The Denver Broncos should try and make this ridiculous trade
The Denver Broncos recently set their initial 53-man roster, and it’s a good one, but I do think there are some positions where Denver can get better. The free agency pool of players still has some talent that Denver could pick from if they wanted.
I am a huge fan of their roster, but I do think there are a few positions where they could try and upgrade, and they’re mostly on defense. On offense, I wouldn’t hate an upgrade at receiver, because the team didn’t really do a ton after Tim Patrick went down, and I’m not sure how close to 100% KJ Hamler will truly be by week one.
On defense, outside of safety, I think the Broncos could make an upgrade at every other position. Blake Martinez, an inside linebacker, was recently released from the New York Giants. I think he could easily fit with the Broncos if they parted with Alex Singleton or Justin Strnad. Jonas Griffith’s status for week one is uncertain, too.
At cornerback, the team did recently replace Essang Bassey with Darius Phillips, but I see some avenues for improvement there, especially considering both K’Waun Williams and Ronald Darby have injury concerns.
I don’t think the Broncos could do much else to upgrade their outside linebacker/EDGE room, but I do see the most potential for upgrading along the defensive line. I’ve banged the table for the team to sign Ndamukong Suh for months now, and the defensive line depth did get beat like a drum during the preseason.
I think the team only has two solid starters here in Dre’Mont Jones and DJ Jones. If one of them needs to miss time with an injury, who would step up? DeShawn Williams is solid but hasn’t proven himself to be a capable starter, Mike Purcell has fallen off a bit, and I don’t think either rookie is quite ready.
If the team wouldn’t want to sign a free agent defensive linemen, there is one other player that I think makes a lot of sense, if they could pull it off.
The Denver Broncos should try to re-acquire Shelby Harris in a trade
Before you come at me in the comments, I think this makes sense. As we know, Shelby Harris was traded from Denver to the Seahawks in the Russell Wilson mega-deal. During his time in Denver, Harris went from a no-name player to one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL.
His ability to bat passes and serve as an overall menace has been missed thus far, and deep down, I think Shelby Harris would much, much rather have not left Denver and would have preferred to stay, especially since Russell Wilson is in town.
Harris was contributing to the team in big ways during the absolute worst of the post-Manning years. He often gave heartfelt and emotional interviews during this time, and you could tell how much he loved Denver. He got choked up when he met with the media after signing the three-year extension a couple of seasons ago.
His dedication and effort he showed with the Denver Broncos were seemingly taken away when he was traded. I’m sure Harris is still a bit mad that he was shipped out, but the Broncos need to make another addition along the defensive line, and Harris would make the absolute most sense out of anyone.
He’s already played a bunch of football with Dre’Mont Jones. He knows most of the projected starters on defense, and the scheme Ejiro Evero is running is very similar to the defense he was in with Denver.
The transition back to Denver from Seattle would be absolutely seamless, in my opinion, and I think Denver has more of what Seattle wants. The Broncos did have to fork over some serious draft capital, and it’s clear that the Seahawks are in rebuilding mode.
It wouldn’t make sense for the Seahawks to keep Shelby Harris much longer, anyway, right? He just turned 31 and likely won’t be with the team for even the next three years. He is getting up there in age, and Seattle is looking towards the future.
They aren’t likely to win more than five games in 2022 and are surely scouting some of the top quarterbacks for this upcoming draft and the next draft. Geno Smith is not a long-term answer, and even though NFL teams don’t make it super obvious that they’re “tanking,” it’s clear that Seattle does not want to win a ton of games in 2022.
The Broncos also still have a bit of a surplus along the offensive line, which is still a sore spot for the team, even after drafting Charles Cross and Abe Lucas, their two new tackles. They’ve got Austin Blythe at center, who I think is underrated, but they could still use some more proven players.
Denver has a good target for them in Graham Glasgow, who is now projected as a backup IOL piece for the Broncos. I do think there is a possibility that Denver could send Glasgow and a draft pick to the Seahawks for Shelby Harris.
It gives Seattle a piece along the offensive line that they could realistically keep for longer than they would Harris, and another draft pick to help with their rebuild.
It sounds crazy, but I think it’s doable.