On Sunday, a plethora of free agency deals were announced and agreed to, and all of a sudden, the Denver Broncos options are dwindling. The Broncos figure to be active in free agency this cycle - to a degree. They have some key defensive needs that should end up being filled on the open market, and they could also add some playmakers to the offensive side of the ball.
Players that people talked about potentially being targets for the Denver Broncos included guys like Jamien Sherwood, Zack Baun, Nick Bolton, Ernest Jones, Aaron Jones, and Davante Adams. Well, in recent days, and mostly today, every single one of those players will have been signed by a new team or their current team.
Broncos top free agent options are already off the board
There are free agents who were available to sign with any team - someone like Davante Adams was cut by the New York Jets recently, so he did not have to wait to sign with a team, and on Sunday, news broke that he was headed to the Los Angeles Rams. Teams that want to re-sign their in-house free agents can also do so at any time, so players like Sherwood, Baun, Bolton, and the two Joneses were all re-signed by their current teams.
Heck, the Denver Broncos got in on some of the fun, re-signing Mitchell Fraboni, their long-snapper, and Jarrett Stidham, their backup QB.
However, there are already a ton of free agents off the board that the Denver Broncos surely had their eyes on. It's actually kind of a disappointing situation overall, as Denver may already have to explore some of their 'tier 2' options, especially at inside linebacker.
The ILB market is already pretty active with recent deals, but with the top names off the board, Denver may have to pivot to options like Robert Spillane or Dre Greenlaw. When the legal tampering period opens up on Monday, there are going to be a ton of deals announced by all the top insiders, and you have to wonder if the Denver Broncos front office is actually scrambling a bit and pivoting to different players, seeing as some of the top options are now off the board entirely.
This is a huge reason why building a contending team is so difficult - options vanish just like that, and with the team needing some serious help at a few positions, let's hope that George Paton and Sean Payton have a way to repair what's a bit broken on the roster.