Sunday’s game showed who the Broncos must re-sign ASAP

DENVER — Even with a solid statistical line in Sunday’s 24-19 win over the dyspeptic Cleveland Browns, there is a good chance that Brandon Allen is not the starting quarterback of the Broncos’ future. There are no guarantees that Drew Lock handles that mantle for the long term, either.

But just because the quarterback could remain a question and a primary need going into the 2020 NFL Draft doesn’t mean the Broncos cannot build their plan for the future.

It can simply read: “Insert Young Quarterback Here.”

Young. That means cost-controlled. That means a quarterback on his rookie contract.

And that means instead of spending $18.5 million for one year of Joe Flacco or $22 million for what turned out to be a single season of Case Keenum, they stop flushing good money after mediocrity at the position and go young, whether it is a quarterback on hand or one of the passers likely to go off the board in the first 10 to 15 picks of next spring’s draft.

If the Broncos believe Lock has an elite ceiling and can be effective, they can go that route. If Allen is more than just a one-week mirage, maybe he can shock the world. Or they can look to the draft, insert a first-round pick into the starting lineup and let him learn.

Any one of those options allows the Broncos to avoid the trap in which they’ve been ensnared the last two seasons: paying a premium price for below-average quarterbacking.

Going young saves cap space. It likely doesn’t result in worse quarterback play; in the season and a half with Keenum and Flacco, only six teams had a lower passer rating and just four had fewer touchdown passes than Denver.

Most importantly for the current construction of the team, going young at quarterback gives the Broncos extra resources to keep this defense together.

Because if anything appears clear about the Broncos, it is this:

Vic Fangio’s defense is arriving.

And the worst thing you could do is derail that process by breaking it up.

No defense has allowed fewer touchdowns to its opponents in the last five games than the Broncos, who have surrendered just four touchdowns in that span.

Losing key components of its improvement would be unwise. And the quickest, cleanest formula for the Broncos to return to contention involves identifying a young quarterback in the next seven months, giving him a bit more protection and partnering him with a defense that can dominate.

It’s what turned the Seattle Seahawks from 2011 also-rans to 2013 world champions. It’s how the Buffalo Bills transformed themselves from a perennial loser into a 6-2 contender that is poised to provide the most viable long-term challenge to the New England Patriots’ hegemony over the AFC East.

And that formula can work here.

But first, the Broncos have to focus on re-signing three key players right now — two of whom made Sunday’s win happen.

First, there’s Justin Simmons, who made the biggest stop of Sunday’s game — a backside attack on Browns running back Nick Chubb for a 3-yard loss to turn third-and-1 into fourth-and-4.

The play unraveled the Browns. Unable to get the next play off in time, they burned their final timeout before the fourth-and-4 snap. Then Devontae Harris and Kareem Jackson helped force a Jarvis Landry drop across the middle.

Three minutes and 23 seconds remained, but it was game over. The Browns were at the cliff. Simmons pushed them over. And he did so by taking Fangio’s call, which brought him up to attack the run, and going all out with a backside rush.

As Simmons kept closer, he knew that if Baker Mayfield kept the football, he’d be doomed.

“In my head, I was thinking, ‘Please don’t keep it; please don’t keep it,'” Simmons said, “because as the outside blitzer, I’m the only contain guy, so I just put all my chips on the line and said, ‘He’s handing it off to Chubb,’ and I was right.”

Fangio’s trust in Simmons paid dividends, as it has throughout the season, when he’s been free to roam and use his speed, size and intelligence.

“It’s huge, and that’s something that I admire about the coaching staff,” he said. “They get smart guys all around the board, and they give you tools and obviously things that you go into the week with and you use in your toolbox.

“We always say, ‘It’s like the offense is telling a story, and we’ve got to be able to read it the right way.’ That’s the biggest thing, and we have a bunch of guys that are locked in every week, and that makes it easier.”

Imagine how locked in Simmons could be if he returns for another year alongside Jackson. If he continues to play at his current level, he could be one of the highest-paid players on the market.

He could be worth every penny.

Next, there’s Derek Wolfe, who has never been shy about expressing his desire to remain with the Broncos — to be a “Bronco for life,” as he has said over the years.

In the last four weeks, he has given the Broncos an interior pass rush they haven’t possessed since the salad days of 2015, when he tag-teamed with Malik Jackson to wreck opposing blocking schemes from the inside.

Wolfe leads the Broncos with 5 sacks. Fellow defensive end DeMarcus Walker is right behind him with 4. With another sack from Shelby Harris, the Broncos’ defensive line has 10 sacks — an average of 1.1 per game.

In the previous three seasons, Denver’s defensive line averaged just 0.6 sacks per game. Wolfe had just 1.5 sacks last year and the defensive line as a whole had 9. Both have exceeded those figures through nine games.

Part of the reason for Wolfe’s success?

“I’m healthy,” he said.

But the rest is the scheme and Wolfe being an ideal fit for it.

“I think Vic’s defense and defensive calls are top-notch. He’s making good calls in the right situations and putting me in the right situations as well,” he said. “Today I just came free; they didn’t block me.”

But lots of interior pass rushers come free. It takes a good one to finish.

Wolfe wants to stay. Let him. Sign him to a two- or three-year deal. He offers a persistent presence who can continue to anchor the defensive line until young linemen like Dre’Mont Jones are ready for the baton.

Finally, you have Chris Harris Jr.

Harris’ day did not have the dynamic moments that Wolfe and Simmons enjoyed. But after containing T.Y. Hilton for most of last week’s game, he found himself matched against Odell Beckham Jr. throughout Sunday’s win.

Having a cornerback like Harris who can limit the potential for explosive plays from a No. 1 receiver opens up new horizons for the rest of the defense. The Broncos will not find anyone better on the market in 2020 for this role than Harris.

“Coach puts a lot of responsibility on me to play man and to bottle him up,” Harris said. “I think I did a great job the whole first half. In the second half, I was just a little second too late to get those interceptions. That’s something that’ll eat me up all week, because I know I can make those plays and the pick-sixes right there, but it’s something that I’ll bounce back from next week.”

Re-signing him requires swallowing hard and absorbing a big contract for a player who is past his 30th birthday. But it is necessary. Nothing better exists on the market. No one is close.

“To know that they want me to be here, that’s big for me,” he said Wednesday. “As a player, you always want to feel appreciated and you want to feel like the work that you put on the field is noted and appreciated.”

Appreciation costs money. But the Broncos can afford it.

OvertheCap.com projects the Broncos to have $68.74 million of salary-cap space in 2020. Cutting Joe Flacco would create another $10.05 million.

That’s $78.79 million.

Re-signing Simmons, Wolfe and Harris will not be cheap. If they choose to spread the hit out equally over the years under which they’d sign, those three players could chew up $37 million of that space.

But that would still leave the Broncos plenty of room to add at least one new starter on the offensive line and re-sign Connor McGovern and Shelby Harris, while taking care of projected restricted and exclusive-rights free agents such as Mike Purcell, Tim Patrick, Davontae Harris and Diontae Spencer.

And realistically, are the Broncos going to find better fits than Simmons, Wolfe and Harris?

This isn’t the time to take the defense in reverse. The Broncos are at the cusp of returning to greatness on that side of the ball. Complement that with the right young quarterback, and you have the formula.

Then it becomes a matter of getting the young quarterback. That is a discussion for other Sundays and beyond.

But any QB will have a better chance of success if he is partnered with a defense like this — a defense with Simmons, Wolfe and Chris Harris Jr.

Pay the men.