Broncos adamant that they return 10, not nine, defensive starters

By the book, the Broncos are returning nine of 11 starters on one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. Considering how hard it is to keep a championship team together, that’s actually pretty darn good. But, true to form, the Broncos aren’t settling there. No, they believe they should be considered to be bringing back 10 defensive starters.

“You can really count [CB Bradley] Roby as a starter,” said cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who led the defense, playing 97-percent of the snaps. “We’re really bringing back 10 guys that played a lot. . . We have a lot of guys back.”

Roby played 57-percent of the snaps on the defense throughout the season, ranking him behind only, well, the starters-by-definition, Harris, Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart in the secondary. Roby played more than any other “reserve” on the defense and actually started four games according to Pro Football Reference.

“Bradley played big and a [had] a lot of reps for us,” said Stewart on Wednesday. “He made a lot of plays. He’s definitely considered a starter.”

Also on Wednesday, reporters finally had a chance to ask Roby if he considers himself a returning starter.

“Yes,” he said frankly, straight-faced and with no further comment.

Even when asked to elaborate, he remained short.

“I see myself as a starter, there’s really nothing else to say.”

I guess that settles it because if you saw the look on his face, you wouldn’t want to disagree. And why stop there? Heck, Shane Ray and Shaq Barrett (who have big plans for this year) combined to play more than 1,000 defensive snaps, so if you count them as one person, boom, Broncos return 11 starters.

Only kidding, but you get the point.