First-year Broncos that did not earn a second deal with team

The Denver Broncos are a team looking to rebuild in a big way before the 2023 season kicks off.

The 2022 season cannot be considered anything other than a complete disaster for the Broncos. Despite big expectations, the team posted a 5-12 record and became just the fourth team in league history to fire a rookie coach before the end of his first season.

After hiring Sean Payton as his replacement, the Broncos will now turn to free agency where the top goals will be rebuilding the offensive line and finding depth at positions such as running back and perhaps backup quarterback, among others.

But before a team starts to look outside the organization, it must first assess what it has on its own roster. The Broncos have a list of players set to become unrestricted free agents though defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones is far and away the biggest name on that list.

The team had several first-year players in Denver last year from free-agent signings to rookies and undrafted players. This list will contain players who didn't perform well enough in 2022 to warrant a new deal with the team.

For clarification, every player on this list will be up for a new deal. So while it's easy to state that Randy Gregory, last year's big free-agent splash, didn't perform up to expectations, you're not going to see him here.

These four players could be looking for that new contract elsewhere.

First-year Broncos that did not earn a second deal with the team

Eric Tomlinson, Tight End

Despite coming into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015, Eric Tomlinson has put together a lengthy career with nine different teams.

While it's nice to have that strong blocking tight end on your roster, those players usually offer little to nothing in the passing game. Tomlinson did have a career-high nine passes this past season and he took two of those into the end zone, but the Broncos also had Eric Saubert and Andrew Beck on the roster.

All of these guys bring virtually the same thing to the offense and Nathaniel Hackett insisted in having them play a large number of snaps while Albert Okweugbunam was a healthy scratch nearly every game.

The Broncos just don't need all of these guys. Saubert is set to hit the free-agent market along with Tomlinson and if the Broncos bring either of them back, Saubert is the better option.

In Sean Payton's offenses with the New Orleans Saints, tight ends such as Jimmy Graham and Ben Watson put up big numbers and the "blocking" tight end is not quite as important. The Broncos definitely don't need three of them.