Broncos might be younger than you think

[Denver Native (Carol)]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Things could still change if the Denver Broncos look at the hundreds of players who were sent into the open market in recent days and see a name or two they like.

But when the clock struck the 4 p.m. ET roster deadline on Saturday, the roster in place wasn’t exactly the one some folks might have thought it would be.

First off, after their substantial plunge into free agency last March -- almost unprecedented for a Super Bowl team -- the Broncos have routinely been tabbed as “all in" or “win now."

rest - http://espn.go.com/blog/denver-broncos/post/_/id/8402/broncos-might-be-younger-than-you-think

[Joel]

It's encouraging in terms of the imminent Post-Manning Era, but how much of that youth is starters? There's a lot on D (i.e. Miller, Harris, Trevathan, Wolfe and Williams) but not much on offense; just Ball and the Thomases. And some of that youth's a mixed blessing because all the cash spent in FA leaves very little to re-sign young top players in the last year of their contract, as noted in this article speculating about whether we can afford to re-sign both Thomases next year along with Harris and Knighton. http://milehighmaniac.com/2014/08/29/can-denver-broncos-keep-julius-thomas-demaryius-thomas/

Those four alone could easily cost as much as Manning. If we finally get over the top and he decides to go OUT on top, that may answer the question, but if not, how do we pay them? "I'd rather pay DT than Decker" was a common justified refrain this offseason, but will we sing the same tune with Orange Julius? Elway's made big FA moves and found nice draft picks three years running, and that's great, but there's still more to it, because even when the draft picks strike gold, a team paying top dollar for FAs can pay those draft picks when cheap rookie deals end.

[Simple Jaded]

http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/DEN

Ourlads took the liberty of denoting players @ 30+ years old, all caps, it appears as though there is 4 such starters (3 on offense and 1 on defense).

Remember when Denver signed Manning and the Mortaging-the-future sky was falling? That was funny.

[Ravage!!!]

http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/DEN

Ourlads took the liberty of denoting players @ 30+ years old, all caps, it appears as though there is 4 such starters (3 on offense and 1 on defense).

Remember when Denver signed Manning and the Mortaging-the-future sky was falling? That was funny.

It was funny then, and is still funny to read today.

[Simple Jaded]

It was funny then, and is still funny to read today.

The best part is all the things that would never happen because of Manning, signing All-Pros and drafting well, still happened. Well, all except for Manning's arm falling off and dooming the salary cap forever and ever.

So now we're left overanalyzing the tertiary effects that Manning has on his team, bad OL, no running game and no reps for his backup.