Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Defense MUST FORCE More Takeaways To Sustain Top-5 Status

Starting point is 00:00:00 2025 was a year where the Denver Broncos defense was a top five unit, but if they hope to sustain that in 2026 and going forward, they have to find a way to force more takeaways. You are locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's all, Broncos Country? Cody Ork here. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by friends over there at Fandu.

Starting point is 00:00:28 And right now new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets. if your first bet wins, hit at Fandu.com to get started. As we talk about the Broncos defense and how it can remain as a sustainable top five unit where the defense can grow, where they could face some changes in the next couple of years with several key starters set to hit free agency after the season and going into the next season as well. And how Denver can remain a top five defenses by continuing to build on the core nucleus that they have where they were able to get after the quarterback setting franchise records.

Starting point is 00:00:59 We'll get in all that here on today's show. So let's dive into it here. In order to kind of set the stage for the 2026 Broncos defense, we had to look back at what they were in 2025. They were a smothering unit. When you talk about getting after the quarterback, constant pressure, sacks, they did all of that. The one area where I felt like they were deficient, and it was evident until the playoffs happened, this was what helped them win against the Buffalo Bills. They struggled with forcing takeaways.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Not a lot of interceptions collectively as a team in terms of turnovers forced, collectively as a team last year, they were ranked 26 in the NFL, 26 out of 32. So for a defense that was leading the NFL in almost every major statistical category defensively, they were bottom ranked in one of the more important ones. And that's getting the football back to the offense in terms of takeaways. Now, they did force teams to punt quite a bit. They did generate a lot of sacks that knocked, I'd say, teams out of Philgo range. And Denver's offense took advantage of that.

Starting point is 00:01:58 It's no secret. This is defensive unit was the strength of last year's, team. It was a big reason they maintained a 11-game win streak last season. But there are things that they can do better. They are a top five defense. They have a chance to be the top defense in the NFL. But in order for that to change, they need to find a way to generate more takeaways. This is a team that last year for two consecutive seasons in a row led the NFL in Sacks. In 2024, they had 63 Sacks, which led the league, set a new franchise record for Denver. And then they added five more to that in 2025, 68.

Starting point is 00:02:32 sacks, which led the NFL by a wide margin. The number two team wasn't even within spitting distance of them. Now, with that, you would factor in that maybe they would have more strip sacks because, hey, 68 sacks, you should be finding a way to punch the football up. Denver didn't have a lot of strip sacks. I believe they only had two or three, if I'm not mistaken. And one of them came in week one. One of them came in week 18, Nick Benito against a backup.

Starting point is 00:02:56 Then obviously, Benito did it against Josh Allen in the divisional round of the playoffs. But the interceptions, J-Quan Macmillan, Dandre Tillman, they tied for the team lead last year with two I&Ts each. That's not enough. Like you need someone who's going to lead that mantle a little bit. You need someone that's going to have four or five interceptions every season. Now, with Denver's defense being designed is what it is with Pat Sertan being who he is, you would think other guys would have more interceptions. The safeties, Talano, Hufanga had like four or five dropped interceptions last season.

Starting point is 00:03:27 Despite all that, despite not taking the football away at a rate, in which you need to have sustainable success. If you want to win a championship, you have to be able to do that. The Broncos were one of the league's best units across the board. They were third and defensive points allowed per game. They were second and yards allowed per game in the NFL. We mentioned the first in Sachs. They were seventh against the pass.

Starting point is 00:03:48 They were second against the run last season. And they were also the NFL's second best, third down defense in the league. And they're the number one red zone defense last season in the NFL. And not much has changed from this group. you're bringing everybody back minus John Franklin Myers minus PJ Locke. You have some new faces. Obviously, in the equation, your PJ was a backup, core four special teams player.

Starting point is 00:04:12 But when he had to jump in and start after Brandon Jones injury, he did the thing, including an interception of Josh Allen in the postseason. Denver has some new faces. There were Tyler O'Neatham, the rookie draft pick. And they added Tyson Anderson as a free agent signing at the safety position. And they drafted Miles Skies.

Starting point is 00:04:29 We're talking about the two positions. really Denver lost in the off season. Aside from that, everybody is back. This unit is back fans. Joseph is back. Two new defensive coaches in the secondary in terms of Doug Belk and Robert Livingston. But not much should change with the identity of this defense. As a matter of fact, you can make the argument with them returning everybody. They should get off to a really hot start. They should be one of the best defenses in the NFL here once again. And I think that they will be in those categories, especially with the pass rushers that they had. When you talk about the Broncos front seven.

Starting point is 00:05:02 They had John Franklin Myers, Zach Allen, Jonathan Cooper, Nick Benito, all four of these guys had seven plus sacks each last season. Nick Benito leading the way with 14 obviously for Denver. There's no reason they can't replicate that this year. There are some changes. I also forgot the loss

Starting point is 00:05:19 of Dre Greenlaw, but we didn't get to see too much of him on the field to know whether not was that a true loss for this Broncos defense or is bringing back Alex Singleton and Justin Sturnat. Is that something that's going to keep the defense better or at the same exact position in which they're at. Plus, you're factoring on the development of other players like Savion Jones going

Starting point is 00:05:38 in a year two, more Q Robinson at outside linebacker, Jonathan Cooper and Benito, both healthy coming into the season. And then obviously you have Dondre Tillman who impressed in a large way last season, not only getting after the quarterback, but also generating some takeaways in terms of I&Ts at the outside linebacker position when he dropped back into coverage. So realistically, this is a top five defense on paper. They should replicate that. They can be the number one defense in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:06:05 But the number one thing that is keeping them from that is the force takeaways. When you look at what the Houston Texans were able to do, my goodness, they were taking the football away left and right last season. That benefited them in a tremendous way. The Broncos have the pieces to do it, but it's going to be the takeaways that determine whether or not they remain a sustainable unit here, especially with the core principles of this defense remaining attack with the coaches and the players.

Starting point is 00:06:28 That's obviously going to change over the next couple of years, even after the season as the Broncos has several players who are set to hit free agency. As a matter of fact, they've got three players after this year who are starters, who will be free agents. How can that change the Broncos defense? Where can they grow in-house and more? We'll get to that here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode, the show, was brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. The NBA playoffs here is the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals are taking place.

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Starting point is 00:09:09 approach to try to keep things as similar as possible. We'll talk about that, but Broncos country, if you want to get your daily Broncos fixed completely ad free, join the everyday club here today. Start your seven day free trial right now and get closer to your team without the interruptions by going to lockdownbroncos.supercast.com or the link is in the show notes down below here. change is a constant in the NFL. And obviously, every single year, there's new context that pop up to impact whether a team takes a step forward or takes a step backward.

Starting point is 00:09:40 And the Broncos defense is a unit that has constantly been a strength of theirs. They've constantly taken steps forward. And there's areas where they can obviously improve. But this has been a strength in today's NFL that favors the offensive side. Denver's defense, how they attack opposing offensive schemes, how they get after the quarterback. Those things matter. And I think the players,

Starting point is 00:09:59 you have here. Certainly, if you look at the success of Denver's defense, it is who they have added at the roles in which they've added them that have paid off for them going forward. And now it could look entirely different after this upcoming season because Denver, after 2026, they have three players who are starters right now on the defensive side of the ball who will become unrestricted free agents. First off, Riley Moss at cornerback. We've talked about him, polarizing figure in Broncos country. 19 passes defense last season. Saw over 100 plus targets because Pat Sartan only saw 61 targets. Teams don't want to go his way.

Starting point is 00:10:32 So we saw a large volume. Riley's one of those guys because of the increase in targets. You want to see him come away with more takeaways. I think that's a fair expectation considering the volume. And that plays into not only just him, like he's got to be able to make plays on the football, but Denver speeding up the clocks of quarterbacks and creating that pressure that this front seven certainly has that makes it a little bit easier. Riley did, in fact, force some interceptions last season because he tipped the pass against

Starting point is 00:10:57 the Chargers. Brandon Jones intercepted it, but you want to find a way to get more takeaways, punch the football out if you can in the run game. That's where this defense, we've talked about, can grow. Now, he's set to be a free agent. Unless he comes out and plays so well the Broncos give him an extension. I think that they should. I think he has played well enough as of now to warrant a contract extension. Brandon Jones has been a player since they signed him after replacing Justin Simmons. Brandon has been a stellar player, has been consistent coming up against the run, has made plays in the passing game, has recovered fumbles, has even forced some fumbles himself.

Starting point is 00:11:30 Brandon is one of those players that I think is very underrated inside of Denver's defense. And behind him, there's questions. Devin Key, special teams ace, there's J.O. Skinner entering the last year of his deal. Tyson Anderson, newcomer that they just signed, doesn't have a lot of defensive snaps or experience. So will the Broncos process be going away from what has worked, keeping this nucleus intact? It doesn't sound like something they would do, but so much is going to be dictated by Denver salary cap situation, which we don't know exactly what that's going to look like yet,

Starting point is 00:12:00 because there will be some restructure. And there will be some extensions that will probably take place during the season, maybe before the season that will change the outlook going to the next year. And then Denver's going to have some money coming off the books as well. Certain players are going to become free agents. They can renegotiate with certain key guys. That can change the salary cap. As we know, the NFL, it's always expected to rise every single year with the TV deals.

Starting point is 00:12:21 So Brandon, I don't think would take up a large percentage of that salary cap that maybe some other teams would do, especially at the safety position, which has, from a valuation standpoint, gone downhill, minus the exception of Kyle Hamilton as of rate of the Baltimore Ravens. There's him that's obviously set to become a free agent. And then you also have Jaquan Macmillan at the nickel position, another cornerback that is set to become a free agent after this season for Denver. You risk losing these three guys. Three pivotal players, might I add, in the secondary.

Starting point is 00:12:52 And what does that look like? Well, there's Juday Barron. There's Chris Abrams, Drain, who obviously has two more years left on his deal. And then the guys that we mentioned behind Brandon Jones, you have those options. But Devin Key, J.L. Skinner, Tyson, Anderson, those are guys that are also on one-year deals. Their deals will be expiring after the season. The draft Miles Scott in the NFL draft, who's got some really good ball skills, making that transition from wide receiver to safety. Could he be that option there?

Starting point is 00:13:18 Those are interesting decisions that are coming up here for this team. But not only 2026, after that, does it get interesting? After 2027, the Broncos will also stand to lose two other free agents while they keep other parts of their defensive nucleus intact. DJ Jones, Tauno O'Hufanga, both of those guys after 2027 going into 2028, they will be unrestricted free agents. And once again, Denver, really outside of Huwonga and Miles Scott right now, don't have a safety that has longevity pass this season on the roster. that's where maybe the approach of safety is going to be very interesting. Do you develop guys? I mean, Denver's emphasis has always been on player development,

Starting point is 00:13:58 but is it where Miles Scott takes a step forward? But if he's not the only guy that, you know, has got cost control, do the Broncos looking for a agency to sign another safety in the next two years here to maybe balance out the room or to add to it? I mean, Denver certainly could spend here, especially if the market isn't necessarily as high from a financial standpoint. That's always one of the things that prohibits NFL teams from going out and spending is if they have to spend too much at one position versus there being a fair market value

Starting point is 00:14:24 for a certain position, they feel like they can go out there and negotiate a pretty good deal. What they got initially for Brennan Jones was in fact a really good deal. They frontloaded a lot of the guaranteed money at the first year, two years of his contract. And now he has really no more guaranteed money. He's got incentives on his deal going into this year. But that's where the outlook long term can change things. And when you remove, let's say hypothetically speaking, let's say you remove Brandon Jones, Jayquan and Riley from this defense after 2026, going into 2027, can this still be a top five

Starting point is 00:14:55 defensive unit? Those are three major players to your success on defense, and especially if you talk about the secondary, where today's game favors the offense, the spread them out approach. You need guys that can cover. You need guys that can come up and tackle. You need guys that can also generate takeaways. That's something the Broncos defenses we've highlighted in this show needs to do a better job of if they want to sustain this. So part of it is retaining your personnel groupings, but also making sure that the players you're developing, can they step into those roles if you have to replace these guys?

Starting point is 00:15:27 I think at Corner, they believe in Jadae Barron enough. They also believe in Chris Abram's drain that. They may take a calculator risk, and maybe one of J-Quan or Riley aren't back with the team after 2026. But then you have one of those other guys that is in the mix here. Jide can play outside. He can also play in the nickel. So that makes things very interesting. I think when you look at it, but it is a premium position that requires a very good depth in today's game.

Starting point is 00:15:52 And that's actually going to be a subject focus of tomorrow's episode of the shows. We take a look at the Broncos cornerback position going into OTAs. It's a good problem to have. It's champagne problems that Denver has there at that position. But they could be entering the last ride with that starting trio of J-Quan, Raleigh-Moss, and Pat Sertan together. You'll get all that breakdown and so much more on tomorrow's episode. Locked on Broncos, wherever you get your podcast. They're a brand new viewer or listener of the show.

Starting point is 00:16:17 Broncos country, hit that subscribe to that follow button so you never miss out on what's going on with your team, especially with OTA's beginning next week. I'll be at practice. So if you want to know what's going on, this is the place where you need to stay locked into. We'll see you tomorrow.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Defense MUST FORCE More Takeaways To Sustain Top-5 Status

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