Sean Payton, the Denver Broncos’ new leader, could be making some significant moves to this roster, in his own vision. What five immediate actions could help the Denver Broncos take over the Kansas City Chiefs?
1. Cleaning up the Denver Broncos roster
Sean Payton, along with George Paton, will be faced with the decision of beginning a new regime. During the process, Payton will go through several phases including observing, testing, and eventually making decisions.
Foundationally, the Denver Broncos need more talent. Within the trenches, the teams need more talent. Directionally, the team needs more focus, attention to detail, and structure. This all has already begun during the film sessions Sean Payton is and has been putting in evaluating the current roster.
Some moves can be made to increase the current state of the Denver Broncos cap, which seems to be around a mere $10 million. Who and what contracts must be terminated or restructured?
Starting with immediate cuts, most of these players simply did not live up to their draft status, or their play has not reached the value of their contract. Now there are some who played well enough, that a re-structure would be great if they would accept, if not, cutting said players would be necessary.
Straight up cuts
- Lloyd Cushenberry III- Cap savings of $1.17 million
- Graham Glasgow- Cap savings of $11 million
- Chase Edmonds- Cap savings of $6 million
- Ronald Darby- Cap savings of $10 million
- Jacob Martin- Cap savings of $4 million
Cut if not re-structured
- Garrett Bolles- Could save slightly over $6.3 million with re-structure. If Bolles does not agree, a termination of his contract would free up about $10 million on the salary cap.
Contract Re-structures
- Justin Simmons– Cap savings of $6.6 million
- Courtland Sutton- Cap savings of $8.6 million
These moves alone could create anywhere from $53-57 million dollars in cap space for the Denver Broncos and would not deplete their roster. It would create a couple of reactionary moves to replace some of the players dismissed, but it could improve the overall quality of the roster.
2. Upgrade the defensive line
In order to beat Patrick Mahomes, you have to be elite up front. Your defensive front has to be able to get to Patrick Mahomes without sending extra heat.
Adding a premiere defensive lineman is a great start. Dre’Mont Jones has liked some cryptic tweets, then tweeted he wanted to be a Denver Bronco and said he was “a Bronco for now” in an interview post-Bradley Chubb trade.
So who knows where he is mentally? If I was forced to make a decision right now, I would say he plays elsewhere in 2023.
Signing Da’ Ron Payne would neutralize that loss and could be considered an upgrade. Payne would not be the only addition to the defensive line. Having no weak links along the front is going to be vital if the Denver Broncos want to dethrone Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sheldon Rankins isn’t as talented as Payne and is a bit more seasoned than Payne, but Rankins was drafted by the Sean Payton-led New Orleans Saints in 2016. If the Denver Broncos were to stay in a 3-4 defensive front, D.J. Jones as the nose and Payne and Rankins out wider as defense ends would create a strong group up front.
It would be an improvement in the Denver Broncos base personnel and would give the unit a higher floor and ceiling immediately.
Payne singing would give the Denver Broncos an elite playmaker on the front with incredible talent. Payne could be the type of free agent who comes in during his prime and the signing team reaps the benefit of said player playing the best ball of their career.
3. Sign Arden Key
During the 2022 NFL offseason, the Denver Broncos attempted to bring in their premiere pass rusher in Randy Gregory. So far, that signing, much like Gregory’s career, has been underwhelming.
Is Randy Gregory an incredible talent with a towering ceiling? Yes. His ceiling is as long as his wingspan is wide. Gregory has just not been able to reach that ceiling due to his inability to stay on the field.
Some his fault, some inactivity due to his injuries, which no one should fault him for that. Injuries happen, and let’s face it, some players are in-fact, injury prone. No matter how much they stretch, no amount of stretching is good enough, certain players just can’t avoid the injury bug.
Hoping Randy Gregory’s career as a Denver Broncos and in general finds its way back on track, he is an easy guy to root for. It is also in the best interest of the Denver Broncos if Gregory is available. His presence is felt on the field and missed when it isn’t.
However, every Batman needs a Robin.
Von Miller had DeMarcus Ware.
Dwight Freeney had Robert Mathis.
Michael Strahan had Justin Tuck or Osi Umenyiora
Randy Gregory could use Arden Key on the opposite side to complete a strong and freakishly athletic front for the Denver Broncos. Beating Patrick Mahomes is done up front. Mahomes can beat a great secondary, Denver has had a solid if not above average one for years.
It just hasn’t been good enough. Mahomes struggles the most when facing nasty fronts. Look how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers forced Mahomes into the toughest game of his career. That was done up front.
There are quarterbacks in the NFL that you can beat with a stronger secondary, the less athletically-gifted ones, the pocket quarterbacks who aren’t magicians. Great coverage can force those type of quarterbacks to sit tight and hold hoping something opens up, they typically just have one play in them.
Patrick Mahomes has three plays in his, sometimes four all in one play if you do not get to him. That is why a strong front is necessary to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. This is part of the reason I think the Denver Broncos have failed to defeat Mahomes.
Would the 2015 Denver Broncos beat Mahomes? Even with this type of offensive production or lack thereof? I think so. Because their front would make plays and let Mahomes know they were there, much like they did to Cam Newton.
4. Michael Thomas reunion and Jerick McKinnon joining Williams & Murray
Stealing Jerick McKinnon from the Kansas City Chiefs is a bonus to actually signing the talented pass-catching back.
This season alone, the Denver Broncos wide receivers had ten total receiving touchdowns. Jerick McKinnon as a running back had nine touchdown receptions alone on 56 total receptions. He also had shown to be a Bronco killer, like Josh Jacobs.
Last year, the Denver Broncos along with Broncos Country, went into the season fully confident in the pass catching group. Failing to add a couple of playmakers to this group would be idiotic, it would be literal insanity.
Getting Michael Thomas in a reunion on a friendly prove-it type deal with his old leader in Sean Payton makes too much sense.
One of the biggest problems for the Denver Broncos in recent memory is their failures on 3rd down conversions. Before and during the Russell Wilson era, the Denver Broncos have found themselves towards the bottom of the league with conversion percentage.
Michael Thomas, referred to as “slant boy,” could be exactly what the Denver Broncos need, if healthy. Russell Wilson and the Broncos’ offense need that steady hand that can just catch the football. As weird as it sounds to stress the importance of having a wide receiver who has trustworthy hands, that is where the Broncos are.
They need players they can trust to make the plays if the plays are there to be made.
Michael Thomas had an ungodly amount of receptions from 2017-2019 with 378 receptions. To put that into perspective, Tim Patrick and Courtland Sutton have 382 receptions combined for their careers.
It would be a risky signing, but could pay off heavily if it worked out. An embarrassment of riches within the pass catching group would be a great way to keep pace with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense.
5. Two new quality starting offensive linemen for the Denver Broncos
Getting better in protection and aggression is a goal for Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos in 2023. There is a need at more than just one position for the Broncos. Filling two in free agency, and looking a the draft to fill the others would be wise.
Infusing youth along with veterans who know how to play the game at the professional level is important for the right now and the future. Ethan Pocic, a former teammate of Russell Wilson could come in and take over at center.
Lloyd Cushenberry III just hasn’t worked out for the Broncos. Year three is a solid gauge to determine where a player is and will end up in his career, Cushenberry III has yet to show anything desirable.
At the point of attack, the Broncos have been getting bullied for season, ever since Connor McGovern left for the New York Jets. Same goes for the right tackle position. Once Orlando Franklin retired, the position has been as much as a turnstile as the quarterback position has.
Mike McGlinchey would seem to be a solution to this problem. McGlinchey was a top-10 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and has had some moments of living up to the hype, but has also had some injury problems.
That is a scary thing to say in regards to the Broncos’ luck as of late, he has missed four plus games in two of his seasons, one of them on IR with a torn quad in 2021. Again, that is not awful, but is enough to make one who has failed in the luck department worry.
If the Denver Broncos were able to get the wide-zone specialist and get the best of him, their right tackle position would be in the best spot it has been in since Orlando Franklin. Adding Pocic and McGlinchey to the Broncos’ offensive line would give them three solid starters along with Quinn Meinerz.
Garrett Bolles may or may not be a Denver Bronco in 2022, he will probably be asked to restructure. Reporting from early on indicates he will rebuttal a restructure, but that situation has to play out. If he returns, that would give the Denver Broncos a solid four with just one solid need at left guard.
Left guard would be a position filled via the NFL draft.
All of this seems crazy, but it is manageable. Hypothetically, Payne signs for $20 million per, Arden Key, Sheldon Rankins and Ethan Pocic all sign for a $6-8 million per year type of contract, and Jerick McKinnon and Michael Thomas can be signed for a combined $10-12 million, it is totally feasible.
Here is the guide to the Denver Broncos re-tooling their roster in order to finally get over the hump of the Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes led Kansas City Chiefs.