The Denver Broncos need to clean house a little bit and get rid of some players that were on the team in 2024. Let's dive into some of them here. With a chunk of free agents and some other players that could be cap casualties, the Broncos are going to rework their roster again.
The roster is built the right way; they are strong in the trenches and have a franchise QB, and that is a large part of building a winning NFL team. Denver doesn't need to do anything aggressive in terms of that. Their most aggressive move might be adding a major name at a playmaking position on offense.
They are in a great spot this offseason. However, there are at least three players the Broncos need to get rid of.
3 players who the Denver Broncos need to get rid of this offseason
Javonte Williams, RB
Again averaging under four yards per carry for the second year in a row, RB Javonte Williams just did not develop into the bellcow back that the team hoped he would be when he was taken in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. This was a huge draft miss by General Manager George Paton. Williams is set to hit the open market in 2025, and I would be downright shocked if he came back. There is no need for Javonte Williams to be on this roster.
PJ Locke III, S
PJ Locke III was very good in 2023 in more of a rotational role, and it did not seem like he was able to handle being a full-time starter in 2024. The great thing is that the team struck gold with Brandon Jones, who was one of the best safeties in the NFL this year. Jones is likely sticking around for a while, but with another strong free agency safety class coming, I could see Denver cutting ties with PJ Locke III and perhaps pursing another free agency addition at this position.
The Broncos have every single reason to get better as best they can. Upgrading at safety over Locke, who had a rough Wild Card game, is a move they need to make.
Cody Barton, ILB
Cody Barton is bad in coverage and was just OK this year in my opinion. Some may feel differently, and that's OK, but I would not be shocked if the Broncos entered into a full-scale rebuild of the ILB room. When Alex Singleton went down earlier this year, the Broncos actually signed two backers in Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham.
The team could look to keep Justin Strnad primarly for special teams and will still have Drew Sanders under contract, but they could hit the reset button here and try to upgrade the unit, as it seems like Denver has not had notable ILBs for quite some time now.