The Denver Broncos recent roster-building trends may give us an indication as to where they will shift their attention to in free agency. With the Broncos hitting on a QB this year and making the postseason, they are in a great spot moving forward. In fact, having a QB on his rookie deal is one of the best advantages in all of sports.
Denver can now work to maximize the window they have with Bo Nix. And even when Nix eventually signs an extension (at least that's the hope), the Broncos should still be firmly in contention. It might be hard to say on the surface how the team will approach free agency - they'll have more money to spend in free agency than they did last year.
But does that mean they will be aggressive? Only time will tell, but based on the recent trends, it's clear to me where the Broncos will address in free agency, and I think that place is on the defenside side of the ball.
Below is each Broncos' starting defensive player from Week 1 of 2024 who came to the team via trade or free agency signing:
Zach Allen - Free Agency Signing
DJ Jones - Free Agency Signing
John Franklin-Myers - Trade
Cody Barton - Free Agency Signing
Alex Singleton - Free Agency Signing
Brandon Jones - Free Agency Signing
A whopping 54.5% of their starting defense in 2024 was acquired via free agency or in a trade. Let's do the same exercise for the offense:
Josh Reynolds - Free Agency Signing
Ben Powers - Free Agency Signing
Mike McGlinchey - Free Agency Signing
Adam Trautman - Free Agency Signing
Only 36.4% of the Denver Broncos' starting offense from Week 1 came from free agency. It's a clear difference, and we did see a ton of drafted players on offense take on huge roles in 2024. Denver even let Josh Reynolds go during the season and paved the way for rookies like Troy Franklin and Devaughn Vele to see more snaps.
Perhaps this is how the Broncos will want to continue doing things. With all of that said, you could argue that the complete opposite is true. Perhaps Denver now wants to invest more free agency dollars into the offense to find more impact players. This could lead them to addressing the defense more in the NFL Draft to try and find more long-term options.
However, the recent trend indicates that Denver will address defense more in free agency.