Denver Broncos NFL Draft Update: Time to Stop Ignoring Offense in Mock Drafts

As bad as the Denver Broncos have been defensively throughout the past few years, I think people have been ignoring the offensive side of the ball in mock drafts (unless they are picking Andrew Luck to Denver) and unjustifiably so.

The Broncos do not have a good offense, and really haven’t had one since Jay Cutler and company left town. Even then, the offense wasn’t great anywhere but between the 20’s, so really, the last time the Broncos had an offense that could take over a game was when Jake Plummer called the shots in Denver.

That seems like a long, long time ago, and the time has come for the Broncos to re-vamp the offensive side of the ball. Let’s take a look at some of the key free agents coming up for Denver this next offseason on the offensive side of the ball:

QB Kyle Orton, QB Brady Quinn, WR Brandon Lloyd, WR Eddie Royal, TE Daniel Fells

The first glaring piece of information there is that Tim Tebow is currently the only Broncos quarterback slated to be under contract in 2012. The organization is paying him a lot of money this year, so I believe they will try to get a bounty for him next year in a trade if Orton leads the team to a winning season, or I think the Broncos will at some point in 2011 play Tebow to evaluate whether or not he can be the QB of the future for this team.

The team is clearly planning on moving on from Kyle Orton at the end of the year, that I am almost certain. The Broncos chose not to extend Orton again, and they haven’t extended Brady Quinn either, though bringing back Quinn as a backup sounds like a good idea.

There have been those who speculate the Broncos would take a quarterback in the first round if they are picking high enough to do so, and it’s hard to believe that’s not true. As of right now, we don’t know enough about Tim Tebow to decide if the Broncos are moving forward with him as the potential franchise quarterback. Personally, I think the Broncos would be dumb not to give the guy a fair shot. Tebow is arguably the greatest college football player of all time, and while a lot of people don’t believe he can make it, there’s really no basis for their argument as Tebow has performed well in the NFL to this point, though he is still very raw.

The Broncos have potential voids at running back and wide receiver this offseason that they could fill, and depending where they pick in the first round I wouldn’t be shocked to see them add someone at either position, though I’m not typically a fan of picking running backs in the first round. The tight end position is also a bit sketchy if Julius Thomas doesn’t develop as they hope he will, and I think they should look to a veteran free agent to possibly help a young quarterbacks development next offseason.

The options are endless for this team because they have a solid core of starters, they really just need to find depth and guys who can make plays all over the field. The Broncos are a couple of drafts away, but this is definitely a team on the rise.