The Denver Broncos have their long-term answer at quarterback and several other franchise players. How can they ensure success in the future?
After six years of irrelevancy, the Denver Broncos have now positioned themselves to succeed in the long term.
With Russell Wilson now in town, and surely set to spend the rest of his career here, the Broncos should continually be one of the best teams in the NFL as long as Wilson can keep playing like he has.
Russell Wilson was in Seattle for 10 seasons. In those 10 seasons, Seattle won 104 regular season games, went to two Super Bowls, and won one of them.
However, Wilson’s tenure in Seattle ended after those 10 seasons and looking at Seattle’s roster and philosophy closely, it’s easy to see why he wanted out.
Now, the Denver Broncos get their turn with Wilson, and they need to ensure that he doesn’t want to bolt from Denver eventually as he did with Seattle.
I have identified a few things that Denver must do to not only remain competitive but keep their Hall of Fame quarterback as happy as possible. If they fail to accomplish these, Wilson’s tenure in Denver might end before we know it.
The first thing that Denver needs to do is to continually invest in the offensive line, between free agency, the draft, and making trades.
Denver’s starting five up front is probably on the roster now, and they really don’t have a glaring hole up front, but they do have some long-term questions.
Who is going to be the right tackle for the long term? Are Dalton Risner and Lloyd Cushenberry the answers at left guard and center?
What about Garett Bolles? He was excellent in 2020 but regressed just a bit in 2021. His cap number for 2022 is ballooning to $21 million and will stay around this number for the duration of his extension. Bolles is set to turn 30 before the season begins, so age can also begin to be a concern.
Is it possible that Denver has a new starting left tackle in two years? I think so.
Since arriving in Denver, George Paton has added Quinn Meinerz, Tom Compton, Billy Turner, and retained Calvin Anderson. He’s hardly made significant investments into the o-line.
I think this is perhaps the most important thing that he needs to do to ensure the success of Wilson. Wilson’s playing style does force him to take more sacks than normal, but some of the offensive lines he was playing behind in Seattle were abysmal.
A continual investment up front is the most important thing George Paton can do to keep Wilson happy.
Secondly, Paton needs to maintain the strong offensive core that he and John Elway have built.
Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick got extensions, so I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Jerry Jeudy is set to enter a huge third season but has insane talent, and Javonte Williams might be a top seven running back.
Like Paton extended Patrick and Sutton, he needs to continue doing so with the other skill players who will soon command an extension.
If not, Paton needs to make a significant draft or free agency investments in these units.
In his first draft, he did trade up in the second round to select Javonte Williams.
The smart thing to do here is to be forward-thinking. Perhaps Denver selects a receiver with one of their top 115 picks because maybe George Paton is uncertain about the future of Jerry Jeudy or KJ Hamler?
Being proactive instead of reactive when it comes to the skill players is a smart way to operate.
I think Denver selecting an offensive player with great speed is an incredibly smart decision. Hamler returning from a torn ACL could mean he’s slowed down a bit, and he’s never consistently produced on the field.
I also think selecting a tight end at some point is a smart decision. I think the one thing to not do here is to way until the cupboard gets too empty before refilling it.
One of the last things Paton needs to do to ensure long-term success and keep Russell Wilson happy is to maintain strong players at the most valuable positions.
The positions I’m specifically talking about are both tackle spots, edge, and cornerback.
I think outside of quarterback, obviously, these are the most important positions for teams to excel in.
Fortunately, Denver seems to have solid or great players at all of these positions. That does not mean they’ll always have good players here, and that’s something that Paton should consider.
I’d expect him to draft all three positions in a few weeks. There are a few positions in the NFL where you can’t have enough good players, and these are three of them.
Denver has always had strong play off the edge and top-shelf cornerbacks.
The edge pieces and cornerbacks during the 2015 Super Bowl run were perhaps the most important parts of the roster.
In order to maintain consistency and be a top-shelf team, George Paton and the Denver Broncos need to maintain strength at these positions.
Look at Seattle’s run during their Legion of Boom days. They had incredible talent at edge and cornerback and solid players at both tackle spots.
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In summation, in order to keep Russell Wilson happy and to ensure long-term success, the Denver Broncos need to continually invest in the offensive line, keep strong offensive skill players around Wilson, and ensure talent at edge, cornerback, and both tackle positions.