The Denver Broncos free agent period could be described as modest, but that doesn't mean they aced their various free agency moves. Denver taking this modest approach is needed due to the financial fallout of the Russell Wilson release. Denver will be taking on an NFL-record $85 million in dead money between the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
But after 2025, the contract is totally off the books. The Broncos invested modestly into the free agency market, which is much different than their approach last season. With that being said, they still could have done some things differently, and that's what we will cover here.
Let's look at three free agency do-overs for the Denver Broncos,
Free agent do-overs for the Denver Broncos during the 2024 Offseason
Broncos should have signed DT Sheldon Rankins
A former Sean Payton draft pick, Sheldon Rankins made a ton of sense for Denver. He's a very good and very consistent defensive tackle that signed a two-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2023 for the Texans, Rankins had six sacks, 37 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 10 QB hits.
Denver would have loved to have had that production from the defensive tackle position. Now yes, the Broncos did add guys like Malcolm Roach, John Franklin-Myers, and Angelo Blackson along the DL, but none of those three are as good as Rankins.
This might just be a situation where the Broncos did not want to pay over $10 million per season for a free agent. Denver's 2024 offseason was likely always going to be on the more modest side as soon as the Broncos front office decided that Russell Wilson was getting cut.
However, there was plenty of room to bring someone like Sheldon Rankins on board.