On a blockbuster day in the NFL, the Broncos made no moves.
The NFL trade deadline provided earthquakes elsewhere in the league, but nary a ripple in Denver.
They didn’t rent a veteran on an expiring contract.
They didn’t pay a premium for a young star.
They didn’t bolster their tight end room, overhaul their receiver group or pursue an inside linebacker.
General manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton surveyed the landscape over the past few days, made some inquiries and fielded calls like all teams do, but in the end didn’t find a deal they liked for their first-place club.
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“George and I each day talked about different things,” Payton said Tuesday, just after the deadline passed and Denver finished its walkthrough practice in preparation for Thursday night’s game against Las Vegas. “That’s just how it turned out.”
Denver never really felt like a team that would play a main-character role in the run-up to the deadline. Turns out, that title went to former Broncos assistant general manager Darren Mougey, now the New York Jets’ general manager. His team traded star cornerback Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis for a pair of first-round picks plus receiver AD Mitchell, then dealt All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to Dallas for a first and a second.
That kind of action didn’t fit the bill for the Broncos this year.
For starters, Payton and Paton like the depth and talent they’ve put together on their roster.
Then they opted against clearing cap space and headed into Tuesday’s deadline with just $4.62 million in room, according to NFL Players Association data. That’s not the kind of breathing room needed to take on any significant salary, despite the fact Denver had the kind of draft capital to go big-game hunting if it had chosen to.
“Obviously, if there’s a need, you want to get it, but we feel like we’ve got all the pieces,” second-year quarterback Bo Nix said Tuesday. “Sometimes when something like that happens, it shakes things up. We’ve got something good going and we just want to keep riding this wave and finding ways to win.”
Denver looked at the tight end market, sources told The Denver Post, but nothing materialized. The Broncos, a source said, were engaged in conversations through Tuesday but generally found asking prices to be high in a market that stayed strong for sellers.
The Broncos could have dealt from positions of depth like running back or the secondary, but that never seemed likely for a team that’s alone in first place for the first time since 2016, is in the mix for an AFC West title, is tied for the best record in football and is currently playing without the reigning defensive player of the year in cornerback Pat Surtain II.
Plenty of national reports tied Denver to the wide receiver market, though the same was true last year through free agency and the NFL draft this spring and all summer. The biggest moves the Broncos have made in that span were to draft Pat Bryant in the third round and ship Devaughn Vele to New Orleans for a fourth-round pick and a seventh-rounder in August.
Another Jets star, receiver Garrett Wilson, ended up not getting traded and a source told The Post the Broncos didn’t reach out or make an offer for Wilson.
Otherwise, buzz keeps percolating, and Payton keeps on riding with the guys he has.
“I saw a lot of that, but we’ve invested in this group and we like where we’re going,” Payton said.
No surprise, that’s music to the ears of Denver’s young pass-catchers.
“He’s been telling us that since the offseason, and he’s kept his word,” said wide receiver Troy Franklin, who has made a big jump from Year 1 (263 yards and two touchdowns) to Year 2 (385 yards and four touchdowns) in production. “It means a lot to us. It gives us the confidence to go out there and execute and not worry about anybody coming for our job or anything like that. That gives us confidence for sure. …
“Everybody can make a play, and everybody can do everything that a receiver needs to do. We’re all we got and we’re all we need.”
Franklin now leads the Broncos with 64 targets. Veteran Courtland Sutton is right behind him at 62. Rookie third-round pick Pat Bryant is now third in playing time (40%), edging slightly ahead of Marvin Mims Jr. (37%), who is a big-play threat but missed Sunday’s game at Houston with a concussion.
“The confidence means a lot, bro,” Bryant said. “We do everything we’re asked of, we go out there and make plays when plays need to be made. We all we need for the offense. We’ve got different play styles, we’ve got a couple ‘jokers.’ I feel like the offense is pretty much set. Once the offense is rolling, it’s rolling. … We’ve known what we had since camp. It’s just up to us for everybody to do their job, do their 1/11th, and when you see that on film, that’s when we’re at our highest level.”
Bryant said that at the unofficial halfway point of the season, the Broncos have made progress in figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
“It’s to the point where Coach puts us in a position to make our plays,” Bryant said. “He knows what we’re good at, and we just need to go out there and execute.”
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