The 2019 NFL season is not yet officially over as Super Bowl LIV is still yet to be played. But for the Denver Broncos, the focus is already onto the 2020 season.
That shift of focus starts with free agency. The official start of free agency is March 18, but teams can re-sign any of their own free agents prior to that in order to keep them off the open market.
The Broncos have several key players ready to become free agents and the team does have some money to spend. According to OverTheCap.com, the team currently has $61.9 million in available cap space. Only five teams in the league have more.
Not all players need to be brought back. Some better answers for rebuilding the team may exist by signing players from elsewhere. Here, we will talk about some of the team’s unrestricted free agents. Each of these players will be guys that the Broncos should move on from, for one reason or another.
You will not see Chris Harris on this list, even though the Broncos could very well lose him. In his case, the key will be if he still wants to play in Denver, but the team should try to retain him.
1. Devontae Booker, running back
This one isn’t very hard. Booker doesn’t offer the team much in its current form and he was all but phased out on offense this season, getting only two carries in 2019.
If not for a preseason injury to Theo Riddick, Booker might not have even made the 53-man roster.
Riddick should get another opportunity with the team in 2020 to see how he can impact a growing offense while Booker, who has been almost a complete flop since being made a fourth-round pick in 2016, should be playing somewhere else.
2. Corey Nelson, linebacker
The Broncos chose to bring back Nelson when he was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as part of their final roster cuts, but he didn’t offer much beyond emergency depth at the position and he finished the season on injured reserve, having played in only seven games.
Nelson can still provide some help on special teams, but the Broncos don’t need to go out of their way to re-sign him.
3. Adam Gotsis, defensive lineman
The experiment with this guy seems to have run its course and the Broncos can now turn the page.
Gotsis was born in Australia and came straight from Australian rules football to Georgia Tech as a college football player. The Broncos used a second-round pick on him.
In four seasons, Gotsis has five sacks and a little over 100 career tackles. He hasn’t been a total bust, but it seems that an upgrade should be considered.
4. Will Parks, safety
Parks has worked his way into a nice role as a defensive back in sub-packages for the team, but he could be a victim of a numbers crunch.
The Broncos should be all-in on re-signing Justin Simmons. The team also gave a big contract to safety Kareem Jackson last offseason. So the question becomes, how much money can one team have tied up in the safety position?
Parks has developed into a solid role player, but he isn’t more important than Simmons or Jackson and the Broncos may need to move on and allocate funds in other spots.
