Potential 2013 Denver Broncos roster changes
The 2012 season is over for the Denver Broncos, and now we look onto the potential 2013 Denver Broncos roster changes. The Broncos will potentially be kicking hay on 18 players who hit free agency in 2013. The number 1 player the Broncos need to nail down is Ryan Clady. I can’t emphasize this enough, about just how important he is to this Broncos team with Peyton Manning running it. If Clady is gone, then you can kiss the Manning era goodbye. He has to be re-signed and hoping to find a replacement in the draft or free agency is too large of a risk.
However, then it gets a little less dramatic. Tracy Porter hits the market in 2013, and while it was ironic to have the player who took away another ring from Manning in the 2009 Super Bowl with his interception return for a touchdown on the same team as Manning in 2012. Porter as a Bronco has been less than spectacular since he left the New Orleans Saints. All signs point to Porter not being re-signed, and it wouldn’t be a huge loss. The starting defensive tackles in Justin Bannan and Kevin Vickerson becoming free agents in 2013 is more dramatic.
Bannan and Vickerson luckily are not in their prime and the number 1 place to target in the next draft is a defensive tackle with an attitude. Re-signing Bannan or Vickerson seems like the logical choice, but only one of them should be re-signed. On the offensive side of the ball, Dan Koppen is a free agent. At 33 years old, it would be wise for the Broncos to find a new center in draft to replace him or groom him for Koppen’s retirement, but until then Koppen needs to be re-signed. The basic perspective you get when you look at the Denver Broncos is they are an old Football team.
There are a lot of places that need some youth injected and that includes middle linebacker. Keith Brooking hits the market in 2013 and he’s 37 years old. That makes the urgency for Manning to get his rings and get out so much higher. The Broncos are going to go through a coming to Jesus moment soon as the elder statesmen step down into retirement and that includes Manning. The Broncos shouldn’t worry about most of the players leaving in 2013, but should be worrying about who will replace them in the future.
James Cobern is a Featured Journalist for TPF and can be contacted at JCobern@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com.
Uh, Koppen is NOT the Broncos starting center. J.D. Walton is their REGULAR center. Koppen was an injury replacement. Do you really know ANYTHING about the Broncos ?
Koppen on tape played better than Walton this season, injury aside. If you want to let him go. That’s fine, but you need to always look for the best unit possible. I forgot to mention Walton coming back, but even if Walton comes back. The Broncos need to stick with Koppen, because of his performance in 2012.
Koppen on tape played better than Walton this season, injury aside. If you want to let him go. That’s fine, but you need to always look for the best unit possible. I forgot to mention Walton coming back, but even if Walton comes back. The Broncos need to stick with Koppen, because of his performance in 2012.
Brooking probably won’t be back. I’d be surprised if he wants to play MLB at 38 years old (but he was quite an improvement over Mays this year). Hopefully Mays learned a thing or two from Brooking, because either he, or DJ Williams is likely to be the starting Mike. I like the idea of keeping Koppen and giving Walton an experienced hand to tutor under. Walton’s not a bad center, he’s just a bit undisciplined at times. Porter, no loss at all. Clady will be locked down, or they’ll use the franchise tag on him. He’ll be back. They could use another tackle though, preferably a good right tackle so they could move Franklin in to Guard, I’m impressed with Franklin overall, but he gets beat too often in pass protection. As far as DT goes, they will certainly draft a true DT (Wolfe is a hybrid), but I think it would make sense for them to keep both Bannan and Vickerson. At the least for depth. It’s not like either of them are breaking the bank, and they’ve played well against the run this year.