Elway Addresses How Broncos Will Attack 2020 in Wake of Injury-Riddled 2019 Free-Agent Class

63 snaps. That's how much of a contribution the Denver Broncos got from free-agent offensive tackle Ja'Wuan James in 2019 after signing him to a four-year, $51 million contract that included a $12M signing bonus.

Adding insult to injury, the Broncos received exactly zero snaps from cornerback Bryce Callahan in 2019, after signing him to a three-year, $21M deal with a $4M signing bonus. Thank the Football Gods for Kareem Jackson, as he was Denver's only saving grace as it related to their 2019 free-agent haul.

But even Jackson missed three games last season — one due to injury and two to a late-season suspension. It was an extremely bad turn of luck for the Broncos and it significantly altered the team's vision for the 2019 campaign.

Heading into a 2020 offseason in which the Broncos will be armed with north of $70M in cap space, the hope is that GM John Elway learned his lesson. The Broncos front-office czar recently spoke to how last season's faux pas might inform his approach and maneuvers in what will be his 10th NFL free agency period.

“I think we still do as much homework as we can and get as much information as we can," Elway said in his end-of-season presser alongside Vic Fangio. "Unfortunately, there were guys that we counted on that couldn’t go. That was unfortunate. That happens. That happens in this game and you’re going to have tough years and you’re going to have good years when it comes down to injury. That’s a big part of this game."

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Especially as it related to James, with the hiring of Chris Kuper as Assistant O-Line Coach to Mike Munchak, you'd think the Broncos would have garnered insider knowledge on what type of player they'd be getting if they paid James the money. Kuper spent the previous three years with the Miami Dolphins as an offensive assistant, with an up-close look at how James operates.

Over his five-year stint as a Dolphin, James developed a league-wide reputation for being an injury milker and for being guy who'll only take the field when he's fully 100% health-wise. Somehow, the Broncos either ignored that information or it was refuted by some evaluation the team received internally. Those are the only two explanations for how badly Denver got burned by James.

Hopefully, James can get his knee right and Callahan's latest foot surgery will allow him to get back on the field. The Broncos would like to be able to count on both for 2020, but unfortunately, both guys proved that any team relying on them is significantly exposing themselves to disappointment.

"We look forward for them coming back and helping us next year," Elway said. "I think Ja’Wuan was frustrated with his knee and Bryce with the foot. We have them coming back next year, which would add to that. I think Kareem Jackson played tremendous. I think he had a great year. He was a guy that he was everything that we thought he would be and more, especially at safety and the physicality that he played with."

At the end of the day, no NFL veteran who hits free agency after playing out at least a rookie contract has been completely unscathed by the injury bug. There are always questions about a free agent's health, it's just a matter of degrees.

There's a difference between a player who's been injured before but fought through minor bumps and bruises to play and be available for his team and a player who's actually injury-prone. The Broncos have to factor that into their evaluations more stringently in 2020 if they're going to stretch every last dollar.

"We’re going to go into free agency the same way," Elway said. "We’re going to do all the homework we can and hope that we don’t have the luck that we had this year with the injuries we had. We think that there are some quality football players out there that can help us.”

Not exactly the most encouraging remarks in terms of lessons learned. But you've got to believe that Elway will counter or adjust at least how he evaluates players in free agency.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.