The Denver Broncos have made a good bit of roster moves in recent years. Let's look at three former players we probably forgot about in the 2024 season. Hats off to Sean Payton, as he has not been afraid to make some bold roster moves for the Broncos.
He is molding this team into his own vision, and it's been great to witness. The roster moves will continue and won't stop. Denver may truly be on the cusp of turning into a contender, which is crazy to think about.
Let's look at three former Denver Broncos we forgot about during the 2024 NFL Season.
3 former Denver Broncos we forgot about during the 2024 NFL Season
Baron Browning, EDGE
The Denver Broncos traded Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals before the trade deadline during the 2024 season. Browning suited up for eight games for the Cards, racking up a whopping two sacks, four tackles for loss, and three QB hits. Baron Browning is a free agent in the coming offseason, but given that the Cardinals did give up draft capital to get him, I would not be shocked if he returned to the team.
The emergence of literally the entire EDGE room (Jonathon Cooper, Nik Bonitto, Jonah Elliss, and Dondrea Tillman) has certainly made us forget about Browning, who struggled with injuries and never hit his stride with the Broncos.
Justin Simmons, SAF
The team essentially replace long-time safety Justin Simmons with Brandon Jones for 2024. Jones was among the best safeties in the NFL this year and helped the Broncos defense become one of the best in the NFL. On the flip side, Justin Simmons signed with the Atlanta Falcons and played in one of the NFL's worst defenses in 2024.
I have seen some Broncos fans clamor that the team needs to bring Simmons back in 2025, but why? The free agent safety market is again projected to be quite strong and has several high-profile, better players than Justin Simmons. I get why fans would want him to return, but there is no need.
Mike Purcell, DT
After appearing in 16 games for the Denver Broncos in 2023, Mike Purcell was not able to play for a team in 2024 and recently retired. Purcell really fell off those last few years with the team, and it is a bit interesting that the first year he wasn't with Denver, the defensive line took off.
DJ Jones was very solid in 2024, and both Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers all had career years. Heck, Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper also had the best seasons of their careers as well. Mike Purcell did have a great start to his Broncos tenure, first appearing with the team in 2019.
However, the DL in Denver moved on from Purcell, and I am not sure many Broncos fans were remembering him during the 2024 NFL Season.