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5 Mistakes the Denver Broncos Made In 2015 NFL Free Agency

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5 Mistakes the Denver Broncos Made In 2015 NFL Free Agency

Julius Thomas Denver Broncos
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It’s hard to critique a team’s offseason moves when they were able to convince quite possibly the game’s greatest quarterback to forgo retirement in favor of chasing another championship, but it appears as though the Denver Broncos are now a worse team than they were last year. They failed at their win now at any cost strategy, and this year they will start to show the repercussions. Here are the five mistakes the Broncos made this offseason.

5. Allowing Themselves To Remain In Salary Cap Purgatory

Peyton Manning Denver Broncos
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5. Allowing Themselves To Remain In Salary Cap Purgatory

Peyton Manning Denver Broncos
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The Broncos were unbelievably limited in what they could do when it came to adding pieces to their team, because so much of their cap space is dedicated to aging players who are well past their prime. They were able to convince Peyton Manning to take a bit of a pay cut to help out, but it wasn’t nearly enough to help keep them contenders this year. The Broncos’ failure to plan ahead kept them from being active in the 2015 free agency period.

4. Losing Terrance Knighton

Terrance Knighton Denver Broncos
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4. Losing Terrance Knighton

Terrance Knighton Denver Broncos
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He’s not Ndamukong Suh, but at 6-foot-3, 331 pounds he was an imposing force in the middle of the defense who helped control the ground game of the opposing team's offense. Losing Knighton will hurt Denver’s pursuit of a championship when the playoffs arrive, because teams begin to rely on their ground game more. Denver still needs someone to help get their defense off the field and get the ball back to Manning and the offense.

3. Failing To Find A Replacement For Wes Welker

Wes Welker Denver Broncos
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3. Failing To Find A Replacement For Wes Welker

Wes Welker Denver Broncos
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What helped make their offense especially dangerous two years ago was the fact that they had a speedy and shifty Wes Welker causing havoc from the slot receiver position. He was a matchup nightmare who could pick up key third downs to extend drives, but ever since he got hurt, their passing offense struggled and forced them to rely more on their ground game. Now that he’s an unsigned free agent, their passing offense will continue to struggle.

2. Signing Owen Daniels

Owen Daniels Baltimore Ravens
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2. Signing Owen Daniels

Owen Daniels Baltimore Ravens
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On the surface this appears to be a solid pickup, because when Daniels is healthy, he’s a productive tight end in the passing game. The problem is, he’s only played an entire season three of the past six seasons and at age 32 he’s not exactly a spring chicken. The Broncos better hope that his injury-prone days are behind him; otherwise they will regret letting Julius Thomas go.

1. Letting Julius Thomas Go

Julius Thomas Denver Broncos
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1. Letting Julius Thomas Go

Julius Thomas Denver Broncos
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This goes back to the Broncos’ limitations due to their salary cap issues, but they should have found a way to hold on to Thomas. It can be argued that most of his success was due to the fact that he played with Manning, but you can’t underscore the on the field relationship these two developed. Given the fact that their offense struggled towards to end of last season, the Broncos really needed to hold on to Manning’s newfound security blanket.

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