The Denver Broncos added a new defensive end, former Houston Texan starter Jared Crick, to the team. Crick had been less than productive for the Texans, as he only recorded 5.5 sacks in his entire time in the NFL. He is only 26 though, so he has tremendous upside if the right team can develop him. Crick does have more than 100 tackles in the last two seasons, so he has been a pretty solid run stopper, but he gets little to no pressure on the quarterback.
Crick is a Nebraska alum and was a fourth round pick by the Texans. The Broncos signed him to a two-year contract, and he will likely be used as a bridge player until they draft a young defensive end. The Broncos have been the team most affected by the NFL free agent period, as they saw four starters leave their franchise.
Denver's free agency period was doomed from the start, as they barely had enough money to retain any of their players, let alone offer attractive deals to big name playmakers.
Denver lost starting defensive end Malik Jackson to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was a monumental loss that not only changes the landscape of their defensive unit, but also creates a hole in the roster that they will need to fill by drafting a young and productive defensive lineman.
Starting quarterback Brock Osweiler decided to take his career to Houston to become the Texans' starting quarterback. This might be Denver's most devastating loss in free agency. They already traded for Mark Sanchez, who is working out with the Broncos wide receivers in the offseason. But does that make Broncos fans feel any better?
Sanchez stated that he just wants a clean slate, however, that is hard to do when you're replacing one of the most legendary quarterbacks in NFL history, Peyton Manning, with the man famous for the butt fumble. Osweiler leaving was relatively unexpected, as it was assumed he was the heir to Peyton's starting job. Osweiler probably saw the benefit of entering his first season as a starter with fewer expectations than in Denver.
Fans had just won a Super Bowl and expected Osweiler to be an effective and productive quarterback physically to lead this unit to another title. Instead, he stepped out of the shadow of Manning and into the void that is the Texans quarterback corps.
The Broncos also lost inside linebacker Danny Trevathan to the Chicago Bears, as John Fox continues to pilfer players from his former team, and offensive guard Evan Mathis, who went to the Arizona Cardinals.
Crick should provide some adequate depth behind Derek Wolfe and could potentially steal the current starting job from George Uko.
