The Broncos did not cut their roster. They injected it with Botox.
No nip or tuck revealed this more than releasing Tim Patrick. Few players have been more popular or respected in the locker room than the veteran receiver. And the Broncos absolutely made the right move by cutting him.
Sean Payton is as sentimental as a parking ticket. That is serving him well as he reshapes this roster around his type of players and younger players. Of the 53 left standing on Tuesday, only 19 remain from when Payton took over in February of 2023.
A foul roster has become speckled with foals. Finally, the Broncos are on the right track.
If you haven’t noticed, the previous eight years have — How do I put this? — not gone particularly well. There have been no playoff berths — only the New York Jets have a longer active postseason drought — and seven consecutive losing seasons. What they were doing wasn’t working.
Payton created accountability last season. And he put the Broncos in position to reach the postseason before the team fizzled against the Patriots, which featured underwhelming player performances and Payton clumsily managing the clock.
It spoke for the need to get more athletic, more in sync.
So, if this unannounced youth infusion came as a surprise, you are not paying close enough attention. This decision was made when the Broncos decided to eat $53 million of Russell Wilson’s $85 million in dead cap money this season.
Starting with the draft, most notably at quarterback, the Broncos have made a hard reset. No longer do they possess delusions of adequacy with mismatched parts. The time to shed veterans –– well the best time was after the 2017 season, but let’s not digress — is now.
Thank goodness. Logic has prevailed.
You cannot always build a future for the youth, but a football team can build a future with its youth. Look across the position groups, and younger players won out consistently. I kid you not.
The reason Patrick was released? Rookie Devaughn Vele brings a similar skill set and can play special teams. He is Patrick, circa 2018.
Samaje Perine was cut because there is more upside with fifth-rounder Audric Estime, and the new dynamic kickoff means keeping an X-factor like Blake Watson.
When news became official that Patrick was gone, my wife asked, “Isn’t that age discrimination?” Not in professional sports. It’s called athletic Darwinism or rebuilding. Take your pick. Either one works.
Payton is molding this team around core principles. Last year, the buzzwords were smart, tough and disciplined. This summer, they have been replaced by young, hungry and dangerous.
I am here for it.
On cut day last summer, the Broncos were the 24th-oldest team, averaging 26.2 years old. This summer, they should rank among the 15 youngest.
Youth brings mistakes, hiccups and eye rolls. It also brings energy, enthusiasm and hope.
The most recent success of our professional teams traces to youth movements. The Avs leaned on Gabe Landeskog and crew. The Nuggets’ championship DNA formed around Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. And the Rockies turned Todd and the Toddlers into their first and only World Series berth.
How about Bo and the Booster Seats?
OK, it needs some more workshopping. You get the gist.
What the Broncos are doing is nuanced. Nix is the team’s only rookie set to start the season opener on Sept. 8. But the two-deep depth chart reveals how much younger the Broncos are trending, including two additions in edge rusher Jonah Elliss and inside linebacker Levelle Bailey, who play, according to general manager George Paton, “with their hair on fire.”
Some will argue that Patrick was necessary for Nix’s development. This is a fair point. But Courtland Sutton and Josh Reynolds can serve as his security blanket. And besides, it frees up reps for Vele and eventually Troy Franklin, both of whom figure to be around the next few years.
Fans would prefer Patrick stayed. Just as they wanted Josey Jewell, Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy — OK, probably not Jeudy — on the team. Patrick is set to join the Detroit Lions practice squad. He would have helped Denver, but not enough to move on from a younger player with positional versatility.
“It was obviously not an easy (decision). On behalf of everyone in the organization, we cannot say enough great things about the person and the player,” Paton said. “We wish him the very best. But we like our depth at receiver.”
This is how teams fast-track their development, even if it is foreign for Payton, who has traditionally counted on experience. Removing veterans prevents a coach from playing them. It gives those reps to players like cornerback Riley Moss, running back Jaleel McLaughlin and rotational defensive tackle Jordan Jackson.
But this process is nuanced.
The Broncos are integrating young players, not flooding the roster. That is why they resist the notion that they are rebooting. Nobody says it around headquarters. Not the owner, the coach or, on Tuesday, the GM.
“Our expectations haven’t changed,” Paton said. “We are all about winning.”
It hurts to see admired players like Patrick exit. But this is the way the Broncos can become the 2022 Lions or the 2024 Texans.
It is absolutely the right move to go younger because losing is getting really old.
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