Biggest mistakes of the Denver Broncos offseason thus far
2. Not signing CJ Gardner-Johnson
Another player who was drafted by the Sean Payton-Mickey Loomis era and someone who could have filled a need for Denver was CJ Gardner-Johnson, who was traded by the New Orleans Saints to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022.
Gardner-Johnson left the Eagles in free agency and somehow only got a one year, $8 million deal from the Detroit Lions. To me, that is astromically cheap. CJGJ has the ability to function as a cornerback and safety in the NFL, and he could have formed a perfect and quite lethal duo with Justin Simmons as the safety taking over for Kareem Jackson, who remains unsigned.
I think Denver could have easily signed Gardner-Johnson to this type of deal, and probably could have locked him up for two or three years if they wanted. I find this move to be a massive missed opportunity for the Broncos to bolster their secondary, which does need a little bit of help since Ronald Darby got cut.