The Denver Broncos made a few additions down their roster during this year’s free agency period.
In 2023, the Denver Broncos were active in free agency. But in 2024, they went the opposite direction.
It’s not surprising that the Broncos weren’t that active in free agency this year, because teams who are active in one year tend to be quiet the following year. Furthermore, the Broncos have to ride out the cash commitment to Russell Wilson for 2024 after his release.
However, the Broncos were able to retain a few of their free agents and add a couple of others. It will be interesting to see which moves pay off for the Broncos this season.
Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus made his choices for favorite and least favorite free agent signing for each team. For the Broncos, the favorite was Adam Trautman and the least favorite was Brandon Jones.
Spielberger wrote that Trautman is a strong line blocker who fits Sean Payton’s offense, while Jones was “a pleasant surprise on film” but received a deal one might not expect for a player who has never been a full-time starter at safety.
The Jones signing does come with risk, given that Jones has not been a full-time starter at a position in which a player may log at least 1,000 snaps in a season. However, it could also become a value signing if Jones proves himself as a starter.
Furthermore, it’s not the first time PFF has questioned a Broncos free agent signing, but the signing turned out well. Spielberger notes that PFF was proven wrong with two of its grades from 2023: Zach Allen and Ben Powers.
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Spielberger wrote that PFF believed it was better for the Broncos to retain Dre’Mont Jones than sign Allen, but Allen went on to have a more productive season than Jones.
As for Powers, while he wasn’t a great player, his contract looks much better when compared to the deals handed out in 2024 free agency to the likes of Kevin Dotson, Jonah Jackson, and Robert Hunt.
Only time will tell how things work out for the free agents, whether they were players the Broncos retained or ones they signed from other teams. The one thing to remember is that, while one is free to grade a team’s free agent signing at the time it happens, it’s what that free agent does on the field that tells you whether or not it was a good signing.
