So another season is in the books for the Denver Broncos. For some players on the team, this will be the last we see of them in a Bronco uniform, but for many of those guys they will play for the Broncos next year. With that in mind, let’s look at who developed throughout the year.

Remember that we came into this season with a new head coach, defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator - all of whom were getting their first shot at that position in the NFL. This meant that both the offensive system and the defensive system were going to be new to the vast majority of the players on the team. Guys who could learn and internalize the offense or the defense are the guys who would get to start in the early games and continue to start as the season wore on. Guys who were slower on the uptake, in theory, would see their playing time increased throughout the year. Guys who picked the system quickly but were physically limited generally saw their playing time decrease or disappear.

Offensive overview table

This is included for those readers who prefer being able to look at the numbers and for those who are colorblind. Drag the slider on the bottom to the right if you want to see the full table.

Offensive Line

Two offensive lineman played every offensive snap for us in 2019 - Connor McGovern and Garett Bolles. Hate on Bolles all you want, but he has played almost every snap for the Broncos in his first three years. Bolles played 98.1, 98.9 and 100.0 percent of the offensive snaps over the past three seasons. That’s 99.0% of the possible offensive snaps. While he might be horribly erratic in his performance, he is, if nothing else, durable and available (and lucky, regarding health).

Ja’Wuan James only appeared in three games, getting injured in game one and then reinjuring himself in games 8 and 13. James was unlucky regarding health. Elijah Wilkinson spent most of the season starting at RT in his stead. Wilkinson himself got injured and gave way to Jake Rodgers who got his first NFL snaps in game 15 and started the final game of the season against the Raiders.

Ronald Leary was lost for the season in game 12 with a concussion and Austin Schlottmann took over for him. Schlottmann, while not a powerful as Leary, was much more mobile and showed his ability to pull in the running game very effectively. Dalton Risner played well for a rookie, but our best and most consistent offensive lineman was Connor McGovern.

McGovern was the only starting center in the league to not get called for a penalty - at all. Connor McGovern will be an unrestricted free agent and because of his durability, penalty avoidance and limited sacks allowed, he will be a coveted free agent this off-season. I expect that Broncos will have to throw big money at him to get him to stay. McGovern’s started 31 out of 32 possible games in the last two regular seasons... no other free agent center has started more than 23 of 32, and only two of them have started 20+.

Leary is technically under contract, but having missed 19 or 48 possible games in three seasons, it is widely believed that he will be released. Of the offensive linemen, only McGovern will not be under team control for the 2020 season.

Tight Ends and Fullbacks

Andrew Beck played well for a rookie who the Broncos picked up after he was waived by the Patriots. He may not have played as well as Andy Janovich, but Janovich has had a hard time staying on the field - missing significant time (five games) as a rookie and (nine games) this past season. Admittedly he plays a punishing (and dying) position as well as playing a significant role on special teams. With all that said, he did play in every game in the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Troy Fumagalli was effectively a rookie having missed all of last season with an injury. He did not appear to an above average receiver and he was a liability as a blocker. The other rookie tight end, Noah Fant, mixed good and bad. He would make a good block and then completely whiff on a block a few plays later. He needs to become more consistent as a blocker. His game as a receiver was similarly inconsistent with drops and poorly run routes mixed in with some sensational plays. He needs to become more consistent in this aspect of his game as well.

Jeff Heuerman, when he was healthy, was our TE2 this season. He finished the season with 14 catches (on 20 targets) for 114 yards and 1 TD. His receiver numbers have never been all that good, so he must be kept around for his blocking skills. He has played 51 NFL games and has 63 catches (106 targets) for 678 yards and 5 TDs. He has produced about the same during his four NFL season as Noah Fant produced this past year a as a rookie (40 catches, 562 yards, 3 TDs). Every player in that graph is under contract with the Broncos in 2020.

Running Backs

Devontae Booker was hardly used at all on offense, yet was gameday active for most of the season. He finished the season with 26 total offensive snaps. Interestingly enough, he touched the ball on eight of those 26 with two carries and six receptions. Only one of those touches resulted in a first down or a touchdown.

Compare that with Phillip Lindsay who touched the ball 259 times. Of those 47 resulted in a first down and seven resulted in a touchdown. So 20.9% of Lindsay’s touches (54/259) resulted in a first down or a touchdown while only 12.5% of Booker’s resulted in a first down. Booker did not score a TD this season.

Royce Freeman had 172 touches, 32 first downs and 4 TDs. Weirdly, 20.9% of his touches (36/172) resulted in a first down or a touchdown. That’s the same value as Lindsay. I’m not making this up.

Booker will be an unrestricted free agent for 2020. He will probably not be brought back unless it is at the veteran minimum (and even then maybe not). His tiny role on offense is easily replaced and most likely his replacement will be an upgrade.

Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton was a true workhorse in 2019. He appeared on 92.0 percent of the offensive snaps for the Broncos. That would have been higher if he had not had to come out of a few games because he got hit so hard on a few plays.

While he was still on the Broncos, Emmanuel Sanders was matching Sutton’s snap percentages, at least in the first two games, but then he saw his role being gradually reduced in games three through six. The writing was on the wall for his trade.

DaeSean Hamilton spent the year getting between 50 and 80 percent of the offensive snaps in most games making him WR3 while Sanders was still here and WR2 in most of the games after we traded Sanders.

Fred Brown had one game (game eight) to show that he belonged as WR2. He proved that he didn’t and we relegated him to his previous role on special teams and as WR4 or WR5.

Diontae Spencer was also given a one game audition (game nine) to prove that he could handle a larger role in the offense. He similarly failed that audition. Tim Patrick was immediately thrust into the WR2/3 role once back off the IR.

Sutton, Hamilton and Patrick accounted for 116 of the team’s 312 receptions in 2019. Sutton alone accounted for 124 of our 481 targets (25.8%) on the season. The WR group accounted for 54.5% of our targets and 49.4% of our catches.

I counted Beck with the RB group not the TE group in this table.

Defensive Overview Table

Defensive Line

The defensive line group resembled a MASH unit by the end of the season with Derek Wolfe and Adam Gotsis both on the IR and DeMarcus Walker and Dre’Mont Jones missing games with injury. We generally had five DL players game-day active and used nine guys in games by the end of the season.

Shelby Harris would finish as the only player in the group to play 20% of more of the defensive snaps in every game. Derek Wolfe played a higher percentage of the snaps while healthy, but missed most of the third game and all of the last four games with injury. Shelby Harris will be an unrestricted free agent this off-season and so will Derek Wolfe. Harris’ nine passes defended were the best by any defensive lineman in the league. Cornerback Stephon Gilmore of the Pats led the league with 20. Carlos Dunlap was the only DL player who was close with eight.

Adam Gotsis began the year the third starter, but saw his role reduced to nothing once Mike Purcell was put back into the rotation in game 5. Gotsis would get out of the doghouse and back onto the field in game nine only to have his season ended three games prematurely by injury. Gotsis will be an unrestricted free agent this off-season. He was a liability in all facets and should not be brought back to Denver. More of this later.

Mike Purcell and Alexander Johnson were both inserted into the starting group in game five and it had a dramatic effect on the run defense. The Broncos allowed 5.16 yards per carry in games one through four. That went down to 3.91 yards per carry in games five through sixteen with Purcell and Johnson playing prominent roles in that improvement. 5.16 yard per carry allowed would have been worst in the league over the entire season. That is exactly what the Panthers allowed to finish the season dead last in run defense; 3.91 yards per carry would have been 5th best in the league had the Broncos defense been able to do that for the entire season. League average was 4.32 yards per carry in 2019.

DeMarcus Walker appeared to be headed for “career” year in terms of playing time after playing more than 50 percent of the defensive snaps in a meaningful game for the first time in his career in game seven, then he was derailed by injury. He was able to make it back in game thirteen, but he was hurt again didn’t play until game sixteen. Walker finally showed signs of turning into the player that we hoped he could be when he was drafted 51st overall in 2017, but don’t be fooled by his 4.0 sacks. Those was coverage/effort sacks save one. In his 220 defensive snaps he only had two other QB pressures outside of those sacks. His pass rush game appears to be a one-trick pony and opposing offensive lineman have figured out his trick.

Dre’Mont Jones was used situationally during the first three quarters of the season, but he was thrust into the starting role by injury in the last two games after he himself came back from injury. Jones showed the same flashes of dominance that I remember seeing from Malik Jackson once he started to come into his own in 2013. I’ve got my fingers crossed that Jones is another Malik Jackson.

De facto rookie Jonathan Harris, who spent time with Vic Fangio in Chicago on their practice squad in 2018, was signed off of our practice squad and ended up playing heavily in game fourteen (at KC in the snow). His usage was reduced significantly in the final two games with the return to health of Jones and Walker.

Outside Linebackers

Von Miller was a beast this season. Even though he was only credited with 8.0 sacks, he led the team with 37 QB pressures - 13th best in the league. He was normally double and triple-teamed. Any discussion of not picking up his option is pocky-cock. The Broncos only generated 138 QB pressures as a team. Von was responsible for 26.8% of them. Derek Wolfe was second on the team with 18 pressures. Bradley Chubb, despite only playing four games, was tied for 4th at 10 pressures (with Jeremiah Attaochu). Chubb’s non-sack pressure percentage (90 percent) was the second highest on the team (behind Mike Purcell at 100%) for a player with more than one QB pressure.

Malik Reed played extremely well for an undersized (230 lbs) undrafted OLB. He finished the season with nine pressures, two sacks, and 24 total tackles (with only two missed tackles). I don’t know on how many of his 475 snaps he was used in coverage, but only six passes were attempted to the man he was credited with covering (four completed) so he most likely rushing the passer the vast majority of the time. The rate at which he generated pressure (pressures divided by defensive snaps) was not very good - 1.89% compared to Von’s 4.35% and Chubb’s 4.17%. Reed never got his starting job back after getting injured in game 12. Many NFL offensive tackles are just as quick as Malik, but weigh 90-100 lbs more than he does. While Malik is quick, he does not have the generational quickness of Von Miller.

Justin Hollins played well in spurts, but he still has a lot of room to grow. He essentially got outplayed by Attaochu down the stretch and lost playing time because of that. His size is intriguing at 6-5. He has the frame to add muscle and be the big(ger) DE that could serve as Chubb’s backup in years to come. I remember seeing some reports that he was 265 lbs in college. He was only listed at 248 on the 2019 Bronco roster.

With only 24 total snaps, it’s hard to say anything good or bad about the play of Ahmad Gooden. He did generate one QB pressure, which was the same total Gotsis had in more than ten times the snaps (albeit playing a different position). The Jets liked Gooden enough to sign him to their practice squad in late December after the Broncos waived him. He was signed by the Jets to a reserve/futures contract on December 31st after the regular season had ended.

Inside Linebackers

Corey Nelson and Josey Jewell began the season as our starting insider linebackers. They were terrible against the run and not much better against the pass. It’s no surprise that the defense started to play much better when Jewell was on the bench and Nelson was no longer on the team.

Todd Davis and Alexander Johnson were the engine that drove the 2019 Bronco defense. Fangio’s 3-4 is really designed to have the ILB make most of the tackles in the run game. Davis and Johnson did not disappoint in that regard. They recorded 134 and 93 total tackles (according to NFL.com). That was good for 7th and 33rd among ILB’s despite both players missing significant playing time. Johnson’s 744 defensive snaps (69.3 percent) means that if you pro-rate his 93 tackles over an entire season, he would have had 134 total tackles - or the exact same number as Davis (who only played 85.0 percent of the defensive snaps).

After coming off of injured reserve Joe Jones played a handful of defensive snaps. It’s impossible to read anything from his six defensive snaps this season. He did appear on 276 special teams snaps so he was an essential part of the special teams in 2019 much like he was in 2018 when he played on 346 special teams snaps (and only 25 defensive snaps). In 2018 he was responsible for a great many tackles on special teams (twelve). He did not have a single special teams tackle this season. In fact he did not log a single defensive stat this season.

Cornerbacks

Isaac Yiadom looked adequate in the preseason. Then he played poorly enough in the first two games to get benched. He essentially stayed benched until game twelve when he was reinserted into the starting lineup. I don’t know whether he had learned enough while riding the pine to earn his starting spot back, or whether he was just the least worst option at CB2, but he got his spot back and kept it for the final five games.

Kareem Jackson played some CB at the beginning of the season before he was allowed to focus solely on playing safety in the fourth or fifth game.

While Yiadom was languishing on the bench, a series of CBs were used as the starter opposite our (probably departing) stalwart, Chris Harris. First we saw De’Vante Bausby in games three and four, but he got injured. Then Davontae Harris get his chance in games six through eleven before he gave the job back to Yiadom.

Duke Dawson was picked up via trade early in the season and was the slot CB in games four, five and six through eleven. For reasons unknown to me, he was benched in game twelve and hardly saw the field on defense after that. Dawson was benched at about the same time that D. Harris was benched.

Safeties

Kareem Jackson had been a CB in his career prior to signing with Denver in the off-season. The intention was to transition him to safety. That happened some time around game five. Kareem Jackson was the very good in most games and the defense was not the same without him playing. Jackson missed the fourth game - vs Jacksonville - and the defense allowed 455 yards (269 yards rushing). Jackson was suspended for the fifteenth and sixteen games of the season. While the defense was able to shut down the hapless Detroit offense in game 15 (10 points allowed, 191 yards allowed), the Raiders were able to roll up 477 yards on the defense in final game of the year.

When Jackson and Justin Simmons were both playing (which was 90+ percent of the snaps) our defense had one of the best pairs of safeties in the league. Justin Simmons should be brought back and given a nice contract to keep him in Denver for a long time. Simmons literally played every snap for our defense in 2019. Only three other defensive players could say that in 2019: Trey Boston (CAR), Malcolm Jenkins (PHI) and Jarrod Wilson (JAX). Simmons was elite at stopping the run and the pass. More on this later.

Will Parks had an odd year. He was forced into the starting role in game four when Jackson was hurt and he failed so spectacularly that he was benched along with Yiadom. Like Yiadom he was plugged back into the starting defense in game twelve as the slot CB and nickel safety. He made some good plays, but he also made some poor plays. He was tied for second on the team in missed tackles with 8, but his missed tackle rate (missed tackles divided by total tackles plus missed tackles) was the second worst on the team at 21.1 percent. He was only credited with 30 tackles on the season. Only Bradley Chubb had a worse rate (27.6 percent).

Like Simmons, Parks will also be an unrestricted free agent this off-season. Parks will be good to bring back for his familiarity with the complex defense, but he should be relatively easy to replace if some team foolishly offers him a big contract. He was not very good in run support and he was generally just average in pass coverage. Quarterbacks had a rating of 86.2 when targetting his man in 2019. His two passes defended were tied with Von Miller, Duke Dawson, Justin Hollins, Adam Gotsis and Dre’Mont Jones. For comparison, our two starting safeties had fifteen (Simmons) and ten (Jackson) passes defended. Opposing passers had a passer rating of 43.1 when targeting Simmon’s man and a rating of 75.8 when targeting Jackson’s man. Simmon’s passer rating against was 7th best in the NFL this season. His fifteen passes defended was 10th best in the league. Explain to me, again, how he didn’t make the Pro-Bowl?

Trey Marshall was forced into the starting lineup in games fifteen and sixteen after Jackson was suspended. Prior to that, Marshall had not played more than a handful of defensive snaps in any game. It’s interesting that Parks was not given the chance to play in Jackson’s stead, but maybe the coaches tried that in game four and did not want to repeat that failed experiment. Marshall was fairly productive in his two game stint as the starter, logging 16 total tackles (11 solo), but he was generally a liability in pass coverage. Eight of eleven passes thrown to his man were completed (72.7 percent) and passers had a rating of 114.8 when targeting his receiver. That was the worst passer rating against among the defensive backs this season and the fifth worst on the team. The only Bronco defenders worse in coverage were all linebackers: Nelson, Chubb, Hollins and Attaochu.