The Denver Broncos have come a long way under the leadership of coach Sean Payton, and he knows how important the upcoming trade deadlines could be. When Payton was asked about it in London, though, he indicated it wasn’t exactly top of mind.
“Oh, man,” Payton said to Nick Kosmider in an article about this on The Athletic. “I think to answer your question, we would always pay attention to what we might be looking for, and I think we have time to do that, but I’m not thinking about that right now.”
Now the question is more urgent. For most teams, recent history might be a good guideline about the trade deadline approach, but that’s hardly the case with the Broncos.
Payton was a seller in Payton’s first year, which was 2023. Denver was planning to release pass rusher Randy Gregory that year, but they ended up trading him to the San Francisco 49ers for a pair of late-round draft picks. They also traded another pass rusher, Baron Browning, to the Arizona Cardinals, the next season in 2024, and that trade brought back a sixth round pick.
Those moves helped pave the way for several Broncos pass rushers to emerge, as did analogous trades of edge rushers Bradley Chubb and Von Miller at the 2022 and 2021 deadlines, respectively.
One of the picks in the Miller trade was used to acquire linebacker Nick Bonitto, and the Chubb deal brought back the first-round pick the Broncos used to acquire the rights to sign Payton as the team’s head coach. And it was Payton, of course, who gave linebacker Jonathan Cooper more playing time, and Cooper is now a fierce pass rusher in his own right.
This year it’s a different story. The Broncos don’t really need to develop young talent on defense at the moment, and they have acute needs on the offensive line. They do have some younger depth pieces who might help bring back the guard help they need, but whether it’s worth thinning out the depth chart remains an open issues.
One name Kosmider mentioned as a possibility is lineman John Simpson of the Jets. He’s 28, and Simpson is playing on an expiring contract with a relatively low $6.7 cap hit. Simpson plays left guard, and he might be a good fit behind or instead of Alex Palczewski, whom the Broncos believe in going forward.
The needs at wide receiver are murkier given Payton’s expressed confidence in the group he already has, but what is certain is that the Broncos won’t be sellers this time around.