him is a better question.
His fellow safety and long-time teammate Justin Simmons is also scheduled to hit free agency and the team has a club option on Jackson. There isn’t great depth behind those two players, so signing Parks to a one-year deal makes plenty of sense.
Because of how bad his venture out to Philadelphia went, Parks would likely be inclined to stay if there was an offer on the table.
7. De’Vante Bausby, Cornerback
De’Vante Bausby had a roller-coaster season if there ever was one in 2020, going from what looked to be the No.3 cornerback on the depth chart to not even on the roster by the end of training camp.
He was then signed to the practice squad and brought up to the active roster before being released again. The Arizona Cardinals then signed him but he only lasted about 10 days there before being let go. The very next day, the Broncos brought him back.
But he didn’t play well down the final stretch of the season and he clearly fell behind undrafted free agent Essang Bassey in the pecking order. The Broncos should be looking at every viable possibility at the cornerback spot in 2021, but having already given up on Bausby before, there’s a good chance they’ll look for an upgrade over him again.
Bausby won’t get serious looks from many other teams around the league, so if the Broncos make him any offer at all, he would be wise to jump on it and see if he can play his way back into favor with the team this summer.
6. Demar Dotson, Tackle
The Broncos brought in the veteran Demar Dotson after he spent 11 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but 12 years in the league might be enough for him.
Dotson held up well in pass protection this season while in relief of Elijah Wilkinson and it could easily be argued that he was a better right tackle for the team than Wilkinson, but at 35 years old, his best football is behind him.
The Broncos definitely need an upgrade at the right tackle position, but where they go to find a long-term answer there remains to bee seen. The market is not very deep at right tackle, unless the Broncos want to make a run at signing Taylor Moton, so they may need to look to the draft or wait until next year for that right tackle spot to be reliably filled.
Dotson played admirably, but he’s aging and the Broncos need to get a younger, more athletic player in that spot. The team could try to talk him into coming back to sit behind Wilkinson again, but it’s just as likely that he will retire from the game.
5. Jeremiah Attaochu, Linebacker
This one is tough because Jeremiah Attaochu has actually been quite good for the Broncos as a pass-rush specialist. In two seasons with the team, he has 8.5 sacks. But because of the emergence of Malik Reed as a backup to Von Miller and Bradley Chubb, the team might not necessarily need Attaochu.
There could be a surprise decision with Miller and his contract this offseason, though many Broncos fans may not like to hear it. That said, trading Von or moving on from him have to be considered after he missed the entire season with an injury.
The Broncos need to make sure he is back to full health and still worth the big money he is set to make. And even if he is, having players that can successfully rush the passer is not really something you can have too many of.
The Broncos could definitely move on from Attaochu this offseason. If it were me, I’d bring him back for sure. He will be just 28 years old next season and could easily have another five-sack season or two in him.
4. Elijah Wilkinson, Tackle
Wilkinson is an average player at best, but the team does seem to like him and he will probably be back in the fold unless another team throws a crazy number at him.
With Dotson being a free agent, the Broncos almost have to keep the younger Wilkinson around. Though he has struggled, he knows the system well and has plenty of experience, having played in 45 games with 26 starts.
At worst, he’s a serviceable rotational guy off the bench and that is probably what he is best suited for. It’s when the Broncos lean on him to be an every-game starter that he starts to struggle.
Wilkinson won’t be able to command a lot of money due to his performance on the field. The Broncos should be able to make him a middle-of-the-road kind of offer and if another team goes way higher, they can have him.
The Broncos have Calvin Anderson and Austin Schlottmann who can both fill in, but it’s likely Wilkinson will be on the roster to start the 2021 season.
3. DeMarcus Walker, Defensive end
The decision on what to do with DeMarcus Walker will be one of the more interesting the team has to make this offseason. On one hand. he’s never lived up to being a second-round pick (nor are the odds good that he ever will), but he is effective when looked at strictly as a rotational piece, which is what he is.
But that doesn’t mean that another team won’t see the potential that made him a high selection and feel that it can unlock more from him.
Though he did it quietly, Walker is coming off a career-best 4.5 sacks this past season. In four seasons with the team, he has 10.5 sacks. By no means is Walker a sack master, but he can be an effective piece who may not have hit his full potential yet.
The Broncos are thin on the defensive line going into the offseason and because of that, could make Walker a bigger priority than perhaps he should be.
2. Shelby Harris, Defensive end
Much like last year, Shelby Harris has put forth a great body of work in hopes of landing a big, long-term deal. Harris has become one of the best players on the Broncos’ defense and quietly, one of the more effective defensive linemen in football.
Though Harris’ stats weren’t quite as impressive in 2020 as they were in 2019, but he was still as good on the field, if not even better. Harris didn’t get the deal he was looking for last year and returned to Denver on a one-year deal, but a recent late-season injury may have turned his fortunes again.
It remains to be seen if Harris is going to need surgery for the knee injury that landed him on injured reserve to close the year. If surgery is required, it could cause his potential suitors to shy away. The Broncos will obviously have to keep tabs on that as well.
If Harris gets a clean bill of health, he deserves a nice pay day and the Broncos should be the team to hand him that contract.
1. Justin Simmons, Safety
Justin Simmons just played on the franchise tag and had another great season, leading the team with five interceptions. He has turned into one of the leaders on the team and is clearly one of the best young safeties in the NFL.
It is not going to be cheap to retain Simmons, but the Broncos need to ensure that it happens because one of these other teams with a ton of cap space available will be more than happy to outbid the Broncos and take him away.
Paton can not allow that to happen and as soon as a deal can be reached, that needs to happen.
Simmons plays the ball well and has gotten better in each of his seasons in the league. Though he still doesn’t get the attention he deserves on a national scale, Broncos Country can see that he can join an already outstanding list of great safeties in team history.