The Denver Broncos have a full slate of free agents to make decisions on before the 2022 season kicks off.
When the new league year opens, the Denver Broncos have a host of players set to hit the open market. The team has already hired a new coach in Nathaniel Hackett and plenty of other offseason changes are in store, including likely new ownership.
For general manager George Paton, as he simultaneously builds his board for April’s draft, he must also decide what to do about some key free agents that could be looking for bigger contracts or more playing time elsewhere next season.
Here, I will look at the players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents only. There are 17 such players. Looking at how the team is shaping up for the 2022 season, a decision will then be made on what Paton should do with each of these players, whether it be making a play to bring them back or letting them find employment elsewhere.
Denver Broncos free agents: Teddy Bridgewater
Most Broncos fans are likely going to be fine with the idea of the 2021 season being Teddy Bridgewater’s only season in Denver, but this one may not be as much of a slam dunk as it seems.
It really all depends on what the team is planning on doing in terms of a starting quarterback.
If the Broncos were to make a trade for someone like Aaron Rodgers, then there is no reason to bring Bridgewater back. At that point, Drew Lock or a rookie taken in the draft could be the QB2 behind A-Rod.
However, if a deal like that can’t be made and the Broncos decide to roll with Lock as the starter in 2022, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to re-sign Bridgewater to another one-year deal as Lock’s backup, like he should have been all along.
Bridgewater understands the game well and can be a good mentor. He and Lock also seem to have a good working relationship.
However, with potential vacancies in places like Tampa Bay and New Orleans, Bridgewater could get one more crack at being a starting quarterback in the league and would likely prefer that. Under most circumstances, it seems best to move on from Teddy.
Decision: Move on
Bobby Massie
Massie made 13 starts at right tackle for the Broncos this past season after signing a one-year deal worth $4 million. He’s an experienced veteran who has made over 100 career starts and is still just 32 years old.
The Broncos can find better options at the position and they should try to do just that in the draft. But for depth and to have an experienced player on the roster who can help a rookie settle into the league, he still has a place on a roster.
The Broncos can re-sign Massie to a new deal that won’t break the bank and there really isn’t much reason not to do that.
Decision: Keep
Cam Fleming
The Broncos signed Fleming right around the same time they brought Massie in, following the season-ending injury to Ja’Wuan James. He was expected to compete for the right tackle job with Massie but it became clear early on that Massie was the better option.
Fleming still appeared in four games for the team this season and made two starts, but the Broncos can bring back Massie and turn to younger options in Drew Himmelman, Zack Johnson and Casey Tucker to see if any of them can earn a spot as a rotational depth piece next season.
Decision: Move on
Brett Jones
Jones was one of those ex-Minnesota Vikings that Paton was familiar with so the team signed him ahead of training camp, but an injury kept him out the entire year. It’s likely he won’t ever suit up in a Broncos uniform.
Decision: Move on
Eric Saubert
Saubert was another player on a one-year deal and though he wasn’t brought in to put up huge offensive numbers, he was available for every game this season and did what was asked of him.
Saubert finished the season with eight catches for 47 yards and one touchdown, but he provides the kind of veteran depth the team can count on behind Noah Fant and Albert Okwuegbunam.
There likely won’t be a huge market for Saubert’s services around the league so the Broncos could bring him back on another small deal to compete with Shaun Beyer again for the No. 3 tight end spot, barring another rookie being added at the position in the draft.
Saubert fits into the mold of a low-risk player that the team can call on when needed. These are the kind of players Paton can round out the roster with and it’s not going to cost much to do so.
Decision: Keep
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
The linebacker spot is where things are going to be extremely interesting for the Broncos this offseason. They have three key players ready to hit free agency and they will almost certainly let at least one of them walk.
Alexander Johnson
Johnson is the most talented player on this list and watching him grow in Denver has been one of the better stories on the team over the last handful of years.
The decision this offseason will likely be between him and Josey Jewell, who both suffered season-ending injuries this season.
Johnson will likely have the more active market but that injury, which forced him to miss more than half of the regular season, could keep teams back. That said, he will also be more expensive to keep than Jewell after making $3.3 million this past season.
I’d prefer to see the Broncos keep him around but with the emergence of Baron Browning, the team may decide it’s not worth the money after a season marred by injury.
The Broncos should also strongly consider drafting a guy like Georgia’s Nakobe Dean in the upcoming draft and a move like that would make Johnson completely expendable.
Decision: Move on
Josey Jewell
Jewell actually suffered the same pectoral injury that sidelined Johnson for the entire year, but he had that injury happen earlier and he missed even more time.
It was a shame for Jewell, who was slowly turning into a key piece of the team’s defense.
Looking at his contract from last year, Jewell made just a tad over $793,000 in the final year of his rookie deal and coming off the injury, he’s not in line for a huge deal, so the team could keep him at an affordable rate.
For those reasons, the Broncos can bring him back unless another team likes him so much that they offer him a deal he can’t refuse.
Decision: Keep
Kenny Young
Like Weatherly, the Broncos traded for another defensive player in the final year of his contract, but the team only gave up a sixth-round pick in 2024 to get him.
Young finished the year a little banged up, an issue that plagued the linebacking corps all year, but the former fourth-round pick is still just 27 years old and he has shown the ability to make plays during his career.
If the Broncos allow Johnson to walk and keep Jewell and Young behind Browning, they have good depth at inside linebacker with both Jonas Griffith and Justin Strnad still on the roster.
If they use a high draft pick on the position, it will be much improved from this previous season.
Young appeared in just six games for the Broncos and the team needs to see more out of him. They can sign him to a new short-term deal and have him earn his keep.
Decision: Keep
The Broncos have five players on this list in the secondary, so some of Paton’s biggest offseason decisions will involve these players right here.
Kareem Jackson
The Broncos were faced with this decision last year and they chose to bring Jackson back. Then they found Caden Sterns in the draft.
It’s not that Jackson hasn’t been good during his time in Denver, because he’s played great for the most part. But Sterns looks like a future star and one who will be far cheaper than the veteran Jackson.
Decision: Move on
Kyle Fuller
This is probably the easiest decision on the entire list.
Because of Fuller’s time with the Chicago Bears, where he was familiar with Vic Fangio, this looked like a slam-dunk signing by the Broncos when the deal was made. But it wasn’t.
Fuller wasn’t worth anywhere near the $9.5 million he signed for to play for the team for one year and even if he took a massive pay cut, the Broncos just need to come up with better options.
Decision: Move on
Bryce Callahan
Callahan was another Fangio guy and though his 2020 season was solid, he regressed quite in bit this past season, one in which his salary ballooned to $6.5 million.
It might be difficult for the Broncos to move on from Fuller and Callahan, but the team will need to rely on Patrick Surtain, Ronald Darby and Michael Ojemudia while finding at least one other corner in free agency or the draft.
That said, the team still needs to have good, experienced options and if Callahan understands that his poor 2021 season results in a short-term extension for about what he made last season, if not even less, then bring him back. But if another team wants to throw a big bag of money at him, let them.
Decision: Keep
Nate Hairston
Hairston has been with the Broncos the past two seasons but has been buried on the depth chart and bounced around between the practice squad and active roster.
The team will likely look elsewhere for depth options.
Decision: Move on
Mike Ford
Ford was brought in for his special teams prowess and every team needs a big contributor in that area. He likely won’t ever impact the team in other areas, at least not in a major way, but he should get another crack at being the teams special teams ace.
Decision: Keep
Melvin Gordon
This is a difficult decision and it could easily go either way.
The problem the Broncos will have to work their way through is that Gordon is a tad expensive and he’s just not the breakout runner to demand that kind of money. Javonte Williams, on the other hand, is.
There are plenty of cheaper options available on the free-agent market this offseason and the Broncos could easily sign one of them while turning over the majority of the carries to Williams.
There is also the argument that Gordon and Williams make up one of the best backfield combos in the league and using Gordon could help preserve the young career of Williams.
That’s a solid argument, the question becomes, how much are you willing to pay for that?
This one could go either way but if it were me, I would go ahead and sign one of those other options and thank Gordon for his time in Denver.
Decision: Move on