The Broncos parted ways with Randy Gregory on Wednesday, about a year and a half after giving him a five-year, $70 million deal. The plan initially was to release Gregory, but on Friday, the Broncos found a trade partner, sending him to the San Francisco 49ers. In exchange, the Broncos also give up a seventh-round pick in 2024 and receive a sixth-round pick from the Niners.
The Broncos have had some poor free-agent signings across team history, just as all teams have, but this one was bad for what the team ended up getting for its money. It's one of the moves that I believe will ultimately lead to the dismissal of general manager George Paton.
Where does this signing rank among the five worst in team history? Here is an up-to-date look at the worst free-agent signings in Broncos history.
Worst free-agent signings in Denver Broncos history
No. 5: Jarvis Green, 2010
Following a very successful run with the New England Patriots, Jarvis Green was signed by the Broncos, who were coached at the time by former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
Familiar with his work, McDaniels saw Green as a piece that could come in and boost the defense. The team gave him a four-year deal worth $20 million. Those numbers look small compared to today's standards, but it was good money in 2010.
Green barely lasted four months.
After playing poorly in the preseason, the Broncos made the shocking decision to cut Green before the season even started. He never played an official down for the Broncos.
A fourth-round pick in 2002 out of LSU, Green had over 200 career tackles and 28 sacks. But he had reached the end of his rope by the time the Broncos gave him this contract and he never again played in the NFL.
Worst free-agent signings in Denver Broncos history
No. 4: Menelik Watson, 2017
It's hard to put Menelik Watson above Green on this list because he actually played, but he was supposed to help shore up a position (right tackle) that had been so bad for the Broncos for so many years and all he did was made it worse.
Watson began the 2017 season as the starting right tackle, looking to become a constant at that spot after players like Ty Sambrailo and Donald Stephenson had struggled mightily in years prior. But Watson was just as bad, and then his health got in the way.
Watson made seven starts for the Broncos before a pectoral injury ended his season. He did not play well in those seven games and despite signing a three-year deal with the team that offseason, those ended up being the only games he ever played in for the Broncos.
The team released him the following offseason and he never again played in the NFL despite being just 30 years old at that time.
Worst free-agent signings in Denver Broncos history
No. 3: Randy Gregory, 2022
This is the spot where Gregory slots in and the only reason it doesn't go any higher was the fact that the Broncos were able to get something, even if it is just a sixth-round pick, back in exchange. Plus, the top two players on this list will be extremely hard to knock out of their spots.
It's difficult for me to put Gregory on this list and see his tenure in Denver end like this because this was a signing I have no problem saying that I was a big fan of at the time it happened.
The Broncos managed to wrestle Gregory away from the Dallas Cowboys and even though they gave him a big contract ($70 million over five years), the team was getting a pass-rusher who had been productive when he was available and still seemed to have untapped potential.
He was an incredibly bad signing for more than one reason.
Gregory played in just six games in 2022, his first with the Broncos. A knee injury forced him to miss much of the season and then when he returned to the field, he was involved in a post-game scuffle with a player on the Los Angeles Rams after the Broncos were completely embarrassed on national TV. He drew a one-game suspension and though that suspension was later overturned and replaced with a fine, Gregory had left a bad taste in the mouths of fans by that point.
He finished the season with two sacks.
Broncos Country hoped that things would improve in 2023, but Gregory looked slow and unmotivated on the field. He was benched in the starting lineup for the team's Week 4 game against the Chicago Bears and in that game, the combination of Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper were the biggest reasons the Broncos got their first win of the season.
News broke days later that Gregory was not going to be in Denver anymore, and there are certainly reasons that have not been made public that added to that decision. In all likelihood, Gregory's attitude continued to get worse over the thought of being a backup.
This was a horrendous signing for the team.
Worst free-agent signings in Denver Broncos history
No. 2: Daryl Gardener, 2003
For quite some time, this wasn't just one of the worst free-agent signings in Broncos history, it was one of the worst in NFL history. Though it happened 20 years ago, it can't be overlooked on this list and if this is still No. 1 on your personal list, I won't argue with you too much.
Daryl Gardener was a first-round pick of the Dolphins in 1996 and after six seasons there, he played for one season in Washington. That was when the Broncos decided he was going to be their big free-agent acquisition in 2003.
Gardener played in just five games for the Broncos but it was his actions off the field that made it such a bad deal for the team.
He broke his wrist in a fight at a restaurant and then on two separate occasions was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. One of those incidents was for going on a radio show and negatively talking about head coach Mike Shanahan.
He was disinterested and destructive and it turned out to be a horrible move for the team. Gardener was released by the team shortly after the two sides agreed on seven-year, $35 million deal. He never played in the NFL again, despite a short stint with the Cincinnati Bengals following his release.
He held the top spot on this list until...
Worst free-agent signings in Denver Broncos history
No. 1: Ja'Wuan James, 2019
Ja'Wuan James now sits in the No. 1 spot and that is for more than one reason. This wasn't just a bad signing, it was absolutely atrocious.
Still looking to fix that right tackle spot, then Broncos general manager John Elway decided to take a swing at James, a former first-round pick of the Dolphins. The potential for the move to be a good one was certainly there, but James did come with an injury history.
Still, he was given a four-year, $51 million deal in March 2019. That season, he appeared in just three games after suffering a knee injury in the season opener. The following year, the Broncos were looking for him to bounce back, but he announced that he would opt out of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 season came around and the Broncos were looking at how to rework James into the lineup after he had gone well over a year without playing football. But that offseason, he tore his Achilles while doing some training on his own time away from the team facility.
That ended up being the final straw for the Broncos, who let him go one week later. For all of that time that he spent as a member of the team, he played in a grand total of three games. That's almost as many as Gardener, but James' presence lingered for so much longer and that is the main reason I place him at No. 1 on this list.
He was the worst signing ever made through free agency by the Broncos.