Broncos must trade away Chris Harris, Emmanuel Sanders
By John Buhler
With Bradley Chubb out for the year, the Denver Broncos must embrace rebuilding. They must trade free agents their high-profile impending free agents.
“Oh, my god. The Denver Broncos are having a fire…sale.”
Or at least they should. Denver is going nowhere fast. They are a terrible 0-4 on the year and now will be without their best young talent the rest of the way, as outside linebacker Bradley Chubb tore his ACL in Sunday’s loss at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Denver must undeniably embrace that the Broncos are rebuilding. They are almost certainly going to be picking in the top five of the 2020 NFL Draft. Joe Flacco is not the answer at quarterback and Denver looks to be the worst team in its division now that the Oakland Raiders have won a couple of games.
So what is a poor AFC West franchise to do? Sell off their high-profile, soon-to-be free agents like cornerback Chris Harris Jr., wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and defensive end Derek Wolfe. Denver will need more draft capital to honestly jumpstart this rebuild. We can’t expect Harris, Sanders or Wolfe will be part of the team’s long-term future.
It stinks, but it is the Broncos’ reality. They have drafted terribly for the better part of a decade. While Chubb looks to have been a gem, he’s now out for the year. Denver will need more bites at the apple to fix this team as soon as possible. Fortunately, Harris, Sanders and Wolfe can all help contending teams get over the top.
Harris is the Broncos’ best defensive back. Arguably the greatest slot corner of his generation, he still can play at a high level for a team in need of an upgrade in the secondary. Sanders isn’t as prolific of a receiver as he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he can expand a team’s receiving corps that is otherwise lackluster. And Wolfe can give some time some bite in the trenches.
Denver may not be able to sell off all these savvy veterans playing on expiring deals, but that doesn’t mean general manager John Elway shouldn’t try. Does he think this trio will want to re-up with this mess he created in Mile High? They are more likely to walk away for nothing and sign elsewhere than to come back to the Broncos on new deals. Be proactive about this, Denver.
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At 0-4, Denver is one of the few teams in the NFL that we can safely cross off as having no shot at making the playoffs. September came and went and Denver couldn’t get a single win in the first quarter of the season. Face the facts that it’s not your year and get ready for 2020. Maybe the next decade will be better than how the 2010s ended in Mile High.