Broncos Veteran LB Tapped as a Top 100 Free Agent of 2024 by PFF
The Denver Broncos are going to have to make some extremely difficult financial decisions this offseason. With the inevitable separation from quarterback Russell Wilson looming, the Broncos are going to be in a difficult position from a salary cap position as the team is on the hook for approximately $85 million in dead cap when they part ways.
The Broncos do have a few avenues to limit the dead money on Wilson’s contract, but the impact on the salary cap and how the team can pay players will be impacted beyond a doubt. The Broncos also have ways to manipulate the cap.
Denver can structure contracts where players’ cap hits are exceedingly low before exploding in the later years of the deal. The Broncos can also work void years into contracts to spread dead cap hits. Fortunately, they don’t have many starters from 2023 set to hit free agency.
However, one starter the Broncos might lose this offseason is long-time linebacker Josey Jewell. A 2018 fourth-round pick out of Iowa, Jewell has spent the majority of the last six years of his career as the field general for Denver's defense in the middle of the field.
Jewell has never been a dynamic sideline-to-sideline athlete many fans romanticize when picturing a superstar linebacker, but his consistency and instincts have made him an overall solid quality starting linebacker in the NFL. Consequently, Pro Football Focus named Jewell as one of the top 100 free agents entering this offseason.
Jewell may not be great in any one facet of linebacker play, but he’s good in all of them. And a well-rounded linebacker is an asset to any defense. Jewell covers well in zone, with good spatial awareness to get proper depth, and has the ability to come forward and blitz up the middle on occasion.
Jewell wears the green dot on defense and gets everyone lined up, and he rarely seems out of position. A team looking for a field general with several years of starter experience could do much worse.
Contract Projection: Two years, $12.5 million ($6.25 million per year), $7 million total guaranteed
Although Jewell lacks the open-field speed one imagines when picturing a great off-ball linebacker, and he's a tad below average in size and length, he consistently gets the job done. He doesn’t miss many tackles, is lined up in the right spot nearly every snap, and does his job consistently enough that he is a dependable piece either in zone coverage on the backend of the defense or in the run fits.
On the season, Jewell is one tackle away from posting the third triple-digit tackle campaign of his career. With 99 combined tackles (54 solo), he's also totaled two sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and three pass break-ups.
Jewell’s impact on the game is certainly felt when he's not on the field. This past season, two of Denver’s worst defensive performances came in Weeks 3 and 4, two games where Jewell nearly missed entirely due to suffering an injury just 19 snaps into Denver’s embarrassing 50-point loss in Miami.
The Broncos did go out and attempt to draft the heir apparent to Jewell last year by selecting linebacker Drew Sanders early in the third round. However, early returns for Sanders at linebacker have been erratic at best, though he's coming off one of his most productive games.
Sanders' issues in processing and run fits from the second level have been so inconsistent that over the last month, the Broncos apparently abandoned the idea of playing him off the ball, instead moving him to the edge. The results outside have been mixed as well, but it would be hard for Denver to go into next season with Sanders as a starting linebacker, given the play displayed as a rookie.
Can the Broncos bring Jewell back? Considering that many draft experts are calling the upcoming 2024 draft class extremely thin with early-pick-worthy linebackers, with The Athletic’s lead draft analyst Dane Brugler going as far as to say that there might not be a linebacker drafted in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft, stable and consistent linebackers in free agency might find a larger market than many would expect.
If the Broncos do bring back Jewell, they'll likely have to give him a contract over multiple seasons where the cap hits extend beyond the next two years when Denver faces the biggest cap consequences of moving on from Wilson. Given Jewell’s friendship with fellow starting linebacker Alex Singleton and what will be his third contract in the NFL, will his camp aggressively pursue options outside of Denver if the team makes a fair and competitive offer?
Or will the Broncos feel forced to let Jewell walk and let the linebacker spot opposite Singleton be a massive question mark entering this offseason with hopes that Sanders or a veteran-minimum-type free agent type can fill the void left by the departure of 'The Outlaw?'
Jewell has always been somewhat misunderstood and underappreciated by Broncos Country. He's consistent, solid, and does his job.
After two years of producing solid tape and staying healthy, if the Broncos don’t show Jewell the love, it wouldn’t be shocking if someone else did. He's a top 100 free agent at a position where dependability should rank above all else.
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
