Author: Bob Morris

As I prepare different articles about the offseason, I will give you a list of players who are likely getting the franchise tag.

I have grouped them into three categories. The first are those players who will definitely be tagged. The second are players who you would expect to get the tag, but you never know what the team might be thinking, particularly if its cap situation is tight. The third are players who might get that tag but are just as likely to hit the open market.

As always, if a player agrees to an extension with his current team, the tag won’t be necessary.

Guaranteed to get the tag

Von Miller: The best free agent pass rusher is one the Broncos won’t let get away.
Eric Berry: After a strong 2015 season after returning from cancer treatments, the Chiefs will make sure he stays with them.
Josh Norman: He’s improved with each season, his ceiling is high and Panthers fans love him. He’ll stay with Carolina.
Muhammed Wilkerson: Although he broke his leg near the end of the season, he played so well that you would expect the Jets to retain him, although they might be cautious with a long-term deal.
Justin Tucker: One of the better kickers in the NFL. The Ravens are tight on cap space but should be able to squeeze his tag number in.
Marquette King: The Raiders don’t have other free agents worth the franchise tag, so this will be an easy decision to tag their punter.

Top candidates for a tag

Alshon Jeffery: He’s been a quality wide receiver but the Bears did spend a high draft pick on Kevin White. It remains to be seen what they decide. This one could go either way.
Cordy Glenn: He is a very good left tackle and the Bills say they want to keep the offensive line intact. They can release Mario Williams to make room for Glenn’s franchise tag.
Oliver Vernon: It would make sense for the Dolphins to part ways with Cameron Wake and put the tag on Vernon, who broke out in 2015. But with the Dolphins, you never know what they may decide.
George Iloka: The Bengals have numerous players in their secondary who will be free agents. Iloka is the youngest and a quality safety, so the franchise tag makes sense. Of course, the Bengals could surprise and tag another member of the secondary.
Mason Crosby: He’s coming off one of his best seasons. The Packers don’t have any other free agents worthy of the tag, so the move would make sense.

Remains to be seen

Janoris Jenkins or Trumaine Johnson: Both Rams cornerbacks played well this season. I believe the Rams will want to keep at least one of them. Jenkins has better talent but Johnson gives up fewer big plays.
Tashaun Gipson: An ankle injury limited him in 2015, but he might be able to bounce back. The question is whether the Browns think he’s worth the franchise tag.
Doug Martin: He bounced back after two subpar seasons, but it remains to be seen if the Buccaneers think he’s worth tagging.

Players I would not expect to get the tag are Kirk Cousins (more likely Washington will get him extended), Eric Weddle (it’s clear he won’t return to San Diego), Kelechi Osemele (Ravens don’t have the cap space to tag him) and Damon Harrison (quality player but the Jets will most likely tag Wilkerson).

Hello, Bronco fans! We’ve got a lot of reasons to feel good about the season overall (hey, who wouldn’t feel good about winning the Super Bowl?) but, as everyone knows by now, there will be a lot of tough decisions the Broncos will have to make as they try to remain Super Bowl favorites next season.

I’m going to do a series of offseason primers in which I specifically look at the Broncos’ needs, although there will be times when I’ll examine what other teams are like to give you examples of what to do, or not to do, when utilizing free agency.

We’ll start this with a look at each position and how high a priority it is to address (keeping in mind a priority could increase depending on roster cuts) and then I’ll examine the players who are set to become free agents (exclusive rights, restricted and unrestricted) and what to do with each of them.

In future installments, I’ll address specific players and their contract situations. As time permits, I’ll talk about what other teams may need to do to illustrate examples of roster management (good or bad) and some of the unrestricted free agents the Broncos could consider.
Continue reading Offseason Primer: Positions, Priorities and Players

I’ll always remember the first time the Broncos won the Super Bowl, what a relief it was to see my favorite team finally win the Lombardi, to see John Elway get his ring after three disappointing Super Bowl outcomes, and to see Terrell Davis run roughshod against a Packers defense that so many believed would have its way against the Broncos.

But the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win may be the most satisfying of them all. Everyone was convinced that the Panthers would have their way, that the Broncos defense had never played an offense like the Panthers and that Peyton Manning had nothing left in the tank and would fold against the Panthers defense.

Not only were the doubters proven wrong, but the Broncos can smile, knowing that they got Pat Bowlen yet another championship. (And how awesome was it that John Elway got to thank him for everything?)
Continue reading Gut Reactions: Broncos Win Super Bowl 50

Good afternoon, Bronco fans! Tomorrow is the big day and I’ll get to a few final thoughts about that game, but first, I wanted to talk about the career of one player who will most likely be playing the final game of his NFL career.

Of course, that’s Peyton Manning, a player who we have discussed countless times this season and who I discussed a fair amount a couple of days ago as to what he’ll need to keep doing to give the Broncos a chance to win. But I don’t want to focus on what he’s done this season (one point aside that I’ll get out of the way early), nor do I want discussion in this thread to focus on this season alone, because that’s not the focus of this piece.

Instead, I want to focus on his career and why some of the narratives that come along with his career really need to be tossed aside and that we recognize him as one of the best to play in the game and that total wins or playoff wins don’t really put his career into proper perspective.
Continue reading Super Bowl 50: Perspective On Peyton (Or Why QB Wins Are A Dumb Stat)

In continuing my look at Super Bowl 50, I wanted to focus on the Broncos this time around.

My focus is going to be more about particular players, including obvious candidates and a few who might get overlooked in terms of the impact they could have on the game.

I’ll start with the offense and work my way to the defense, starting with the most obvious candidate for debate, given how he’s fared this season.
Continue reading Super Bowl 50: Broncos With Key Tasks Ahead Of Them

Hello, Bronco fans! How cool is it that your favorite team gets to play in Super Bowl 50?

It’s been amazing to watch how the team has enjoyed so much success ever since John Elway took over team operations. The Broncos have found a way to excel, even with question marks looming around the team each seasons. One only needs to look at the Broncos the past five seasons to see how much adversity the team has gone through, yet it has still made the playoffs all five years and reached two Super Bowls.

Now, we know about the adversity the Broncos have gone through this season, but if we can weather Tebowmania, the uncertainty of Peyton Manning coming back from a neck injury, multiple injuries that forced the Broncos to start career backups at many positions in 2013, suspensions to key players who violated the league’s drug policies, and all the attention that got focused on Manning chasing passing records – and that’s just the start of the list – then we shouldn’t have problems dealing with some of the uncertainties that surround our favorite team in Super Bowl 50.
Continue reading Super Bowl 50: Examining The Panthers

After the season is over, I’ll be rolling out some of my thoughts about what the Broncos’ offseason plan should be, but I figured I’d do a preview of sorts by looking at potential street free agents during the 2016 offseason.

This list of players is by no means a list of players the Broncos should consider signing, but is simply a reference point of players whose contracts do not expire after the 2015 NFl season, but could potentially be released.

Always remember that there are tow key differences between an unrestricted free agent and a street free agent. First, a UFA is a player whose deal with his team has expired while an SFA is a player who was cut before his deal expired. Second, teams may sign SFAs without losing out on potential compensatory draft picks, while signing UFAs could impact what comp picks they get.
Continue reading Offseason Primer: Potential Street Free Agents

Hello, Bronco fans! We’ve had plenty to feel good about the past couple of days, haven’t we? Nobody should ever feel bad that their favorite team made it to the Super Bowl and nobody should ever have to apologize for it.

Honestly, I’m feeling pretty good going into the matchup, not just because I think the Broncos have a better chance to win the game than some people may think, but because their opponent, the Carolina Panthers, is a team I find quite likeable. You had some people who doubted them because they wanted to gravitate to the perennial favorite in the NFC (the Seahawks, of course), the players just like to have fun (seriously, who doesn’t love those guys giving football to the kids in the stands?) and the team owner is like Pat Bowlen in some ways — there are legitimate criticisms to make about him which could apply to any NFL owner, but Jerry Richardson makes the Panthers about the players and coaches and not him (like Bowlen), he doesn’t micromanage (like Bowlen) and he genuinely likes the people who work for him and tries to keep good relationships (like Bowlen).
Continue reading Past Super Bowls With Top Defensive Team: What Can We Learn?

I probably should have done some of this yesterday, but here are a few Twitter highlights after the jump.
Continue reading The Broncos AFC Title Win In Tweets

No, you were not dreaming yesterday. The Denver Broncos are going to the Super Bowl.

There were certainly times when we had our doubts. We saw games the Broncos should have won, get away from them. We saw a defense that has mostly dominated, have its share of bad outings and wondered how long it would hold up. We debated endlessly about who should start at quarterback, who should play right tackle and which running back should get the bulk of the carries.

And, yet, here we are, headed to Super Bowl 50 for a matchup with the Carolina Panthers.
Continue reading The Morning After: Broncos Are Super Bowl Bound