Possible trades this offseason?

[Zukhyubern]

I agree we should keep DT, I hope he retires a Bronco..

so let’s say we trade Saunders for a 4th—I think it’s reasonable, maybe include one of our later round or a future pick—would we need to spend money to fill the gap? Or do we look for playmakers in the draft? 

Either way it seems He has one foot out the door already, might as well get some value for him. 

[Broncofan]

Just now, Zukhyubern said:

I agree we should keep DT, I hope he retires a Bronco..

so let’s say we trade Saunders for a 4th—I think it’s reasonable, maybe include one of our later round or a future pick—would we need to spend money to fill the gap? Or do we look for playmakers in the draft? 

Either way it seems He has one foot out the door already, might as well get some value for him. 

The problem with Sanders is he's no longer valuable to teams - he's a 2nd WR on most teams, and costs 10M.   We would be lucky to get a 4th - more like a conditional 5th-6th....which then we're likely better off to keep him, unless we really need the $.

The bigger issue is we don't even have a 3rd WR to count on right now.   The draft return wouldn't likely be worth it.   If only we drafted a Chris Godwin or Kenny Golladay in Rd3 instead of C-Henderson, you could feel like making that move, or even a release...but we're so talent-poor at WR, hard to see Elway going that route right now barring getting value FA signs the coaching staff feels good about taking over the WR2 role.

[champ11]

4 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

The problem with Sanders is he's no longer valuable to teams - he's a 2nd WR on most teams, and costs 10M.   We would be lucky to get a 4th - more like a conditional 5th-6th....which then we're likely better off to keep him, unless we really need the $.

The bigger issue is we don't even have a 3rd WR to count on right now.   The draft return wouldn't likely be worth it.   If only we drafted a Chris Godwin or Kenny Golladay in Rd3 instead of C-Henderson, you could feel like making that move, or even a release...but we're so talent-poor at WR, hard to see Elway going that route right now barring getting value FA signs the coaching staff feels good about taking over the WR2 role.

I think there is going to be a focus on culture this offseason though. We're not sure where Sanders stands.......but they might want to get him outta there. Will be interesting because I think he is still a solid #2 even though we should be using that money elsewhere

[thebestever6]

1 hour ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

I've never understood this either. Let's see, he's the most physically talented WR the franchise has ever had, by the time he retires he's going to hold every receiving record the team has, is he still an elite athlete, no, but neither is his draft mate Dez Bryant. DT is a good player, he's no longer a great player but he is a good one. Almost as importantly, he's a good locker room guy and a good guy in the community. 

I think dt has more gas in the tank than people think just needs a competent qb.

[bMiller031]

3 hours ago, thebestever6 said:

I think dt has more gas in the tank than people think just needs a competent qb.

Agreed. I think his skill set ages well. He could have a few Boldin-esque years late in his career. 

Sanders, not so much. 

[broncosfan07]

Yeah getting rid of DT would be a huge mistake. Sanders is still good but more likely to fall off a cliff and has missed quite a few games with injury lately. With as many good WRs there are now it shouldn't be hard to find a replacement who's cheaper/younger.

[broncos67]

19 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

I've never understood this either. Let's see, he's the most physically talented WR the franchise has ever had, by the time he retires he's going to hold every receiving record the team has, is he still an elite athlete, no, but neither is his draft mate Dez Bryant. DT is a good player, he's no longer a great player but he is a good one. Almost as importantly, he's a good locker room guy and a good guy in the community. 

Correct. And frankly, he's played injured all the time, is not a complainer, is fairly reliable, and still commands attention from teams. It's on Elway that he couldn't find weapons and a QB to take advantage of this fact. Thomas is better than Dez at this point in their careers, and although he's not the freak athlete he once was, I think fans are irrationally mad at him for poor QB play.

[Broncofan]

58 minutes ago, broncos67 said:

Correct. And frankly, he's played injured all the time, is not a complainer, is fairly reliable, and still commands attention from teams. It's on Elway that he couldn't find weapons and a QB to take advantage of this fact. Thomas is better than Dez at this point in their careers, and although he's not the freak athlete he once was, I think fans are irrationally mad at him for poor QB play.

They're irrationally mad at him because he got paid.   When the WR's were (and still are) getting paid, even if they aren't the focal point of the O, and remain QB-dependent.   Dez and he were the top 2 WR's 1 year away from FA when their extensions were done - and DT's followed Dez.   Elway never sets the market, but he matches it, and he matched it there. 

People just resent the $ WR's make when they aren't the centerpieces.    But that's the reality of WR and the salary cap today.   Davante Adams is a great young WR, a guy we passed on for Latimer.   He's had 1 decent season, and a really breakout season this year (injuries with 2 concussions and then playing with Brett Hundley are the only reason he didn't get 1000 yds - was on 16-game pace for a 1400 yd season with ARod as his QB for games played IIRC, and still led WR's by a wide margin when Hundley was there).   But he's still QB dependent - and he just got 14.5M AAV - and he's recognized as a 2nd-tier WR, guys like OBJ, DeAndre Hopkins (who already got 81/5) and Mike Evans are going to obliterate that # - rumors were saying 18-20M AAV for OBJ as the trendsetter pre-injury (and his injury has no long-term effect, either, so can't believe it will change much).     The same people who wanted DT gone pointed to Sanders as the guy who's a better WR - and now that Sanders is being paid 10M+ and starting to break down, are calling for him to go.   It's fair to say Sanders brought in way more value than DT did given the difference in salary - but make no mistake, had we been without DT, we don't win SB50, and our O would have looked even more dreadful.  It's just that WR can never fix a bad O by itself - but people expect that when players get paid. It's human nature. 

Now it's also fair to say DT has started to decline - his ability to hit the home run with YAC ability is fading.  He's still really good - but he was never the AJ Green type who could beat every type of coverage, go short or deep - he still has trouble with press coverage (always has), and the drops are so maddening with his hands, it's not a hands issue.  He very well may not be worth keeping in 2019 even with salary inflation, we'll just have to see where he's at ability-wise, given his contract $.   We shouldn't be overly sentimental, either.  But  whenever DT stops being a Bronco, I'll always be thankful for his Bronco years, as we don't win the SB50 without him, and would have been much worse without him even with a bad O overall in 2016-7.

[jsthomp2007]

Love DT...hope Sanders sticks around.  But, let's face it...it would be nice to find another dynamic WR and a good TE to compliment them...because they are starting to age.  

[BroncosFan2010]

I just dislike adding more needs to this team. We already need a WR3 and TE1. Probably a RB1 too once CJ is cut.

Moving Manny just adds to those needs and makes it necessary to replace 4 skill position players in a single offseason. That is a huge order, and your unlikely to replace him with a similar talent and therefore are putting our new QB in an even worse position than he needs be in.

 

[iLikeDefense]

3 minutes ago, BroncosFan2010 said:

I just dislike adding more needs to this team. We already need a WR3 and TE1. Probably a RB1 too once CJ is cut.

Moving Manny just adds to those needs and makes it necessary to replace 4 skill position players in a single offseason. That is a huge order, and your unlikely to replace him with a similar talent and therefore are putting our new QB in an even worse position than he needs be in.

 

No one is advocating a Sanders trade, we are all suggesting there is a possibility it can happen. The OP was asking about possible realistic trades.

Do I think we may trade sanders? Yes. Do I think we should?  Probably not.

[Broncofan]

6 minutes ago, BroncosFan2010 said:

I just dislike adding more needs to this team. We already need a WR3 and TE1. Probably a RB1 too once CJ is cut.

Moving Manny just adds to those needs and makes it necessary to replace 4 skill position players in a single offseason. That is a huge order, and your unlikely to replace him with a similar talent and therefore are putting our new QB in an even worse position than he needs be in.

 

In the end, that's probably why we stand pat.   I hope we get an Anthony Miller in Rd3+ in the draft to address WR3.   We can't really spend much to address it, sadly (and why hitting on a Godwin/Golladay instead of having a huge & in C-Henderson was such a huge swing in our cap situation/2018 flexibility).

[Broncofan]

1 minute ago, iLikeDefense said:

No one is advocating a Sanders trade, we are all suggesting there is a possibility it can happen. The OP was asking about possible realistic trades.

Do I think we may trade sanders? Yes. Do I think we should?  Probably not.

To be fair, though, outside the forum, there is a fair amount of online speculation.    Most here agree trading Sanders just creates another issue rather than frees up $ solely to address others.    And the only posters who think Sanders might be traded or cut are citing culture/desire reasons, not play-related, because there's no doubt we'd have a big void at WR2 if he did leave.   

[iLikeDefense]

Just now, Broncofan said:

To be fair, though, outside the forum, there is a fair amount of online speculation.    Most here agree trading Sanders just creates another issue rather than frees up $ solely to address others.    And the only posters who think Sanders might be traded or cut are citing culture/desire reasons, not play-related, because there's no doubt we'd have a big void at WR2 if he did leave.   

so MHR? Yeah, I avoid that garbage.

[AKRNA]

I think we'll be surprised at who stays and goes this year. Champ11 nailed it when he mentioned "culture". It's easy to be a team guy when you're winning. Not so much when it goes the other way. I've read posts about the defense mailing it in because the offense sucked. If one player fits that mold he should be gone.

We need a rebuild around core players. We're not even in any position to make the playoffs next year so why not ditch the "win now" mantra and focus on 2019/20.