Ranking the top 10 moves by the Denver Broncos in the 2022 offseason

The Denver Broncos have made a plethora of roster moves in the 2022 offseason. We rank the top 10 signings, trades, and draft picks so far.

It’s been a whale of an offseason for general manager George Paton and the Denver Broncos.

From free agency to trades to the NFL Draft, this has been one of the best and most exciting offseasons the Denver Broncos have experienced in the last decade, and there’s some strong competition there.

The 2012 offseason saw Peyton Manning and some of his pals sign with the Denver Broncos.

The 2014 offseason included arguably the best all-around free agency haul for any team in recent memory when the Broncos signed DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, Emmanuel Sanders, and TJ Ward all in a one-month span.

It’s been a while since the Denver Broncos had legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, but here we are in that enviable situation once again.

Looking back on the offseason up to this point, what have been the best moves made by George Paton and the rest of the front office? Let’s rank the top 10 moves up to this point in a tremendous overall offseason.

Denver Broncos offseason move no. 10: Re-signing LB Josey Jewell

Prior to a pectoral injury near the beginning of the 2021 regular season, linebacker Josey Jewell appeared to be playing some of the best football of his young career.

Although Jewell is not one of these superhero-like athletes at the linebacker position, he’s instinctive and has outstanding play speed.

The Denver Broncos’ new coaching staff came in and watched Jewell’s tape and obviously agreed with George Paton — this guy is the glue of the defense when he’s on the field.

Jewell will be one of the key pieces of Denver’s defense this season and in 2023 after signing a two-year contract in free agency worth about $11 million. Not bad considering how much some other starting linebackers are being paid these days.

Getting Jewell back in the fold was critical and the Broncos did it at a very reasonable price.

Denver Broncos top move no. 9: Signing CB K’Waun Williams

You can never have too many solid cornerbacks in today’s NFL.

The Denver Broncos made an interesting decision in the 2022 offseason to move on from Bryce Callahan as the primary nickel cornerback option, prioritizing former 49ers nickel corner K’Waun Williams instead.

Callahan, who has been oft-injured for the Broncos since signing back in 2019, was well-liked by his teammates in Denver and obviously very well-liked by the previous coaching staff.

He ended up signing with the Los Angeles Chargers where he has some familiarity with head coach Brandon Staley and defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill, who were both once assistants with the Denver Broncos under Vic Fangio.

Williams comes from the San Francisco 49ers where he played for Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans for most of his career, and the new defensive staff in Denver — coming from the Los Angeles Rams — obviously got a very good look at Williams throughout his time with the 49ers.

Williams is a former undrafted free agent out of Pittsburgh who gives the Broncos a smart, experienced player in the slot.

He’s not the biggest corner but he’s physical and aggressive, especially when it comes to blitzing and playing the run.

I think he’s going to be a nice piece for the Denver Broncos’ defense as long as he can stay healthy in 2022.

Denver Broncos top move no. 8: Re-signing S Kareem Jackson

For the second straight offseason, the Denver Broncos gave off the initial appearance that they didn’t have a ton of interest in bringing back Kareem Jackson.

For the second straight offseason, they also wound up bringing him back despite those appearances.

The Broncos opted out of their contract with Jackson in 2021 and brought him back at a discounted rate. They brought him back on another team-friendly deal for a fourth season in Denver.

It’s hard to believe he’s already entering year four in the orange and blue.

Jackson is a grizzled veteran at this point, and after just turning 34 in April, it will be fascinating to see what kind of role he’s going to play in 2022.

Is Caden Sterns going to get more snaps in tandem with Justin Simmons in two-high looks? Will Jackson be moving into more of a dime linebacker role?

I think Jackson will enter the season as the primary starter, but I hope we get to see more of him playing in the box, blitzing the QB, and using that speed and physicality to affect plays at or near the line of scrimmage.

With just six passes broken up over the last two seasons, Jackson hasn’t been as productive on the ball as we saw in 2019, but he’s still a good veteran who plays physical, sets the tone, and is great for the locker room.

Denver Broncos top move no. 7: Drafting EDGE Nik Bonitto

The Denver Broncos had 36 sacks as a team in 2021.

Six of those sacks belonged to Shelby Harris, who is now a member of the Seattle Seahawks after the Russell Wilson trade.

Another 4.5 of those sacks belonged to Von Miller, who was traded mid-season to the Los Angeles Rams.

With one of the picks coming back in the Von Miller trade, the Broncos took a guy who, at least physically and athletically, can do some similar things to no. 58.

Nik Bonitto out of Oklahoma is someone that Denver Broncos fans have had their eyes on for quite some time, and for good reason. Among the pass rushers in the 2022 NFL Draft class, Bonitto has one of the best first steps of any, and he has the versatility to be able to drop into coverage or spy the quarterback when asked to do so.

With Bradley Chubb and another newcomer in Randy Gregory as the projected starters off the edge, the Denver Broncos will have intriguing depth and the potential for an actual rotation off the edge in 2022.

Bonitto figures to be a huge part of that.

One thing that GM George Paton has wanted to emphasize since coming to Denver is getting better team speed.

That has effectively happened over the last two years of roster building and Bonitto is certainly no exception to the rule.

With his outstanding speed and explosiveness, Bonitto can bring a pass rush presence to a defense that desperately needs one off the edge.

Only 7.5 sacks from last year’s squad are returning off the edge in 2022 (Malik Reed, Jonathan Cooper).

The Broncos needed more pass rush productivity off the edge in 2022, and they certainly went out and got it.

Denver Broncos top offseason move no. 6: Doubling up at RT (again)

In the 2021 offseason, the Denver Broncos lost (were finally able to cut ties with) offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James to an injury he suffered after leaving the team facility and working out on his own.

To replace him, they went out and signed both Bobby Massie and Cameron Fleming in free agency.

They really took a similar approach in 2022, except this time, there is perhaps a bit more confidence in young Calvin Anderson.

Anderson was re-signed, and then the Broncos also brought in veteran Billy Turner for a second stint with the team.

The acquisition of Turner is a really underrated one even as the former third-round pick out of North Dakota State is making his way back from injury.

Turner could wind up starting for the Broncos at right tackle or perhaps even the left guard position. He has tremendous versatility.

Calvin Anderson doesn’t have that kind of versatility but with his athleticism and length, he might be a tremendous fit in the zone blocking scheme after developing under Mike Munchak the last handful of years.

The Broncos also brought in Tom Compton, who figures to be more depth at guard than right tackle but he also has starting right tackle experience in this type of offense.

So really, the Broncos have tripled up at the right tackle position and although many fans are annoyed that the team didn’t draft a potential starter or future starter here, I like the players the Broncos brought in, especially for the price.

None of these guys cracked even $3 million on the 2022 salary cap.

Denver Broncos top moves no. 5: Drafting TE Greg Dulcich

You can call this over the top if you want, but I believe the Denver Broncos drafting Greg Dulcich will wind up proving itself to be one of the best investments this team made all offseason.

After trading away Noah Fant to the Seattle Seahawks, there was a void at the tight end position.

My initial thought was that the Broncos would try to fill that void in free agency with one of the deepest crops of players I’ve seen in recent years.

To be fair, they did go out and sign veteran blocking specialist Eric Tomlinson at the position, and they also re-signed both Andrew Beck and Eric Saubert.

They made moves at tight end in free agency, just not the types of moves that I would have personally suggested.

At any rate, the continued development of Albert Okwuegbunam plus the addition of rookie Greg Dulcich will certainly do just fine.

Dulcich is a big, athletic option at the position with soft hands and a knack for finding soft spots in coverage.

His ability to stretch the field and make plays after the catch is reminiscent of Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce.

Although that may seem like hyperbole, I’m not trying to gas up Dulcich so much as I’m trying to accurately compare him to someone else we see a lot of. He averaged over 17 yards per catch at UCLA and when you turn on the tape, you see plenty of Kelce-like mannerisms.

Given the pro-readiness of Dulcich, I think we’re going to see an instant impact from him and don’t be surprised if he’s making big plays early and often in his career as a Bronco.

Denver Broncos top moves in 2022 no. 4: Re-signing RB Melvin Gordon

Melvin Gordon is back for year three as a Denver Bronco.

The Broncos played the long game with Gordon this offseason and wound up reaching a one-year deal with him worth up to $5 million just before the 2022 NFL Draft.

o the fact that Gordon has given the Broncos two straight seasons of over 1,100 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns, I’d say that’s quite the bargain.

Everyone wants to see what Javonte Williams can do with a bigger workload.

I get it.

At the same time, it’s a 17-game regular season now and you can’t feed one running back the ball 400-plus times over the course of the year.

Last season in Green Bay, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for a whopping 444 total touches in Nathaniel Hackett and Matt LaFleur’s offense.

That kind of workload split between Javonte Williams and someone like Mike Boone was never a wise plan to start out with.

Boone may end up being a stud if called upon as a RB2 due to injury, but the Broncos needed a better or more proven option to enter OTAs with, and Gordon is exactly that.

Last season, we saw some outstanding explosiveness from Gordon, especially on that one huge run he had early in the season.

https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/1437189103989272576

Over the last two seasons, Gordon has been the Broncos’ most consistent source of offense.

Yes, fumbles have been untimely and frustrating, but Gordon has been exactly as advertised with Denver, and bringing him back with one of his old college teammates in Russell Wilson is going to be fun to watch.

I think Gordon is in line for his best season in Denver yet.

Denver Broncos top offseason moves no. 3: Signing DL DJ Jones

After trading away Shelby Harris so they could acquire Russell Wilson, everyone knew the Denver Broncos would have to do something along the defensive line to recoup and upgrade.

With Dre’Mont Jones heading into a contract year and little proven depth outside of him anyway, the Broncos made free agent DJ Jones of the 49ers a priority in free agency.

Jones has been flying under the radar the past couple of seasons with the 49ers, but not for a lack of productivity.

He has 17 tackles for loss the last two seasons and perhaps some untapped pass rush potential.

I loved this move at the time, especially because the Broncos essentially just replaced Shelby Harris’ contract with a younger player.

Jones is versatile. He can play pretty much any position on the defensive line and because he’s only six feet tall, he’s always winning the leverage game.

For a guy that is six feet tall and over 300 pounds, how is it even possible that he can move like this?

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1460433293178916868

I think the Broncos’ defensive front got substantially better with this addition and I think as he enters his sixth NFL season at the age of 27, he’s about to step into some really good, productive years.

Ejiro Evero and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon are going to have fun finding ways for Jones to terrorize opposing offensive lines.

Denver Broncos top moves no. 2: Signing EDGE Randy Gregory

At this point, I think pretty much everyone in Broncos Country is coming around to the Randy Gregory signing.

At first, I will admit that I was not a big fan of it, and for a few reasons that I think are still valid.

First of all, Von Miller was available and apparently wanted to be back in Denver.

Second, Chandler Jones was also available.

Although those guys are older than Gregory, they’re also far more proven.

In addition to passing on players that are more proven veterans off the edge, I don’t love the fact that Gregory has actually played so little in the NFL.

He’s been suspended for one reason or another or injured so often that he has only played 50 games since 2015.

Once upon a time, though, Gregory was considered a top-five prospect for the NFL Draft coming out of Nebraska, and any time he’s gotten the chance, he’s proven his elite-level talent on the field.

We saw the most consistent display of that talent in 2021.

Gregory has outstanding length off the edge and he can clearly convert speed to power.

Even though he’s already 29, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him string together a handful of double-digit sack seasons with the Denver Broncos if he can consistently do these kinds of things off the edge.

Denver Broncos top offseason move in 2022: Trade for QB Russell Wilson

There is really no debating this one.

Maybe the best move made by any NFL franchise in 2022 regardless of position, Russell Wilson’s arrival in Denver has officially vaulted the Denver Broncos back to championship contender status.

Optimism is back in the air. Arguments over quarterbacks winning training camp practices are over.

Russell Wilson brings not just a steady veteran presence to the quarterback position, but a legitimately elite player and future Hall of Famer at the age of 33.

The Broncos had to give up a lot to get Wilson.

They traded away Shelby Harris, Noah Fant, and Drew Lock along with first-and-second round picks in the 2022 and 2023 NFL Draft.

The price to pay was always going to be high, but who cares?

The Broncos have a franchise quarterback.

You will gladly sit back on draft night and get a little antsy about not having a pick when you have a solidified answer at the QB position.

Wilson will have the opportunity to play with an outstanding supporting cast of weapons the Broncos have assembled in recent years, starting with the wide receiver duo of Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick along with young players like Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler.

5 wide receivers the Denver Broncos should consider acquiring

The Denver Broncos could look into acquiring another receiver with Jerry Jeudy's off-field situation arising. Who should they consider?

It will be fascinating to see how much Wilson can elevate this offense early on, especially with a new scheme and new coaching coming in.

Everybody’s ready for the ride in Broncos Country, that’s for sure.