Broncos Locker Room Speaks Out on Trade Rumors as Deadline Nears
Change could be coming to the Denver Broncos as the team hits a mini-bye week of 10 days between games. On the heels of Thursday night's loss in Kansas City, the Broncos released rush linebacker Frank Clark, and rumors abound of an impending fire sale about to be hosted in the Mile High City.
The NFL trade deadline is October 31, and multiple insiders have tapped the Broncos as big sellers, despite the protestations and denials of head coach Sean Payton. It very much feels like a sword of doom hangs over this team's head, and the players can feel it.
Wideout Jerry Jeudy is the No. 1 candidate to be dealt away before month's end, based on the current rumor mill. Not only has Jeudy failed to produce in Year 4, but the hyper-sensitive and, ostensibly, insecure receiver has beefed with legendary former Broncos on social media, and got into a spat with Thursday Night Football analyst Steve Smith at Arrowhead.
It really feels like Jeudy's trying to grease the rails on getting out of Denver. He reacted to the swirling trade rumors on Thursday night following the Broncos' 19-8 loss to the Chiefs.
“At the end of the day, I am going to do my part and do my job," Jeudy said. "I don’t think about all that. I just think about I’ll just be where my feet are, you feel me? So, I can’t think about the future. I can’t think about the past. It’s out of my control. I’m just taking it day by day.”
Jeudy isn't the only Broncos veteran whose name has been floated in the rumor mill. Fellow wideout Courtland Sutton has been a regular in the rumor mill all year long, while left tackle Garett Bolles is another potential trade chip the Broncos could parlay to stockpile draft picks for the coming rebuild.
“People are going to talk,’’ Bolles said post-game via Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “It starts with (the media). You guys start the rumors, so at the end of the day, I’m a Bronco. Everyone’s a Bronco. We’re going to ride as Broncos until otherwise. I stay positive and love my teammates. I love being here and we go from there.”
Alex Singleton's first year in Denver was a whirlwind, but he finished with north of 160 tackles, so the Broncos re-signed him to a three-year extension this past offseason. Through six weeks, with five starts, he's already amassed 55 combined tackles (33 solo), but outside of an inspired performance in Kansas City, the Broncos defense has been historically bad, and everyone is complicit.
“That’s obviously way above my head," Singleton said of the Broncos being 'sellers' at the deadline. "They can do what they want to do. For the guys that are here, we’re going to play football games. That’s our job and we’ll let them do their job. If you’re not winning football games, then upstairs can do whatever they want.”
Even All-Pros like safety Justin Simmons and lately, cornerback Patrick Surtain II have been named in trade rumors. It's highly unlikely that Denver will trade away Surtain, its best player, even in the pursuit of a from-the-ground-up rebuild, but it's the NFL; never say never.
Simmons, however, has struggled this season. His last two games have more closely resembled his All-Pro form, but he's also missed two games with a hip injury.
Denver drafted Simmons in the third round back in 2016, and he's known nothing but losing. As good as the soon-to-be 30-year-old Simmons has been, he's expensive, and outside teams would definitely be interested in dealing for him.
"We've got to regroup and get this nice little, short weekend here and hopefully get some guys back," Simmons said after Thursday night's loss when asked about what the next steps. "We need to prepare well for the Packers next week and then we’ll see Kansas City again. It’s taking the positives and overhyping on the negatives and improve moving forward so we can keep the consistency here defensively.“
Many fans view the Broncos as conditioned losers at the personnel level, and every player mentioned in this article, with the exception of Surtain, gets painted with that same brush. For Sean Payton to begin to revivify the organizational decay at Broncos HQ, the bad ju-ju has to be cleared out.
Expect additional changes to come over the next nine days as the Broncos recalibrate their goals for 2023 under the realization that losing five of the first six games has dug a hole too deep to climb out of. Even Russell Wilson could be on the trade-block table if the Broncos were to find a trade partner willing to absorb his albatross of a contract.
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