4 key players Broncos could lose after the 2022 season

Players the Broncos could lose after 2022: Melvin Gordon, Running back

Melvin Gordon has a situation similar to that of Jackson in the sense that he is a veteran working on a short-term deal with younger players in front of him.

Javonte Williams should be the unquestioned No. 1 running back for the Broncos starting in 2022 and Gordon will be the guy who comes in and spells him. It seems evident that Gordon was not in the team’s immediate future plans as this offseason, he sat on the open free-agent market for six weeks before the Broncos handed him a one-year deal.

That could be because Gordon wasn’t getting the kind of deal he wanted or that other teams just weren’t that interested in him, but the fact that he signed a one-year deal suggests the latter.

Gordon will still have a key role in 2022 because the Broncos, quite frankly, are not very deep at the running back position behind the top two guys. But Gordon will turn 30 years old after this season and if Williams has the kind of season that most feel he will, it could easily signal the end of Gordon’s stay with the team.

That said, if he can be retained for cheap like he was this year, and he is still effective as a No. 2 guy, he could get another one-year offer next offseason.