Denver Broncos depth chart risers and fallers

Risers

ILB Todd Davis

You think we would learn by now. For the last four years we have listed ILB as a "need" going into the draft and John Elway continues to find low round/practice squad guys to step up. With no inside linebacker picked in this year's draft, the "starting" job next to Brandon Marshall is Todd Davis' to lose. Elway specifically called him out as the guy to replace Danny Trevathan and said he played some good minutes last year as well. Also, look for Corey Nelson and Zaire Anderson to push for snaps.

TEs Virgil Green and Jeff Heuerman

There was talk before the draft of Denver adding another TE into the mix as Kubiak loves his TEs, and Heuerman is coming off an injury. They even looked at some mid-round guys like Nick Vannett from Ohio State and Tyler Higbee. Alas, no TEs were taken in the draft either so it looks like Green and Heuerman have a shot to own a lot of the minutes, with newly signed Garrett Graham rotating in as well. Of course, I'm not getting my hopes up on Green. He'll probably end up catching three passes and Graham will get the majority of the snaps because that's just how things have gone with Green for some inexplicable reason.

Young WRs

I was an advocate of taking a guy like Sterling Shepard for the slot role. With no WRs drafted this year, the FO gives a vote of confidence to the young guys like Fowler, Latimer, and Norwood to step into that third receiver role.

QB Mark Sanchez

Now this depends on who you ask. At his news conference on Monday, Sanchez said he saw the drafting of Lynch as a vote of confidence in him. I can see his point. On a scale of "ready to play immediately" to "needs to sit," Lynch leans farther to the latter than other QBs we were looking at, like Kaepernick and Hoyer.

Fallers

RB Ronnie Hillman

I was not a fan of bringing Hillman back, and if things play out with Devontae Booker like I hope they do, Hillman won't see much of the field this year. I like having a one-two punch at RB but having a "change of pace" guy hasn't really worked out. Hillman should be brought in only to run toss sweeps where he just has to run like heck to the edge because after watching some of his tape recently, that's all he does on stretch runs anyway. His lack of vision, and Booker's value as a do-it-all guy will decrease Hillman's role this year.

P Britton Colquitt

This has been a long time coming. Sure he stepped it up in the playoffs and was probably a big reason why Denver won the Super Bowl, but a $4 million cap hit for a punter who is average at best all season is really an easy equation in my book. Elway seems to agree, which is why he drafted a punter in the seventh round (saying they didn't want to take a chance Dixon wasn't there after the draft). Dixon will be our starting punter in week 1.

OL Michael Schofield

This was pretty much a given before the draft, but with the addition of Connor McGovern, who could push for a starting spot at RG, and Sambrailo/Stephenson battling it out at RT, Schofield will likely be exactly where he belongs: as far away from the field as possible (I hope he doesn't read MHR).

QB Mark Sanchez

Like I said above, depends on who you ask. Lynch fits what Kubiak wants to do and has the talent. Depending on how quickly he progresses in training camp, we could have a QB controversy on our hands to start the season. We know all about QB controversies by now though.

Current projected depth chart heading into camp

Offense

Defense

This does not include the recent UDFA signings.

Here is a look at a couple spots I see on the roster where the new rookies can make an immediate impact. Using depth chart projections from Pro Football Focus.

The gaping hole is in our dime defense is where I expect Justin Simmons to jump in right away.

I've highlighted a couple areas here. TE we mentioned above. PFF doesn't list a FB in their projections where Andy Janovich will contribute significant snaps for our offense. Lastly, I see Garcia on the left side, with RG up for grabs between Sambrailo and McGovern.