To this point, the Denver Broncos have had a quiet free agency period. The team's recent signing is not going to do much to quench the thirst of Broncos Country, but when you look inside the numbers, this could be a smart move.
The Broncos wanted to improve against the run heading into next season and have once again gone to the New Orleans Saints looking for an answer. Malcolm Roach, undrafted out of Texas in 2020, has spent the past four seasons in New Orleans. He has reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year, $8 million deal, which will become official on Wednesday with the start of the new league year.
He doesn't have the stats package to wow you as he has played sparingly in 53 career games with five starts, but he makes the most of his time on the field. Have a look at this statistic.
Malcolm Roach: best run-stop rate in the NFL this season (17.4%) 🛑 pic.twitter.com/vSvSgkPp0s
— PFF DEN Broncos (@PFF_Broncos) March 12, 2024
These are the kinds of players the Broncos need to be signing. Low-cost players with positive upside. Roach, who had the best run-stop rate in the entire league last year, brings that.
That is the kind of statistic that will go largely unnoticed because of his lack of name recognition, but the Broncos clearly did their homework with this move. He will join a defensive front that includes Zach Allen, but still needs more work.
It also likely spells the end of the Denver tenure for Mike Purcell.
Roach is 6-foot-3 and hovers around the 300-pound mark. He has 90 career tackles and one sack. In college, he racked up 130 tackles with 22.5 of those going for a loss of yardage, including eight sacks.
The Broncos have created a lot of extra spending money under the salary cap but are continuing to be frugal with it. That could point to several factors, such as letting the new money absorb the dead cap hit from the Russell Wilson deal. There is also the thought that Denver is just not a premiere destination for free agents as things currently stand.
This means the Broncos need to take a calculated approach to this signing period and Roach fits into that train of thought perfectly.