Denver Broncos under the most pressure in Week One

Pressure makes diamonds; who will be the diamonds for the Denver Broncos in Week One?

There is a ton of pressure on Randy Gregory, who has not even put on a Denver Broncos uniform yet. Is it fair? Maybe, maybe not. But NFL stands for National Football League, not National Fair League. If you thought there was a heavy amount of pressure during the offseason, it has increased tenfold after what Von Miller did for the Buffalo Bills on the opening night for the 2022 NFL season.

Miller had a couple of sacks, three pressures, and a couple of additional pressures too. His infamous ghost move was plastered across the Twitter verse. Von Miller has looked like old Von Miller ever since he was traded by George Paton.

Equal pressure on Denver Broncos GM George Paton and EDGE Randy Gregory?

So maybe the pressure will be on George Paton here, but my best guess is that George Paton is going to be hoping Randy Gregory performs well too. There will be plenty of eyes on the guy who has only appeared in 50 games since entering the league in 2015.

Gregory is a very talented pass rusher, but up to this point, he may be the biggest gamble that George Paton has made. Especially when you consider he chose Gregory over the adored Von Miller, who at one point was campaigning to be re-signed by the Denver Broncos, even if it was just to increase his value.

Gregory has missed the entire offseason program due to him having his shoulder scoped due to a pre-existing injury.

This signing could go one of two ways for the Denver Broncos, Randy Gregory could bring over the impact of recently retired Emmanuel Sanders, or it could be the likes of a Ja’Wuan James. Sanders had only started 18 games throughout his first four seasons in Pittsburgh before John Elway nabbed him as the replacement for Eric Decker.

John Elway looked at Emmanuel Sanders and saw the potential, he took a risk on an untapped talent and the rest is successful history. Ja’Wuan James was the biggest free-agent mistake that John Elway ever made.

He was the worst transaction he ever made. There is a distinct difference between the Ja’Wuan James signing ad the Randy Gregory signing though, that is how Randy Gregory’s former teammates and coaches raved about his success and growth as a player and human.

If you remember, everyone in Miami was mocking the Denver Broncos for signing James.

All of that said, the pressure building on Gregory is not much of his fault. He just wanted an opportunity, but due to how well Von Miller played and how much Gregory was paid, Broncos Country will keep their eyes glued on no. 5.