Broncos Free Agency Thread

[jolly red giant 255]

8 hours ago, thebestever6 said:

I completely agree with you about Watson. I just read the Paton has a plan A, B, C, D so I'm curious to see what routes they go in general. 

I love the culture guys we have tho on D fresh takent for needs to be brought in asap. I mean a guy like purcell can help mentor some young talent love his attitude .

It is clear that the biggest issue is QB and that will dictate how they approach building the rest of the roster

Their plan A is Watson - whether it is realistic or not.

I don't think that they will opt out of their FA dealings to wait for Watson - if it happens they will deal with whatever cap issues they have at that time.

Plan B is probably Prescott - and that could mean waiting a year and letting Lock play out - if Lock shows he can get it done then no harm has been done. They will need to create more cap space for Prescott than they would need for Watson.

Plan C could be looking at the cost of moving up in the draft to 1.2 and taking Wilson or Fields - unlikely unless the cost is very affordable - or making a move for Darnold.

Plan D rolling with Lock and a vet back-up and dealing with the QB problem next year if Lock doesn't pan out.

Now each of the plans could and should be interchangeable and should run in parallel with one another and they build other resources and make a play for any QB that improves the team and see what the fallout is from the QB carousel.

Edited Sunday at 03:31 PM by jolly red giant

[AKRNA 809]

On 2/13/2021 at 9:46 AM, BroncoBruin said:

JJ still gets double teamed more than any EDGE in football. He’s about half of what he once was. And that’s still a Pro Bowl caliber player. 

You really got me thinking. JJ in his prime was the most dominant, game wrecking, defensive talent I've ever seen. Given I've been a fan since about 1960 that covers a lot of players. In a limited role I think he's still that guy.

If I'm Paton I'd seriously consider making him the centerpiece of FA. We've got such a young roster and no real leaders. JJ would fill that role by example immediately and raise the level of play of everyone around him, a new version of our Ware signing. Reduce his play to about 40-50% of the snaps and he'd still be a game wrecker. The influence he'd have on our younger guys, Jones, Agim, .......................... could be astounding. I'd bet he'd even be able to push Von to his potential.

So, my solution to bringing Denver back to prominence would be:

1. Sign JJ for 3 years

2. Restructure Von for 3

3. Restructure Casey for 3

4. Trade up if necessary to acquire Parsons in the draft

It's nothing new but TB emphasized it again this year. To defeat a team with an "all world" QB you do it with defense. Hit him early and often. It works against the very best and always has.

Imagine a front 7 in a passing down with: JJ Watt, Jurrell Casey, Shelby Harris/Dre Jones as your front 3 with Von, Parsons, Jewell and Chubb as the LB's. Thats about a 2 second window for a QB to do his business and you can do it with any 4. Send 5 or 6 and it'd look like the 85 Bears.  Fangio would have a field day!

Anyway, just a thought.

 

Edited yesterday at 05:34 AM by AKRNA

[BroncoBruin 1,692]

17 hours ago, AKRNA said:

You really got me thinking. JJ in his prime was the most dominant, game wrecking, defensive talent I've ever seen. Given I've been a fan since about 1960 that covers a lot of players. In a limited role I think he's still that guy.

If I'm Paton I'd seriously consider making him the centerpiece of FA. We've got such a young roster and no real leaders. JJ would fill that role by example immediately and raise the level of play of everyone around him, a new version of our Ware signing. Reduce his play to about 40-50% of the snaps and he'd still be a game wrecker. The influence he'd have on our younger guys, Jones, Agim, .......................... could be astounding. I'd bet he'd even be able to push Von to his potential.

So, my solution to bringing Denver back to prominence would be:

1. Sign JJ for 3 years

2. Restructure Von for 3

3. Restructure Casey for 3

4. Trade up if necessary to acquire Parsons in the draft

It's nothing new but TB emphasized it again this year. To defeat a team with an "all world" QB you do it with defense. Hit him early and often. It works against the very best and always has.

Imagine a front 7 in a passing down with: JJ Watt, Jurrell Casey, Shelby Harris/Dre Jones as your front 3 with Von, Parsons, Jewell and Chubb as the LB's. Thats about a 2 second window for a QB to do his business and you can do it with any 4. Send 5 or 6 and it'd look like the 85 Bears.  Fangio would have a field day!

Anyway, just a thought.

 

I’m not sure it’s the direction they would go in but it does bring up an interesting roster-building question: does it make more sense to build a balanced roster without exploitable weaknesses or go all-in on one overwhelming unit? The secondary is badly in need of investment but that front 7 would be a game wrecking force. But it also means you’re a Callahan injury (an annual event) away from a nightmarish group of corners in a league where good corners are more important than ever. In your scenario I probably spend that Jurrell Casey money on the cheaper Shelby + a starting caliber corner. 

It’s a good thought because outside of a Watson trade’s effect on the passing game, the front 4-5 is the group that can be elevated to greatness if you prioritize it. 

[broncos67 618]

14 hours ago, BroncoBruin said:

I’m not sure it’s the direction they would go in but it does bring up an interesting roster-building question: does it make more sense to build a balanced roster without exploitable weaknesses or go all-in on one overwhelming unit? The secondary is badly in need of investment but that front 7 would be a game wrecking force. But it also means you’re a Callahan injury (an annual event) away from a nightmarish group of corners in a league where good corners are more important than ever. In your scenario I probably spend that Jurrell Casey money on the cheaper Shelby + a starting caliber corner. 

It’s a good thought because outside of a Watson trade’s effect on the passing game, the front 4-5 is the group that can be elevated to greatness if you prioritize it. 

The surest way to make the playoffs year in and year out is to win your division. Plain and simple. If that's the case, I would argue Denver needs QB play in the Top 15 range, and a Top 10 defense. The harsh reality is that KC will be so good for the next few years that we'll be shooting for WC spots in an expanded playoff scene.

Having a strong defense will help, but we still need QB play far and beyond what Lock did this year. In a conference with KC, Buffalo, Baltimore, hell, even Tennessee, it's imperative that we score points. A defense that can hold teams around 21ppg would be stellar in this NFL. But until our offense starts averaging 27ish PPG, or at least is able to put that amount up with some regularity, we're going to toil in mediocrity.

[The Helicopter 89]

Bring in Watt & Watson, problem solved.

[jsthomp2007 601]

2 hours ago, The Helicopter said:

Bring in Watt & Watson, problem solved.

That would be some ballz deep kind of production there.