Broncos Consider Casey Trade a 'Steal'
If the best trades are the ones that benefit both sides, then the Tennessee Titans’ recent decision to send Jurrell Casey to the Denver Broncos was a terrible one.
At least that’s the way the Broncos see it. Denver’s general manager John Elway, in fact, called it a ‘steal’ during an in-house interview posted Wednesday to the team’s website.
The Titans dealt Casey, a five-time Pro Bowler, to Denver on March 18 in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick.
The immediate payoff for Tennessee was the creation of salary cap space, much of which remains unused. According to OverTheCap.com, the Titans currently are more than $26.3 million under the salary cap. Only eight teams have more to spend.
“Jurrell Casey, trading for him at the defensive tackle position that we needed and steal a very, very good football player, a five-time Pro Bowler – for us to be able to trade a seventh-round pick for him, we felt very fortunate,” Elway said.
Not only are the Broncos happy to have Casey on their roster, they believe they will put the 6-foot-1, 305-pounder in the right spot as well.
"[The Titans] played some packages late in the year where they had him outside, but he's an interior defensive lineman that will hopefully be providing good inside pass rush, good strong play against the run," Denver coach Vic Fangio said in a separate in-house interview. "With our guys on the edge, that's real imperative."
Tennessee drafted Casey in the third round in 2011 when their base defense was a 4-3. His role changed in 2014, when Ken Whisenhunt was hired and implemented a 3-4 scheme that has continued under subsequent head coaches Mike Mularkey and Mike Vrabel.
In either scheme, Casey was a reliable and productive performer. He played at least 14 games and recorded at least 50 tackles in each of his nine seasons for the Titans. He notched five or more sacks each of the last seven years.
Mike Munchak, his first head coach in Tennessee, is now the offensive line coach in Denver.
“We came up with some guys that we'd target and would like to get,” Fangio said. “… We were able to come up with some guys that will really help us moving forward.”
