Ranking the Broncos’ top four offseason priorities

DENVER — With the offseason in full-swing, John Elway’s time to shine has officially begun.

Elway’s never been shy of making the splash move, or moves, and stealing the national spotlight during an offseason, but if you think you’ve seen anything yet, just wait for this offseason.

Coming off the worst record during his tenure as a Denver Broncos executive (5-11), it’s widely believed that Elway will drastically shakeup the makeup of the team, so much so even the players believe it.

Once the clock strikes free agency on March 14, here’s what the Broncos’ pecking order of priorities will look like:

1: Find a franchise quarterback

This is a no-brainer.

Even the former quarterback himself, No. 7, pegged it as the No. 1 priority the moment the offseason began. This will start with free agency before moving on to the draft if Denver isn’t able to lure their man on the open market first.

It’s widely believed the Broncos will make an aggressive pursuit for Kirk Cousins, the best free agent available, and potentially other highly-sought-after quarterbacks. The biggest problem with this is nearly a third of the teams in the league will be trying to do the same thing.

If Denver doesn’t land their man in free agency, then they’ll turn to the draft where it would be expected they would use their No. 5 overall pick to fill the void.

2: Finish the offensive line rebuild

Last year, the Broncos started to rebuild their offensive line by devoting their first round pick on a tackle, Garett Bolles, and spending the most money in free agency on a guard, Ron Leary. This offseason, two moves of a smilier caliber to last year will complete this process.

This task, like last year, won’t come cheap, however. In fact, it will likely take one move in free agency—I.E., signing the best available tackle Nate Solder—and one high-round pick in the draft—such as guard Quentin Nelson, Will Hernandez or Isaiah Wynn.

Of the five offensive line positions, the Broncos have three relatively taken care of: One tackle position (Bolles), one guard position (Leary) and the center position (either Matt Paradis or Connor McGovern). In order to finish the rebuild, Elway will need to acquire one more tackle and one more guard.

3: Keep the defense great

One year ago, keeping the defense great was Elway’s No. 1 priority in the offseason. However, after another down year from the offense, Elway reluctantly admitted in January that this priority has taken a step back, but not a significant one as it’s still high on the totem poll.

“I really don’t like taking away from a strength; I don’t like doing that,” Elway said passionately at the end-of-season press conference when talking about the defense. “I think that because if it’s a known strength and you’re not that positive that you’re going into another strength, I like what I know rather than what I might not know even though I think it might help us. I don’t like taking away from strengths.”

Contrary to popular belief, Denver’s defense was still very dominant in many respects last year, finishing the season allowing the third-fewest total yards, the fourth-fewest passing yards, and the fifth-fewest rushing yards.

As the Broncos add to the offensive side of the ball, they’ll likely need to take from the defense—I.E., making a few cuts—but don’t expect many big names to be gone.

If, however, Denver does have to cut a big name or two on defense, don’t be surprised if Elway helps replenish that by adding to the defense early in the draft.

4: Find offensive playmakers

For the first 14 weeks of the season, the Broncos’ longest play was a 40-yard run by C.J. Anderson. In Week 15, against the Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Heuerman topped that, setting Denver’s longest play of the year with a 54-yard touchdown reception.

Outside of that, big plays were few and far between. In fact, the known playmakers on the team, Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas, only combined for seven total touchdowns.

Leading up to the start of last year, the coaching staff talked about all of the “juice” they wanted in their offense. After squeezing the fruit all season and nearly no juice coming out, Elway and Co. will need to look to both free agency and the draft in order to replenish.

This could come in the form of a running back, wide receiver, tight end or all of the above. Don’t be surprised to see Denver use multiple high-round picks to address this.