Now that the Denver Broncos will be releasing Russell Wilson, a lot of the focus will turn to the QB position, but the team has another extremely urgent need they must address. It was a weak unit going into the 2023 NFL Season and ended the year as a weak unit. And frankly, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph probably could not have done more than he did.
The Broncos defense has a huge personnel issue, and that personnel issue is especially dire along the team's inept and talentless defensive line. It's a bad unit overall with one notable starter in Zach Allen, who had 24 QB hits in 2023. The Broncos pass rush was quite inconsistent in 2023, and their run defense was among the worst in the NFL.
According to ESPN's rankings, the Broncos ranked just 30th in the NFL in pass-rush win rate and ranked just 28th in the NFL in run-stop win rate. The team constantly got beaten on the ground, and this was especially evident in the first half of the season. The team should not hesitate to cut DJ Jones, another free agency whiff by GM George Paton.
Jones provides virtually no pass-rush juice from the interior and is not nearly good enough for the $30 million contract he signed two years ago. In terms of the outside pass rushers, the Broncos need to bring in someone who can be a "dude" off the EDGE, if that makes sense. All of Nik Bonitto, Baron Browning, and Jonathon Cooper are fine rotational players, but they aren't every-down pass rushers that the Broncos have been searching for.
The free agency market along the defensive line does seem to be quite strong, and the Denver Broncos could make some low-cost, high-reward DL additions if they play their cards right. Zach Allen is a very good defensive end, but outside of him, I truly think there is an argument to bring in two new starters along the defensive line and two new starters at outside linebacker.
This unit has to be a huge priority for the Denver Broncos this offseason, and it should be right up there with QB.