Teams Denver Broncos - The Mile High Club

[Coops93]

So Russ had been benched for the last 2 games.

A good move imo, not necessarily because Stiddy gives us a better chance or anything, but because I believe Russ has some injury guarantees. Now we should be clear from that concern we can see how the offense looks without him and see how much of it Is Russ vs how much is the offense overall.

 

[dazbroncos]

So Russ had been benched for the last 2 games.

A good move imo, not necessarily because Stiddy gives us a better chance or anything, but because I believe Russ has some injury guarantees. Now we should be clear from that concern we can see how the offense looks without him and see how much of it Is Russ vs how much is the offense overall.

It’s not just Russ however.:
Some if it’s him but play calling, drops… OL line.. defensive 70 burger…

And the Broncos gave Russ that deal..
I’m not saying Russ is worth it or playing to it’s full value.. but why should he drop it now when his numbers are the best they be been at Denver - and they needed to get better from last year.

I just think the instant gratification expectations are wrong and good luck getting any FA to look at Denver now.

 

[Coops93]

It’s not just Russ however.:
Some if it’s him but play calling, drops… OL line.. defensive 70 burger…

And the Broncos gave Russ that deal..
I’m not saying Russ is worth it or playing to it’s full value.. but why should he drop it now when his numbers are the best they be been at Denver - and they needed to get better from last year.

I just think the instant gratification expectations are wrong and good luck getting any FA to look at Denver now.

The oline being poor is a myth. Statistically it's one of the best in the league, most of the sacks are due to Russ himself panicking in the pocket for no reason and running to nothing.



I don't think Paytons play calling has been perfect but I don't think he's really been able to call the offense how he wants to given Russels limitations.

 

[Coops93]

More evidence the oline is not the problem

 

[Exe Gesis]

Congratulations to Alex Singleton on setting the NFL record for most games in a season with 10+ Tackles (13 today) and for setting the Broncos franchise record with 172 on the season! He’s a beast. (And, no ProBowl!? C’mon…)

 

[Coops93]

Congratulations to Alex Singleton on setting the NFL record for most games in a season with 10+ Tackles (13 today) and for setting the Broncos franchise record with 172 on the season! He’s a beast. (And, no ProBowl!? C’mon…)

He has been a great value pick-up. He does fall a little short on pass coverage, but I love the tenacity he plays with.

Josey Jewell was solid too, over 100 tackles, 3 sacks and does ok in pass coverage. Allowing under 200 yards for the year on 43 targets.

 

[Coops93]

I was starting to turn toward Penix jr. I was out on him but after the last weeks I was starting to get sold and thinking I wouldn't mind getting him, however, after today... he looked very deer-in-headlights in the big game. Granted he was under pressure, but even when he wasn't he was feeling ghosts. Several bad throws under no pressure. Right from the start though even before perceived pressure would set in he didn't look good. Plus he did also seem to get injured... He played through it, to his credit, but it doesn't do his "injury prone" rep any good.

I did want Drake Maye but since then we've won a few games so now I'm not really sure what we do at QB.

 

[Coops93]

Just seen Harbaugh has signed with the Chargers. We've got a pretty stacked division coaching wise, QB wise and overall talent wise.

I don't think we can compete with Russ and I don't think we're in a prime enough draft position to go get an elite QB. Have a feeling we might be stuck in purgatory for a while. As good as it was to win a few games it might hurt us. I'm usually not of that mindset but with the other QBs and coaches around really a proper bottoming out might have been good in the long run.

 

[Coops93]

Interesting stats here. Maye has long been my choice for QB this draft but we've played ourselves out of his range.

The numbers are better than expected for Bo Nix, the big play no.s aren't great but he doesn't turn over or take sacks. Lots of coaches will love that.

 

[Coops93]

Left field thought. What do we think of taking Zach Wilson on a cheap as trade? Reckon Payton could get him sorted?

He was obviously awful with the Jets, but, I don't think any QB ever had a chance with this current set up. They burned Darnold and then completely hung Wilson out to dry, the lad never had a chance.

 

[Constantgin]

 

[peterbuch74]

I get it, I understand why... but, I just don't like it. JSimmo has been a joy to watch in Denver.
Been some very poor decisions being made lately regarding contracts/extensions etc, and now players who've been pillars in the team, who provide the heart and soul of the group are being let go as part of the clean out to make up for the errors. Sad days, and some pain ahead methinks.

 

[Coops93]

I get it, I understand why... but, I just don't like it. JSimmo has been a joy to watch in Denver.
Been some very poor decisions being made lately regarding contracts/extensions etc, and now players who've been pillars in the team, who provide the heart and soul of the group are being let go as part of the clean out to make up for the errors. Sad days, and some pain ahead methinks.

Agree with this. He was a huge part of the culture. Unfortunately it was a necessary move. I was playing around on one of those salary cap sites a few weeks back and came to the realisation that Simmons will be going. I couldn't find a way to get under the cap without moving him on (assuming Russ was cut, which he was).

Moreso disappointing imo is that we couldn't find a trade partner for him. Cutting him seems a waste, I think we could've got something alright for him.

 

[dazbroncos]

Culture and sense of team and city has gone to shreds in Denver now.

what once was a cornerstone of being a Bronco for several heart and soul type players is now really blow to pieces.

I get the business side - I really do - but the culture stuff cant be fixed with one signing.

It takes years and a career to build that.
Elway
Manning
Atwater
Smith
TD
Mecklenberg
Fletcher
Dennis Smith
Champ
DT
Simmons
Von

thats the hardest part for me to see disappear

 

[Coops93]

I get the business side - I really do - but the culture stuff cant be fixed with one signing.

The issue is the business side has forced it to happen. They've not just cut Simmons to save a few $, they just about had no choice. It's only going to get worse too.

See below, after cutting Russ we're 60m over the cap due to the dead money.




After a few other cuts (who I think is likely)



We still need to find another $17m. It's going to be a rough off-season and next year is going to be a really rough one. The culture has been blown to bits and it was unavoidable once Russ and Hackett walked in the door. I think Sean Payton is getting a rough deal here given he's the one being criticised, but he didn't trade for Russ, sign Russ to an extension, have him play with the worst HC ever seen and give Russ everything he wanted which turned off his team-mates and already damaged the culture. He's basically walked into a huge shitshow and having to fix it up and looks like the bad guy as he's the one to actually make the changes.

I'm stunned Paton still has a job, he's completely f***ed this team.

 

[Coops93]

Fwiw to get us under the cap (by 500k... with a total roster of just 47 guys [so obviously more cuts will be needed just to get the league minimum])

I've cut:
Sutton ($10m saving)
Patrick ($9m saving)
Perine ($3m saving)
Bolles ($16m saving)
Browning ($3.1m saving)
Jonathon Cooper ($3.1m saving)
D.J. Jones ($10m saving)
Riley Dixon ($1.7m saving)
Luke Wattenberg (?) ($1m saving)
David Sills ($1m saving)

Yikes. I'm not sure if there's things like trading or whatever that will enable dead money to be different and result in more savings, those are just pure cuts - also not counting restructures. This is purely an exercise in just displaying how cap f***ed we are.

Most of those cuts leave dead money against the cap too so that saving is salary - dead money hit = saving.

Zach Allen is now our highest earner at $19million followed by McGlinchey at $18.5m and Ben Powers at $15.25m. JJ rounds out the top 4 with $12.98m. Those 4 are the only guys on the roster with over $10m salary.

The amount of dead money against the cap is an eye watering $125,208,972...

This could just be the worst salary cap situation in NFL history.

 

[peterbuch74]

Geez, we would've been better off keeping Russ and leaving him on the bench if SP wanted to play someone else.

 

[Coops93]

Geez, we would've been better off keeping Russ and leaving him on the bench if SP wanted to play someone else.

I remember reading that cutting him now is actually cheaper than keeping him (Iirc it was $89 next yr as opposed to $86m this yr) and cutting next season or the year after. Iirc the dead money hit was slightly more next yr and the year after maybe similar or slightly less than what we have now.

If we chose to keep him we'd bench him and pay 50m a season for about 3 more years before cutting him still having a fairly solid dead money hit of ~$35m. Not to mention the locker room impact of having him around for that long and having him benched. Not that what we've done is much better mind, but at least it's quicker.

Ripping the band-aid off early and suffering through a year now than dragging it out over 4 yrs.

 

[Coops93]

I'm starting to wonder if we should wait until next season to draft a QB. Given the cuts we'll be making chances are we'll be picking in the top 5. I'm not sure what the QB class is like next season fwiw, but maybe we're better off drafting the best available this yr, or trade back, as we have needs basically everywhere. Then next yr use the top 5 pick on a QB.

 

[drd23]

 

[Constantgin]

 

[dazbroncos]

What a s**t show.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Great result

$13M in cap space too

 

[Constantgin]

Don't mind the actually trade just wish it was more than a couple of day 3 picks.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Don't mind the actually trade just wish it was more than a couple of day 3 picks.

He sucks, paying him 13m this year and OOC next year. I said at the deadline last year he was worth ~ 4th round pick. Bang on the money.