FanPost

2013 Mock Offseason

My Mock Offseason Plan for the Broncos:

The Broncos were one of the best teams in football this past season, and should be able to continue that run in 2013. The first and likely most important task this offseason is retaining Ryan Clady. I say 5/42 locks him up in Denver for the foreseeable future. With that out of the way we can move on to the rest of the offseason. The Broncos have some holes to fill, but are in a fairly solid position, especially considered their massive cap space (less after Clady). While this would enable us to chase an elite FA, this team has numerous extension candidates on the horizon, led by Decker next year. With that in mind, let’s begin. As far as I know these are the players we have the rights to:

QB

Manning

Osweiler

Hanie

RB

McGahee

Moreno

Hillman

Ball

Fannin

Johnson

FB

Gronkowski

Hester

WR

Thomas

Decker

Stokely

Willis

Caldwell

Holliday

Orton

Robinson

TE

Tamme

Dreessen

Green

Thomas

Ingram

LT

Clady

Clark

LG

Beadles

Blake

Edwards

C

Walton

Koppen

Saulsbury

RG

Kuper

Ramirez

Edwards

RT

Franklin

Cornick

RE

Dumervil

Ayers

Garland

DT

Bannan

Warren

Siliga

DT

Vickerson

Unrein

LE

Wolfe

Jackson

Beal

Hunter

ROLB

Woodyard

Williams

MLB

Mays

Irving

Johnson

Brooking

LOLB

Miller

Trevathan

CB

Bailey

Porter

CB

Carter

Harris

Bolden

FS

Moore

Bruton

Ihenacho

SS

Adams

Carter

Leonhard

K

Prater

P

Colquitt

LS

Brewer

Blue-RFA (dark blue is an ERFA)

Green-UFA

Players I would attempt to bring back:

Tony Carter

Unrein

Colquitt

Clark

Bruton

Bannan

Koppen

Stokely

I see all of these guys willing to return, and none of them would jeopardize our cap space. Then we get to the rest of Free Agency, where we have to consider cutting some guys to save cap. DJ Williams is my first hit, the only no brainer cut we have. Joe Mays follows, as does Andre Caldwell. That should cover us for free agency, though Hanie, Adams, Kuper and Prater shouldn’t get too comfortable. The Roster would then look like:

QB

Manning

Osweiler

Hanie

RB

McGahee

Moreno

Hillman

Fannin

Johnson

FB

Hester

WR

Thomas

Decker

Stokely

Holliday

Orton

Robinson

Orton

Robinson

TE

Tamme

Dreessen

Green

Thomas

Ingram

LT

Clady

Clark

LG

Beadles

Blake

Edwards

C

Walton

Koppen

Saulsbury

RG

Kuper

Ramirez

Edwards

RT

Franklin

Cornick

RE

Dumervil

Ayers

Garland

DT

Bannan

Siliga

DT

Unrein

LE

Wolfe

Jackson

Beal

ROLB

Woodyard

MLB

Irving

Johnson

LOLB

Miller

Trevathan

CB

Bailey

CB

Carter

Harris

Bolden

FS

Moore

Bruton

Ihenacho

SS

Adams

Carter

K

Prater

P

Colquitt

LS

Brewer

The needs are fairly obvious but I’ll run through them pretty quickly. Obviously Middle Linebacker is now a massive black hole without Brooking and Mays, and needs to be filled. Defensive Tackle is better, but a major need as well. As the Ravens showed, our secondary is suspect at times, and could use a talent influx. The Ravens also graciously showed us the weakness of our RB corps. A Slot WR to help an aging Stokely, as well as any WR depth would be appreciated. The offensive line will suffice, but it lacks impact talent everywhere but LT, and is short on depth too. Prater and Hanie also both need competition for their roster spots. Defensive End is set in my opinion, but an upgrade would be justifiable.

With that said, let’s get to who I think we should sign. With Manning under center we can’t just let the draft fill our major holes up the middle, as we would squander a window of opportunity. So let’s start at MLB. The popular choices are Ellerbe and Brad Jones. Both are long term solutions, and would require large deals. Especially in the case of Ellerbe, I think both teams are likely to retain them. More realistic options in my opinion are Chase Blackburn from New York, and Brian Urlacher. Both would immediately plug the gap at MLB, while not hindering us long term. Urlacher , recruited by his fellow HOF peers in Manning, Elway and Bailey, comes year at 2yrs 3 mil, with 1 million extra based on performace. At Defensive Tackle I propose the same strategy: Ignore the big names (in this case Melton and Randy Starks) and sign a solid stop-gap, enabling to keep cap space. I suggest we sign Casey Hampton from Pittsburgh, immediately filling the hole on the line. That more or less does it on the defensive side, though I have a few more offensive signings to make. My favorite is the signing of Austin Collie, lured by Manning, who could make one last attempt to return to his place as one of the leagues best slot guys under his old QB. Yeremiah Bell is signed to compete for the Safety job with Mike Adams. Tyler Polumbus is signed for Tackle depth. Greg Jones, without many offers after a weak year with Jacksonville is signed to a one year deal at Fullback. We also bring in Captain Munnerlyn to compete at CB and Matt Leinart to challenge Hanie. I also signed a few extra guys like King Dunlap for depth. To Review:

LB Brian Urlacher
DT Casey Hampton

WR Austin Collie

FB Greg Jones

T Tyler Polumbus

S Yeremiah Bell

CB Captain Munnerlyn

QB Matt Leinart

RB Tashard Choice

OL King Dunlap

DT Amobi Okoye

LB Geno Hayes

Then we come to the draft. Here we have one picks in Rounds 1-6 (Brodrick Bunkley trade). I foresee us trading our Willis McGahee for a 4th Round Pick We have too many running backs, and he is the most valuable of them via trade. We need more RBs for the future, not for now. I would then envision this as our draft:

1st: Jonathan Jenkins, DT, Georgia

2nd: Arthur Brown, LB, Kansas State

3rd: Phillip Thomas, S, Fresno State

4th: Mike Gillisee, RB, Florida
4th: Ryan Swope, WR, Texas A&M

5th: Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina

6th: Traded to move up in the fifth to take Lattimore

UDFA: TE Nick Kasa, Colorado, DE Will Pericak, Colorado, WR Chad Bumphis, Mississippi State, CB Kayvon Webster, Florida State, K Brett Maher, Nebraska

Jenkins is a beat who will solidify the D-Line for years to come. We get our MLB of the future in Arthur Brown, Safety of the future in Phillip Thomas, and set of our future RB group with the best of Hillman-Gillisee-Lattimore. Swope gets to develop under Manning, and provides insurance if we can’t resign Decker/Thomas. The UDFA’s are a combo of need, CU guys I know, and guys we’ve interviewed (Swope and Thomas have interviewed with us as well). So the roster going into camp looks something like this:

QB

Manning

Osweiler

Hanie

Leinart

RB

Moreno

Hillman

Gillisee

Choice

Lattimore

Fannin

Johnson

FB

Jones

Hester

WR

Thomas

Decker

Stokely

Collie

Swope

Holliday

Orton

Robinson

Bumphis

Robinson

TE

Tamme

Dreessen

Green

Thomas

Ingram

Kasa

LT

Clady

Dunlap

Clark

LG

Beadles

Blake

Edwards

C

Walton

Koppen

Saulsbury

RG

Kuper

Ramirez

Edwards

RT

Franklin

Polumbus

Cornick

RE

Dumervil

Ayers

Garland

Pericak

DT

Jenkins

Bannan

Okoye

DT

Hampton

Unrein

Siliga

LE

Wolfe

Jackson

Beal

ROLB

Woodyard

Trevathan

Irving

MLB

Urlacher

Brown

Johnson

LOLB

Miller

Hayes

CB

Bailey

Carter

Harris

Munnerlyn

Bolden

Webster

FS

Moore

Bell

Bruton

Ihenacho

SS

Carter

Adams

Thomas

K

Prater

Maher

P

Colquitt

LS

Brewer

This is a Super Bowl Team Right here! It can compete now, and has guys to fill in for its aging stars when the retire (as Elway demonstrated with the Brock Oz pick). Here’s how I view this roster eventually shaking out:

QB

Manning

Osweiler

Leinart

RB

Moreno

Hillman

Gillisee

Hester

FB

Jones

WR

Thomas

Decker

Stokely

Collie

Swope

Holliday

TE

Tamme

Dreessen

Green

LT

Clady

Dunlap

Clark

LG

Beadles

Blake

C

Walton

Koppen

RG

Kuper

Ramirez

RT

Franklin

RE

Dumervil

Ayers

DT

Jenkins

Bannan

DT

Hampton

Unrein

LE

Wolfe

Jackson

ROLB

Woodyard

Trevathan

MLB

Urlacher

Brown

Johnson

LOLB

Miller

Irving

CB

Bailey

Carter

Harris

Munnerlyn

Bolden

FS

Moore

Bruton

SS

Carter

Thomas

K

Prater

P

Colquitt

LS

Brewer

IR

Lattimore

PS

Orton

Robinson

Kasa

Saulsbury

Ihenacho

Maher

Siliga

Hardest cuts were Bell and Choice getting cut for Bruton and Hester. If you’ve stuck with me congrats! What do you guys think?


This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.