Which free agents did the Denver Broncos miss out on?
Now into April, the Denver Broncos are coming out of free agency and looking toward the 2022 NFL Draft.
While you may see another signing or two before the draft to further bolster the roster, the Broncos have done much of their damage in free agency.
The big additions to the roster through the free-agent signing period were Randy Gregory, D.J. Jones and K’Waun Williams, which is solid, but not exactly the haul that many fans were expecting. Of course, the trade for Russell Wilson was one of the biggest moves, if not the biggest, that any team has made this offseason.
While you are never going to bring in every target that you have in free agency, many would suggest that the Broncos look much better right now than they did when the 2021 season concluded. That is almost entirely due to Wilson, though.
There are a handful of players the Broncos missed out on in free agency and many of those that are on this list not only didn’t sign with the Broncos, but they did sign with a different team in the AFC West.
This list will not include players like Von Miller and Bobby Wagner. Both of them are players the Broncos likely had an interest in but with the contracts they ended up receiving, the Broncos just were not going to pay that. So they didn’t really “miss out” on them as much as they were just priced out of the market.
The following players can certainly be considered misses, however.
Edge rushers
Chandler Jones
The Broncos were in the market for a new edge rusher, that was never a secret. It was just a matter of which one the team would be able to land.
Many fans wanted Von Miller back, but for $120 million over six years that he got from the Buffalo Bills, that price was just way too high.
Chandler Jones was a top target according to most but the Broncos were not able to snag him. Trailing only Miller on the NFL’s all-time list for sacks among active players, Jones instead signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.
So now not only do the Broncos not have Jones, they will have to worry about keeping him away from their new quarterback.
Haason Reddick, who ended up signing with the Philadelphia Eagles, could also be placed here. he received a three-year deal worth $45 million from Philly and both of those deals are comparable to the five-year, $70 million the Broncos ended up forking over for Randy Gregory.
The signing of Gregory does not come without some risk due to his checkered past, but I graded his signing in a good light. While the Broncos did miss out on Jones and his 107.5 career sacks, the hope will be that the younger Gregory reaches his full potential in the Mile High City.