Broncos Offseason Roundup: Free Agency's Slow Burn

The Broncos have made it clear through 11 days of Free Agency that they plan to play the long game. The team will continue to look for bargains in free agency, play the draft, and continue to develop young players.

Of course, that could make some sense. The team is loaded as some critical skill positions. Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, and Cody Latimer give them some weapons at receiver, with CJ Anderson, Ronnie Hillman, and, to a much lesser extent, Montee Ball giving them young depth at tailback. The rumor is that Ball is even trying to work to re-gain the No. 1 running back spot. Let's all quickly say a prayer that remains a rumor.

On defense, the Broncos will switch to the 3-4. That probably means DeMarcus Ware moving back to outside linebacker opposite Von Miller, with Brandon Marshall and a (maybe) healed Danny Trevathon on the inside. At corner, the Broncos return Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, Bradley Roby, Kavon Webster, and Tony Carter. And at Strong Safety they have Pro Bowler TJ Ward.

Yes, the pieces are in place to compete. But that also leaves holes and questions, none of which has a great answer at this point. And most of those questions come on the line — both offense and defense.

On offense, the Broncos know Ryan Clady will start at left tackle and Louis Vasquez will start at right guard. The rest of the spots — three in the starting lineup — are up for grabs. Ben Garland is getting looks to start at left guard, Matt Paradis at center, and Michael Schofield at right tackle. The Broncos still have Manny Ramirez, Chris Clark, Paul Cornick and signee Shelly Smith in the mix, too. But if any of them were blowing people away, there wouldn't be questions.

Since Gary Kubiak's running game is predicated on good blocking, a line is kind of important. Then there's the whole 39-year-old quarterback thing… The offensive line was trouble last year, and that was with Orlando Franklin locking it down at left guard. This may be the biggest gamble for John Elway and his personnel department, unless they have some secret tricks up their sleeve.

Then there's the defensive line. It makes sense for Ware to move back to outside linebacker, and Derek Wolfe is still a rock at one defensive end. Malik Jackson currently looks like the other starting defensive end with some other pieces possibly in the rotation. But that's not even the biggest worry. That belongs to nose tackle. In a 3-4, you need a hoover at nose tackle. Right now the Broncos are counting on Sylvester Williams, a third year pro who's shown little so far, and Marvin Austin, Jr., a reclamation project. Um, that's not really encouraging — especially given that Terrance Knighton, the Broncos' standout and co-defensive captain from last season, signed for one year and just $4 million with Washington. Why didn't the Broncos go after Knighton? Again, this feels like a gamble.

Finally, what about free safety? The Broncos don't have one at the moment. New signee Darian Stewart is in the mix, and the Broncos are also talking about using Webster or, worse, Roby in that spot. This is a league that requires teams to have good corners to win — at least three of them. With Roby at the nickel spot, the Broncos had good pass defense a year ago. Now, it seems they're willing to blow that up to gamble on moving the pieces around the board. And given that this is reportedly a weak draft for safeties, that might be their only option…

If this team wants to compete for a title, a lot of these gambles are going to have to pay off big next fall.