Based on results of our FanDuel SB Nation Reacts survey earlier this week, it is pretty clear what Denver fans think of the team signing ONLY Broncos free agents.
Not thrilled.
At the time of the survey, the Broncos had re-signed Alex Palczewski, Adam Trautman, Alex Singleton, Nate Adkins, and Justin Strnad.
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Since then, they have added back Sam Ehlinger, Lucas Krull, Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, Matt Henningsen, Adam Prentice and Jaleel McLaughlin — and Ja’Quan McMillian signed his tender. I wonder if those signings would have added to the angst reflected in the 72%?
But it’s not just fans who seem underwhelmed, if not slightly disappointed.
Plenty of beat writers and pundits have seemed surprised at the perceived lack of aggression to get some of the big names out there, especially running backs like Travis Etienne, Kenneth Walker III and Breece Hall. But Walker went to the Chiefs while Hall was franchise tagged and Etienne wanted to go play on home turf.
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But perhaps none of us should have been surprised as George Paton hinted at keeping most of the team’s own FAs.
“We have to be urgent. We don’t control a lot in free agency. Guys can leave. I think I said in January that we are going to be urgent and aggressive in our approach [with] no stone unturned. We are looking at everything,” Paton said at the NFL Combine. “Then yet, you have to be measured and selective and make the right decisions. You can’t just go crazy just because you became three points from the Super Bowl. We’ll be aggressive in that approach but really measured and try to make sound decisions.”
There was a little flicker in the last 48 hours that rumors of the Broncos being interested in AJ Brown were true and possible, but as of Friday night, Brown was committed to staying at the Eagles.
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And the fact that the Broncos have cleared cap space signals there could still be a free agent signing, just not a splashy, expensive one. But if we have learned anything about Sean Payton, it’s that he is very intentional with all of his decisions (even the bad ones like throwing the ball on 4th and goal at the 1).
When it comes to players he signs or drafts, they have to be smart and they have to fit the team culture.
It’s worked so far — and it’s hard to get too mad about it when you see tweets like this one from Dobbins after getting a new deal: