Three Bold Moves Broncos Can Still Make in Free Agency
The Denver Broncos are purportedly hitting 'pause' on free agency. If it's true, it could simply be GM John Elway's way of letting the market settle and reexamining the second and third wave of free agency.
The Broncos don't have to be done, though. Although neither Over The Cap nor Spotrac have an accurate summary of where the Broncos stand with cap space currently, as neither site has recently-signed OL Graham Glasgow factored into its total. However, I project it to be somewhere close to $20 million.
The team will have to earmark a good chunk of that for signing the 2020 draft class but that still leaves plenty of wiggle room, especially with the 2021 salary cap expected to swell significantly. A savvy cap wizard could find ways to get really creative in the present and defer cap hits into the future.
I see three bold moves the Broncos could still make to really punctuate what has been a mostly positive free-agent haul. Let's dive in.
Prince Amukamara, CB | ex-Chicago Bears
Before the Bears even released Amukamara, MHH was talking about him as a potential target and likely cap casualty. Sure enough, Chicago cut bait with the former first-rounder and it seemed destined that he'd land in the Mile High City.
That hasn't happened yet. Whether due to Amukamara's financial demands, or the Broncos dragging their heels into the second and third wave of free agency, the move still makes sense on multiple levels of analysis.
Yes, getting A.J. Bouye in the building helped mitigate what was a Category 5 disaster brewing for Denver at the cornerback position. And with De'Vante Bausby also back in the fold, the Broncos have three starting-caliber corners to lean on, if you count Bryce Callahan.
However, I'm not sure it would be the epitome of football wisdom to rely entirely on Callahan returning to form after that nagging foot injury claimed all of the 2019 season and three games of 2018. Let's not forget, also, that Bausby is returning from a scary neck injury that caused him to lose all feeling in his limbs for half an hour.
To really hedge against either corner not returning to perfect form, one more addition makes sense. Of all the options, Amukamara rises to the top because of his schematic fit in Vic Fangio's defense and experience.
Maybe the Broncos are content enough to make Amukamara sweat it out. But it'd behoove Elway and Fangio to bite the Amukamara bullet before another team scoops him up.
Other CB Options: Bashaud Breeland, Logan Ryan, Ronald Darby
Derek Wolfe, DL | Denver Broncos
Wolfe is reportedly being courted by the Patriots, which makes every Broncos fan reading this curse silently under his or her breath. Unfortunately for Wolfe, but perhaps fortunately for Denver, the COVID19 crisis has made it impossible for him to travel to undergo physicals with interested outside teams.
Wolfe is now floating in the second wave. As arguably the one Bronco holdover who took to Fangio's new scheme the best last year, Elway would be remiss to let Wolfe languish on the market much longer.
Even an extremely short-term prove-it deal makes a lot of sense, both for Wolfe and the Broncos. Such a deal would allow Wolfe to earn money in 2020 while betting that next year's free-agent period won't be dimmed by the pall of a viral pandemic, while it would give the Broncos a low-risk opportunity to see if 2019 was a fluke and whether Wolfe can stay healthy.
The Jurrell Casey acquisition was a home run but it didn't eliminate defensive line as a need for the Broncos. Even if the team believes Dre'Mont Jones is ready to start at defensive end, having Wolfe in the fold would be phenomenal insurance in the event that the former Ohio State product still needs time to marinate under the wing of D-line Coach Bill Kollar.
Other DL Options: Shelby Harris, Ndamukong Suh
Damarious Randall, DB | ex-Cleveland Browns
With Will Parks taking an opportunity to start in Philadelphia, the Broncos suddenly have a need in the secondary. A No. 3 safety to come in and play in big nickel sub-packages might not be a dire need, but it is a hole.
Trey Marshall showed well in his limited opportunity in the final two games of last season with Kareem Jackson serving a DUI suspension but I'm not sure the sample size was enough to count on. Marshall is coming back on an exclusive rights free-agent tender but the Broncos would be wise to add one more veteran to the mix.
Randall would make a lot of sense because he can play safety and a little nickel linebacker. As a former first-round pick in Green Bay, he hasn't been able to fulfill his draft pedigree but that plays into the Broncos' hands.
Although you worry that Randall didn't have a single interception in 11 games last year for the Browns, he did post 2.5 sacks and 45 solo tackles, while breaking up six passes. He did have a combined 14 interceptions in his previous four NFL seasons. The 5-foot-11, 196-pound DB will be 28 years old this summer, so a short-term deal to capitalize on his remaining 'prime' years could be advantageous.
Other DB Options: Vonn Bell
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
