The Denver Broncos have some room and reason to make a few more moves before the 2024 NFL Season begins, and these three would ensure them a 10-win season.
The team is not as far away as you might think. Let's not forget that they won eight games in 2023 after starting 1-5 and with a bottom-7 QB in Russell Wilson. They got better, so they can win more games in 2024. Why are we overthinking this? I think talk of the Broncos winning just four or five games in the coming season is just flat-out wrong and not based in any logic.
Sure, I'll admit if I am wrong and the Broncos are a disaster in 2024, but I can't see it. In fact, this team could ensure a 10-win season if they made these three remaining moves.
3 final moves the Denver Broncos can make to ensure a 10-win season in 2024
Sign OC Connor Williams
A recent report about the free agent center surfaced recently:
Former Cowboys and Dolphins free-agent center Connor Williams, who is coming off season-ending knee surgery, expects to be ready for the start of the season and is in discussions with multiple teams about where to play in 2024. He plans to pick his new team before training camp…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 18, 2024
This is excellent news for the Denver Broncos, who lost Lloyd Cushenberry in free agency to the Tennessee Titans. Cush signed a deal worth $50 million, so there was absolutely no way that the Broncos would have matched that offer. It's a deserving payday for the former LSU Tiger. He was a liability during his first three seasons in the NFL, but did play the best ball of his career in 2023.
The Denver Broncos have a gaping hole at center that could likely go to Alex Forsyth or Luke Wattenberg. Right now, there is simply no one proved at this position group, and Connor Williams has been among the better centers in the NFL. A season-ending knee injury prematurely ended his 2023 season and definitely kept him from getting a long-term deal.
Had Williams entered free agency healthy, he likely could have signed a deal worth more than what Cushenberry got. The Broncos can get a top center in the NFL for pennies, so this is an obvious move.
Trade for one of Brandon Aiyuk or CeeDee Lamb
It's not 100% clear whether either player is actually available, but both were due for contract extensions by their respective teams at this point, and none are in sight. CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys is the better player, but Brandon Aiyuk is also very good in his own right. Both players have arguments to command over $30 million per year on a deal.
It sounds like it's too much, but that is the price for elite wide receivers in today's NFL. Justin Jefferson of the Vikings recently signed a deal worth $35 million per year. Yeah, they're not cheap. Nonetheless, the Broncos would round out their offense if they could swing a trade for one of them, which would have to include a first-round pick plus more.
You'd also have to figure that Courtland Sutton would be packaged in this deal. Could a package of Sutton plus a first-round pick be enough to land Aiyuk? Maybe. It won't be cheap, but it's a move Denver should make, as it would give them a top WR room in the NFL.
Sign DE Carl Lawson
Carl Lawson fell out of favor with his last team, the New York Jets, but that doesn't mean he can't play. Once having 54 total QB hits across 28 games during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Lawson has been able to get to he QB quite well across his NFL career. However, in 2023, he only played in six games and racked up just five total tackles in just 101 snaps on defense.
Lawson still surely has some gas left in the tank, especially as a rotational player. He averages six sacks, six tackles for loss, and 25 QB hits per-17 games, so why haven't the Denver Broncos made this move? Given his 2023 performance, the Broncos could sign him for quite cheap, and he could reunite with a former Jets teammate in John Franklin-Myers.
The Broncos DL looks a lot better when you add Lawson into the mix while already having Zach Allen, DJ Jones, Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach. That is clearly a "plus" unit, if you will. Man, it's making me antsy that the team hasn't made a smart move like this in the dead parts of the FA market.
The Denver Broncos are far from winning a Super Bowl, obviously, but that doesn't mean they can't win a good bit of games in the 2024 NFL Season.