Every year, teams around the NFL put their best foot forward in order to improve the team from the year before. The NFL is a year-to-year league, perhaps more than any other, and the era of free agency helped pave the way for the parity that has made it that way.
The Denver Broncos handed out a ton of money in free agency this offseason, looking to lift the black cloud that has hung over the organization since the team won Super Bowl 50.
Over the years, the Broncos have hit home runs with free-agent signings such as Peyton Manning, Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware and Emmanuel Sanders. The flip side of that coin is the free-agent busts that have befallen the team, and there has been a healthy amount of those as well.
But what about the players that actually played for the Broncos who many fans may not even remember the team signing? Those that compel a fan to jump onto that player's Wikipedia page for a jog of the memory?
That's what we have here.
All of these players were more than notable at one time in their careers and were signed by the Broncos at one point in free agency. It's just not that easy to remember that it actually happened.
Broncos forgotten free-agent signings
Leonard Russell, RB, 1994
A first-round pick of the New England Patriots in 1991, he was also the Offensive Rookie of the Year that season when he rushed for 959 yards that season. In 1993, he would cross the 1,000-yard barrier and was quickly on his way to becoming one of the NFL's best young running backs.
But that offseason, the Pats traded for Marion Butts and Russell was shockingly released. The Broncos were the team to jump on Russell, bringing him in ahead of the 1994 season.
He didn't play bad for the team, rushing for 620 yards and nine touchdowns that season, but that wasn't enough to get him a second season with the team.
In 1995, the Broncos found Terrell Davis in the sixth round of the draft. He carried the load for the team that season as Russell was phased out and with a new team (St. Louis) the next season.