Stephen Weatherly
The Broncos have Shelby Harris and Dre’Mont Jones on the roster, but there isn’t much behind them. However, the midseason trade for Weatherly was a good one.
Paton again went back to his old stomping grounds in Minnesota and was able to acquire Weatherly and a seventh-round pick in 2023 for a seventh-round pick in the upcoming draft.
Weatherly played in nine games for the Broncos and managed to register 2.5 sacks in limited action. The former seventh-round pick out of out Vanderbilt may have found a new home in Denver as he can become a solid rotational piece of this defense going forward.
Because he spent half the season in Minnesota, he is still one of the more unfamiliar names on this list, but for me, this is one of the easier decisions to make.
Decision: Keep
Shamar Stephen
Stephen, another former Viking, was far less exciting than Weatherly and the Broncos have some potentially good young options in Marquiss Spencer and Jonathan Kongbo who could start to bloom next season.
Stephen had 32 tackles in his first season with the Broncos, which is about what he has averaged for his career, but the team doesn’t need to keep a roster spot open for Stephen as they will likely add to this position through the draft as well.
Decision: Move on