DeMarcus Ware believes Denver Broncos will be better in 2016
By John Buhler
DeMarcus Ware won his first Super Bowl as a key pass rusher for the Denver Broncos in 2015, but he thinks the 2016 team could be even better than last year’s.
The 2015 Denver Broncos were able to win Super Bowl 50 with an all-time great defense. Though key players on that defense, like defensive lineman Malik Jackson and inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, signed elsewhere in 2016 NFL free agency, much of that great 2015 Broncos defense remains intact for defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
One of the leaders on that vaunted defense, premier pass rusher DeMarcus Ware, is supremely confident that the 2016 Broncos can be even better than the group that won Super Bowl 50 over the NFC Champion Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 7.
Ware told DenverBroncos.com’s Andrew Mason at the Broncos’ facility in Englewood, Colorado on Tuesday, “I think it’s going to be a better year than last year.”
Ware is confident the continued growth of two young players, Shaquil Barrett and Shane Ray, will help the Broncos defense reach new heights in 2016. It doesn’t hurt that the best pass rusher in the game in Von Miller plays opposite Ware on this Denver defense.
While Denver could conceivably overcome the key losses of both Jackson and Trevathan in NFL free agency, the Broncos will have to start over at the quarterback position, as their top two passers in 2015 in Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler are no longer with the team.
Denver plays in an on-the-rise AFC West. The Kansas City Chiefs are a probable playoff team, the Oakland Raiders will at worst hover around .500, and the San Diego Chargers likely won’t go 4-12 again in 2016.
If Denver’s offense can improve from pure mediocrity in 2015 and Ware’s defense holds its own, then Denver could win the AFC West for the sixth year in a row. However, the division, and even an AFC playoffs berth in 2016, is very much up in the air for the Broncos entering next season.
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