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A little over a year ago, heading into the 2018 draft, Denver’s offensive skill players looked like this:
QB1 - Case Keenum (freshly signed)
QB2 - Paxton Lynch/Chad Kelly
RB - C.J. Anderson
RB - Devontae Booker
WR - Emmanuel Sanders
WR - Demaryius Thomas
WR - Jordan Taylor
TE - Jeff Heuerman
TE - Jake Butt
Only three of those players now remain on the team, and only one of them is likely to get a majority of snaps this year.
Over the next few days, Denver drafted Courtland Sutton, Royce Freeman, DaeSean Hamilton, and signed Philip Lindsay as a CFA bringing in an overdue infusion of youth to the offense.
Denver has now added to this another QB, and an offensive lineman. Potentially laying the offensive foundation for years to come. '18 and '19 drafts could very well be turning points for the franchise. https://t.co/KTX1azBkLL
— Jeffrey Essary (@JeffreyEssary) April 27, 2019
This year, the Broncos continued the offensive rebuild by first bringing in new offensive coordinator, Rich Scangarello, who will be implementing a new system in the mold of his mentor Kyle Shanahan.
The draft haul of Noah Fant, Dalton Risner, and Drew Lock from a few weeks ago combined with free agent additions of Joe Flacco and Ja’Wuan James now has Denver likely fielding at least seven new starters on offense from the pre-draft 2018 roster, with four of them being added this year along with a brand new system.
Heading into rookie mini-camp, Denver’s offense now looks like:
QB1 - Joe Flacco (acquired ‘19)
QB2 - Drew Lock (acquired ‘19)
RB - Phillip Lindsay (acquired ‘18)
RB - Royce Freeman (acquired ‘18)
WR - Emmanuel Sanders
WR - Courtland Sutton (acquired ‘18)
WR - DaeSean Hamilton (acquired ‘18)
TE - Noah Fant (acquired ‘19)
TE - Jeff Heuerman
LT - Garett Bolles
LG - Dalton Risner (acquired ‘19)
C - Connor McGovern
RG - Ronald Leary
RT - Ja’Wuan James (acquired ‘19)
That’s nine significant players on offense who have been acquired in a little over the last calendar year.
The first big takeaway here is, while there is a lot of excitement around Denver’s new offense, don’t be surprised if it takes a little bit for everyone to gel with that much newness on that side of the ball.
The other, and more important, takeaway is we could look back in a few years at the 2018 and 2019 drafts as the turning point for Denver as a franchise, as they have completely overhauled their perennially underperforming offense.
I’m excited to see these guys get to work and begin shaping the new-look offense. Pay attention Broncos Country, you’re watching the future unfold before our eyes.