Denver Broncos EDGE room could look a lot different going forward
The Denver Broncos pass rush has been mostly a liability ever since Von Miller and Bradley Chubb were traded, and the unit could look a lot different going forward. One notable free agency miss by George Paton and the inability to replace both Miller and Chubb has left the Broncos pass rush unit on fumes.
Randy Gregory ended up being a massive dud of a signing, and all of Baron Browning, Nik Bonitto, and Jonathon Cooper are all more complimentary pieces rather than being a true difference maker off the EDGE. All in all, the unit itself is young, if nothing else, and both Bonitto and Cooper could probably be high-end EDGE2 players if you will, but the entire unit could look a lot different going forward.
The Broncos have an urgent need off the EDGE and along the defensive line. Not only does Denver have an urgent need to find at least one difference maker off the EDGE, but both Baron Browning and Jonathon Cooper will be free agents at the end of the season. And if Nik Bonitto could take another step forward in 2024, the Broncos might have no choice but to extend him.
It'd be a tough situation for Denver to navigate, but if Browning and Cooper are capped-out as players, the Broncos could let them walk in free agency next year. Sean Payton has always invested into his defensive lines during his time in the NFL, and this could be yet another unit that gets a makeover going forward.
Ideally, two of Bonitto, Cooper, and Browning entrench themselves as a workable pass-rush duo that Denver can build around. However, if Denver came away with a top EDGE prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft, that could tell us that the confidence in the three young pass rushers that Denver has might not be all that great.
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We can all agree that the pass rush needs to be better, and I'm not sure anyone in Broncos Country truly cares who that ends up being. Seeing Von Miller and Bradley Chubb get traded clearly has had a negative impact on the current unit. GM George Paton has done a pretty awful job if we're being honest at trying to repair this unit, so Sean Payton could take things into his own hands here.