Broncos have a quiet, yet significant start to free agency

The Denver Broncos navigated a rather difficult free agency with impressive skill and its not even close to as bad as we thought it was going to be.

The Denver Broncos have had one of the strangest free agencies in my 16 years covering the team and, frankly, I came away somewhat impressed by how well they have navigated the troubles presented by the failed experiment of Russell Wilson. It required some very tough decisions, but it also required some savvy moves to also try to maintain some competitive edge heading into next season.

The franchise is now undergoing a massive culture shift and that is something they have avoided doing ever since winning Super Bowl 50 all those years ago. That process had to begin with the tough decisions of moving on from All-Pro safety Justin Simmons and trading former-first round pick Jerry Jeudy. Both of those moves, and the subsequent release of tight end Chris Manhertz, signaled the team may have been looking to eat a bigger portion of the salary cap hit from Russell Wilson in order to move forward with plenty of wiggle room in 2025 and beyond.

Those suspicions were further confirmed when the team made multiple contract restructures to last year’s free agents to free up nearly $50 million in salary cap space ahead of the ‘legal tampering’ period this week.

Those opening salvos set the stage for one of the more interesting, if subdued, free agencies in recently Broncos’ history. Let’s review all the moves Denver made with none of them being what we would call a first wave splash free agent signing.

1. Re-signed offensive lineman Quinn Bailey to a one-year deal.
2. Reworked Tim Patrick’s contract to keep him in Denver in 2024.
3. Re-signed safety P.J. Locke to a two-year deal.
4. Re-signed kicker Wil Lutz to a two-year deal.
5. Signed free agent safety Brandon Jones to a three-year deal.
6. Re-signed full back Michael Burton to a one-year deal.
7. Re-signed tight end Adam Trautman to a two-year deal.
8. Signed free agent defensive tackle Malcolm Roach to a two-year deal.
9. Re-signed wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey to a one-year deal.

I would say almost every one of those re-signed Broncos’ players are exactly the type of players they needed to keep on the roster this season. They would lose multiple starters to free agency too with Lloyd Cushenberry III moving on to the Tennessee Titans and Josey Jewell going to the Carolina Panthers. It was important for them to keep some impact starters even if they are considered ‘low-end’ starters.

Many of them are rising talent too. I would say Locke and Jones are both rising talent at the safety position. You are not replacing a guy like Justin Simmons outright, but from what I’ve seen from both those players the drop off may not be as significant as one would expect.

The same would go with Roach who should be able to plug the middle of the defense rather nicely, especially if the Broncos can find a way to keep D.J. Jones. He was one of the more obvious veteran cuts due to low dead money, but so far it looks like the team may be looking to keep him around.

On offense, both Trautman and Humphrey came up big for Denver late in the season. That is what you are looking for from your bench — guys who can come in and contribute in big ways.

Now, with Denver having eaten the bigger portion of the salary cap hit from Wilson in 2024, they are primed for a big spend in 2025 with over a $100 million in projected salary cap space next year. If they can somehow land the quarterback Sean Payton believes is the perfect fit for what he wants to do in the 2024 NFL Draft, then they’ll have all the pieces in place for a significant jump next season in overall talent.

Free agency is technically still young, but overall I’d give Payton a low B grade so far. No top talent is a negative, but they also didn’t blow up their salary cap space going after the big free agent money. How would you grade the Broncos free agency moves so far?