I’d expect George Paton to be active next offseason trying to improve the Broncos’ roster. Could he pull off another absolutely insane trade? The Broncos do not have a ton of draft capital since trading for Russell Wilson, but that does not mean that George Paton won’t try and pull off another wild trade or two.
Perhaps the team now thinks that they won’t have Russell Wilson for more than four years, instead of what was thought to be a more longer term commitment. Either way, I think the Broncos should operate as if Russell Wilson only has a year or two left in the league.
Obviously Wilson will play for longer, but the sense of urgency in the team building could yield an incredibly talented roster as a result. Slowly chipping away at building a Super Bowl caliber roster while your quarterback ages is not smart.
For that reason, I think Paton will end up being active again after the season in both free agency and in making another trade or two. What kind of crazy trades could he pull off?
Three crazy trades for the Broncos after the 2022 season
Trading Courtland Sutton to the Cardinals for DeAndre Hopkins and a draft pick
The first crazy trade I am proposing is the Broncos sending Courtland Sutton to the Arizona Cardinals for DeAndre Hopkins and a draft pick.
My reasoning for this is twofold:
- First, Courtland Sutton has been a bit inconsistent this year, has struggled with drops, and seems to be becoming the second or even third choice of Russell Wilson behind Jerry Jeudy and Greg Dulcich
- The Cardinals are close to imploding–Kliff Kingsbury is likely gone soon and their team may need to go through a bit of a rebuilding around Kyler Murray, so trading Hopkins for a younger and cheaper receiver might be the path for them
Moreover, if the Broncos were to trade Courtland Sutton, they’d have to do it this coming offseason where they can save the most money against their cap space.
Sutton is still in his 20s and is a proven WR1. Kyler Murray would get a younger and bigger weapon for the future in Sutton, while the Broncos would get a better, albeit a bit older receiver in Hopkins who may make a bigger difference in the offense than Sutton.
DeAndre Hopkins is a borderline Hall of Fame player, and the Broncos likely would not have to part with a draft pick. I would propose trading Sutton to the Cardinals for Hopkins and a fifth round pick.
Three crazy trades for the Broncos after the 2022 season
Swinging a trade for Colts’ right tackle Braden Smith
I understand that the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive line has been bad this season, but I don’t think it’s because of Braden Smith, a talented and still rather young right tackle who recently signed an extension with the team.
He was a second round pick back in 2018, and according to PFF, he’s never graded below a 70 in a season before. The 6-foot-6 tackle has nice length and does keep clean in terms of penalties. According to Pro Football Reference, it doesn’t look like he was even called for an infraction in 2021.
He’s only been called for 15 penalties, and he’s in his fifth year, which is a measly five penalties a season. He’s not an elite tackle, but he’s still 26 and is very good at what he does. This would finally give the Denver Broncos some relief at the position, which seems like has a new face each year.
Contractually, he’s on a four year, $70 million extension. If the Colts were to trade him in 2023 and designate it as a post-June 1 cut, they’d incur just $3 million in dead money and save $16 million. His cap hit is $19 million next year.
The Colts are having a rough go at it this year. They’ve already fired their offensive coordinator and head coach and do not have a clear QB of the future. They could be headed towards a rebuild, so perhaps they’d be open to shopping some players.
Three crazy trades for the Broncos after the 2022 season
Trading for Panthers’ stud Jeremy Chinn
The Carolina Panthers went into the 2022 season with what I thought was a very good roster ready to compete. Due to their inept coaching and quarterback play, their season isn’t going the way I thought it was.
They were also sellers at the deadline, trading Robby Anderson to the Cardinals and Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers. They also apparently fielded calls on Jeremy Chinn but decided to hold firm and it seems like the Panthers would like to keep Chinn in their long-term plans.
That surely makes sense as Chinn is very talented, but the Broncos could use this safety-linebacker hybrid player. The 6-foot-4, 220 pound defender can play safety and also closer to the line of scrimmage.
He’s had over 100 combined tackles in each of his first two seasons, has 4.45 speed, and 11 career QB hits. He’s a do it all type defender and could be a tone setter on defense if Kareem Jackson does not return to the Broncos.
It would likely take a hefty price to acquire Chinn’s services, and he’d need a contract eventually. The Broncos do not need any sort of major reinforcements on the defense, but adding a baller like Chinn would further indicate the Broncos’ intentions to go all-in.