Broncos depth chart: Where things stand after opening wave of free agency (2024)

Rush and cover indeed.

New Broncos general manager George Paton said upon his hiring that the blueprint for building a successful modern NFL defense hinges on pressuring the quarterback and blanketing his targets well enough to turn that pressure into game-changing plays.

“You look at the good defenses around the league, teams can rush the quarterback and teams can cover,” Paton said before free agency began.“That is going to be a priority here.”

It’s safe to say Denver has taken a major step toward maximizing that model in the past week. The additions of Kyle Fuller and Ronald Darby and the returns of Von Miller, Shelby Harris, Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson are moves that could spell a top-10 (top-five? top-three?) defense for the Broncos in 2021.

As free agency draws to a close and the draft nears, it’s a good time to reset the team’s depth chart. Where are the Broncos locked in? Where is there room for improvement? Are there still any glaring weaknesses?

Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of where things stand.

Quarterback

Starter: Drew Lock

Reserves: Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien

The odds that the above configuration will exist when the Broncos’ initial 53-man roster is finalized are long. Every indication from Paton suggests a quarterback will be added to the roster. Perhaps that comes by way of a trade. Perhaps the Broncos select a quarterback with the No. 9 pick — or even make a move up to ensure they get one of the draft’s top prospects. But each day that goes by in the offseason without Denver acquiring another quarterback is a good day for Lock, who shouldn’t be discounted as an option in Week 1. The Broncos would save $2.5 million against the salary cap by cutting Driskel, a move that could happen once they add another quarterback.

Running back

Starter: Melvin Gordon

Reserves: Mike Boone, Royce Freeman, LeVante Bellamy, Damarea Crockett

Here is how the division of carries broke down for the Broncos running backs in 2020:

That table has to be one of the reasons Boone was interested in signing a two-year deal with the Broncos last week. Dalvin Cook occupied 66.7 percent of the Vikings’ carries in 2020, the third-largest percentage in the league behind Tennessee’s Derrick Henry (72.6) and Jacksonville’s James Robinson (71.2). Gordon played in 15 games last season, and his 1B partner in the backfield, Phillip Lindsay, missed five games, yet Gordon still accounted for less than half of the team’s carries.

This could be a big opportunity for Boone — he has averaged 5.3 yards on 71 career carries — to step into a much larger offensive role than he had in Minnesota, where he fought for the rare non-Cook carries with fellow reserve Alexander Mattison last season. There are other interesting questions at play in the backfield. If Freeman can’t wrestle the No. 2 spot from Boone, would the Broncos try to trade the former third-round pick? Can Bellamy, with the benefit of an offseason program he didn’t have last year, put himself into the mix for a backup spot? With Gordon’s contract set to expire after the 2021 season, will Denver target a running back in the draft?

Fullback

Starter: Andrew Beck

Reserve: Jeremy Cox

Beck and Cox have value as hybrid players, with Beck able to line up at tight end and Cox an option to carry the ball as a running back. But neither player was used in those secondary roles in 2020. Beck was not targeted in the passing game during his 10 games, and Cox worked only as a lead blocker during his 19 offensive snaps as a rookie. It’s hard to envision room for both on the roster to start the season.

Wide receiver

Starters: Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, K.J. Hamler

Reserves: Tim Patrick, Tyrie Cleveland, Diontae Spencer, DaeSean Hamilton, Kendall Hinton, Trinity Benson

Reports on Sutton’s progress from his September ACL tear have remained positive. The return of the 2019 Pro Bowl selection will be an obvious boost for a position group that rode the up-and-down waves of youth last season. The Broncos recently placed a second-round tender on Patrick after a career year in 2020, all but assuring his spot on the roster. Stepping in for the injured Sutton, Patrick caught 51 passes for 742 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. Jeudy, meanwhile, led Denver in receptions (52) and yards (856) as a rookie and hauled the NFL’s longest touchdown pass of the season, a 92-yard catch-and-run score in the season finale against the Raiders. If he can limit the drops that plagued him during his debut season and Hamler can avoid some of the injury pitfalls that hit him last year, the Broncos could boast one of the league’s most well-rounded wide receiver groups.

Spencer should retain his roster spot after a strong season returning punts. So the biggest question could come at the back of the roster. Cleveland, a 2020 seventh-round pick, had a strong close to his rookie season, catching four passes for 45 yards in Week 17. Last season, the Broncos kept Cleveland and Hamilton on the 53-man roster. But there’s no guarantee the roster math will allow for seven wide receivers again.

Tight end

Starter: Noah Fant

Reserves: Albert Okwuegbunam, Austin Fort, Beck

The Broncos on Tuesday released Nick Vannett, who served primarily as an in-line blocker after signing a two-year deal with Denver as a free agent last offseason. Beck could be used more heavily in that role in 2021. Fort was a preseason standout in 2019 before he suffered a torn ACL, and knee issues also kept him off the field last season, but he could get another chance in training camp to make an impression. Still, it feels like the Broncos could be set up to acquire another tight end to use in a blocking-centric role.

Let’s be real, though. The success of this position in 2021 won’t be determined by its collective ability to block. Fant caught a career-high 62 passes in 2020, but he saw his yards-per-catch average drop to 10.9 from his 14.1 mark as a rookie. One major priority for the Pat Shurmur offense in Year 2 should be finding ways to get Fant more opportunities to make big plays up the seams. Fant needs to improve as a finisher after the catch, but he is clearly at his best when he can get the ball at the top of his routes in space. Okwuegbunam suffered a torn ACL in Week 9 last season, an injury that came on the heels of a promising start to his rookie season, but his recovery timeline should coincide with the start of the season.

Tackle

Starters: Garett Bolles, Ja’Wuan James

Reserves: Calvin Anderson, Quinn Bailey

Outside of that lingering quarterback mystery, there is no bigger question mark on the Broncos’ offense than right tackle. James clearly has talent. It’s why the Broncos signed him to a four-year, $51 million deal during free agency two years ago. But James has been on the field for only 63 snaps since signing that contract. His overall history of injuries — he has played in more than half of his team’s games only once since 2017 — makes counting on him to play a full season in 2021 something of a dicey proposition. The most important thing the Broncos can do is have a solid backup plan in place. Do they believe Anderson, entering his third NFL season, is ready to step into a starting role in the event they encounter a setback with James? Anderson started two games last season — one at right tackle, one at left — and was active for all 16 games. The Broncos like his progress. But don’t be surprised if Denver also addresses the position early in the draft.

Guard

Starters: Dalton Risner, Graham Glasgow

Reserves: Netane Muti, Austin Schlottmann

The Broncos will need a bounce-back year from Glasgow, who was hampered by a bout of COVID-19 and late-season foot and shoulder injuries. He missed three games and wasn’t fully healthy during a handful of other starts. One silver lining of those setbacks for Glasgow is that they offered the Broncos a chance to identify a promising interior backup in Muti, the 2020 sixth-round pick. Muti made his first career start in a Week 14 win against the Panthers “and did way more than hold his own.”He also filled in for Glasgow when the veteran left the season finale against the Raiders in the second quarter because of an ailing shoulder. Schlottmann, who has started six of the 32 games he’s played for the Broncos the past two seasons, can play guard or center.

Center

Starter: Lloyd Cushenberry

Reserves: Patrick Morris, Jon Halapio, Schlottmann

Cushenberry was the only offensive player for the Broncos who played every snap in 2020. Those reps — 1,076 snaps, to be exact — helped the 2020 third-round pick out of LSU steadily improve during the second half of his rookie season. “He’s been very steady, and that’s his personality,” Shurmur said toward the end of last season. “It’s a good thing because he’s a really talented player, and if you believe in reps and experience, I think he’s getting all of that. At some point here in the offseason, he’s just going to shake his head and say, ‘What the heck was that?’ and be able to kind of assess it and then move forward. He’s handled it very, very well.”

Defensive tackle

Starter: Mike Purcell

Reserve:Isaiah Mack, Darius Kilgo

How much did the Broncos miss Purcell’s run-stuffing presence in the middle last season? During Denver’s first six games, when Purcell was in the lineup, it ranked 10th in opponent rushing yards per game (109) and 14th in opponent average per carry (4.3). In the 10 games that followed, with Purcell on injured reserve following foot surgery, the Broncos ranked 28th (142.6 yards per game) and 30th (5.06 yards per carry) in those categories, respectively. Denver has made moves this offseason that should create more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Ideally, that will allow a beefed-up secondary to create more turnovers after the Broncos languished near the bottom of the league in that category in each of the past two seasons. But don’t discount the impact of a healthy Purcell against the run and the chain-reaction benefit that could have on the defense.

Defensive end

Starters: Shelby Harris, Dre’Mont Jones

Reserves: McTelvin Agim, DeShawn Williams, Jonathan Harris, Deyon Sizer

If there was a positive consequence of all the injuries the Broncos endured on the defensive line last season, it was that Jones was able to step into a significant role in his second NFL season — and made the most of it. Jones, a former third-round pick out of Ohio State, had 6 1/2 sacks in 2020, good for third on the team and tied for 17th among all NFL defensive linemen. Harris, who re-signed with the Broncos on a three-year, $27 million deal last week, said his young teammate is only scratching the surface.

“We play two completely different ways, but I think it works out perfectly,” Harris said. “Dre is a dog. He has great quickness and great hands. He has that want to be great. I’m confident in Dre. He is going to go out there and keep showing y’all what we already know.”

The Broncos still have more work to do in adding depth to the line. DeMarcus Walker, the 2017 second-round pick, had nice flashes last season (career-high 4 1/2 sacks) but is a free agent. It wouldn’t be surprising to take a player in the fifth or sixth round who could battle for a rotational role on the defensive line.

Outside linebacker

Starters: Von Miller, Bradley Chubb

Reserves: Malik Reed, Derrek Tuszka

The Broncos are banking on a big season from Miller. Paton said last week he believes the soon-to-be 32-year-old can still play at a Pro Bowl level. Vic Fangio, recalling Miller’s work last offseason that had him “primed to have a really good season,” expressed optimism that the Super Bowl 50 MVP will arrive at training camp in late July similarly prepared. If Miller can realize the lofty expectations his past performances created, it could change the calculus for Fangio’s scheme.

The Broncos in 2020 blitzed on 29.1 percent of opponent passing plays, according to Sportradar. That was the highest rate for a Fangio-led defense across the past 10 seasons, accounting for play-calling roles with the 49ers, Bears and Broncos. If Miller can touch something approaching his old form and Chubb and Reed can take steps forward from strong 2020 seasons, respectively, Fangio’s defense should be able to run more as it is intended, with four rushers bringing ample pressure and putting the secondary behind them in a better position to make plays.

Inside linebacker

Starters:Alexander Johnson, Josey Jewell

Reserves: Justin Strnad, Natrez Patrick, Josh Watson

Strnad, a 2020 fifth-round pick out of Wake Forest, demonstrated an ability during last year’s training camp to stick with tight ends and running backs in coverage, and he appeared to be angling toward a role in sub packages before a wrist injury abruptly ended his rookie year prior to his first game. Coverage from the linebacker spot is perhaps the biggest priority left for Fangio’s defense. Strnad should get a crack at that role, but the Broncos should also address this spot in the draft.

Cornerback

Starters: Fuller, Darby, Bryce Callahan (nickel)

Reserves: Michael Ojemudia, Essang Bassey, Duke Dawson Jr., Nate Hairston, Parnell Motley, Chris Cooper

Is this suddenly the best cornerback group in the AFC West? That answer could depend on the health of Darby and Callahan, who have dealt with significant injury issues during their respective careers, but the best-case scenario is tantalizing. With the top three spots in the cornerback rotation submitted, the next question hinges on how the Broncos position themselves for the future. Fuller signed a one-year deal, and Callahan also will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2021 season. It’s reasonable to imagine the Broncos still selecting a cornerback early in the draft, perhaps even in the first round.

Safety

Starters: Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson

Reserves:Trey Marshall, P.J. Locke

This position had a giant “Under Construction” light blinking overhead during the first eight days of free agency. Once Jackson’s option was declined, making him an unrestricted free agent, it was unclear how the Broncos would fill such an important starting position. Getting Jackson back — at roughly half the salary he was previously scheduled to make in 2021 — is a major win for the Broncos, who can once again boast arguably the best safety tandem in the NFL. The Broncos still need to add depth at this spot. Drafting a player in the second or third round, who could learn under Jackson and Simmons before stepping into a starting role in 2022, could be a wise approach. Heck, it worked for Simmons, who played limited snaps as a rookie in 2016 while learning from veterans Darian Stewart and T.J. Ward.

Specialists

Starters: Brandon McManus (kicker), Sam Martin (punter), Jacob Bobenmoyer (long snapper)

The Broncos may have collectively struggled on special teams in 2020, but the three players above weren’t the culprits. Though Martin got off to a sluggish start after signing with the Broncos as a free agent, he ranked eighth in net punting average (42.5 yards) during the second half of the season and had only two touchbacks during that eight-game stretch.

(Photo of Bryce Callahan, center, Justin Simmons, right, and Kareem Jackson: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)