Thread: Get Minkah!

The Broncos are losing their #1 CB next season when CHJ gets paid. He's in his 30's but he's still the best slot corner in the game which is invaluable to defenses in today's NFL. Who's waiting in the wings? Duke Dawson was a good start, but he needs some development. Yiadam might be a good 3rd corner with some more grooming. Jackson can fill in at corner, but Fangio seems to like him better at safety. The Broncos need corner help both now and in the years to come.

Enter Minkah Fitzpatrick. He's a big, fast athletic guy that can play outside corner, slot corner, safety, and linebacker in certain situations. He has the size to cover bigger receivers (6'1 202). Playing slot corner in 2018, he ranked first in completion percentage allowed, first in passer rating allowed, and ninth in coverage grade. In college, he was the highest graded slot corner in the PFF college era (2014-2018). He was known as Saban's kid at Alabama because the coach loved him so much. They couldn't keep him out of the film room and it showed in the draft. He's a high character, crazy work ethic, leader type that Elway covets.

Miami wants a first for him, but I think a second and a player would do it. He's on the second year of a rookie first round contract, meaning the team trading for him would have his rights for 4 more years. Opportunities like this one rarely come up in the NFL. Getting a stud player that was a first rounder last year is hard to do, but the door is open.

Get it done Elway!

I think even Elway believes privately that this team is in rebuilding mode, not "win now" mode no matter what he says. They might need every draft pick they can get their hands on to move up to the top of the first round for Tua or Fromm next year.

We're likely to see Drew Lock this season. What if he looks terrible? Will they just roll the dice and hope he isn't another Paxton Lynch? Or will they finally bite the bullet and go out next season and get a top 3 pick QB prospect and maybe find a guy who can compete with Pat Mahomes for the next 10 years.

If the wheels continue to fall off the bus, the Broncos are likely to finish 6-10 or worse and those picks are top 10 picks. True, they will need a CB when Harris leaves next year.

But, they are likely to dump salary rather than add it, as expiring contracts and departing veterans like Derek Wolfe, Emmanuel Sanders, Harris, and possibly Von Miller add tons of cap room and the team rebuilds from scratch.

That might be unavoidable if they can't win with Joe Flacco. And do you think they can?

call up and see if you can steal him with a lowball offer since they're in fire sale mode, sure. . . can't give up a 1st or a 2nd, though. . . if the rest of the season goes the way monday night did, denver could well find themselves at the top of the draft again. . . keeping their options open in case they're in range of a blue chip QB prospect is more important than adding a hybrid DB. . .

We need to send them pits 3rd. But we shiukd absolutely get him. Hes worth a 2nd too. This is a homerun move. We need the agressive Elway of old. Hed make this move

I read yesterday that they are asking for a first round pick. I don't want to do that. He's a very fine player. I understand his frustration because he's being asked to play in roles that he can't really do. And he's on a tanking team, so he can't even 'buy in' that his 'sacrifice' is 'helping' the team.

Can he play offense

I can’t high five this enough.

I don’t wanna hear about rebuilding when the player we’re talking about is 24 years old and going into his second season.

i don’t think this team should be losing draft picks.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

i don’t think this team should be losing draft picks.

True enough, we could always use another Garrett B.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

True enough, we could always use another Garrett B.

Or Isaac Yiadum.

Go look at Elway’s history of drafting DB’s.

It’s not good.

He should stop.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

True enough, we could always use another Garrett B.

You can’t stop drafting people because you made a bad pick.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

You can’t stop drafting people because you made a bad pick.

Agreed, but you can trade picks for proven players, especially starters.

Originally Posted by Jaded

Agreed, but you can trade picks for proven players, especially starters.

Don't kick the can down the road. It's not worth it.

Yes, Chris Harris is looking at a pay day next year. Yes, for a first round pick you can get a player people like for 2 1/2 years, who's going to be demanding a massive contract before that happens. But this stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum. NFL players are used cars. They depreciate the minute they came off the lot, a few keep their Blue Book value, but they rapidly decline in value.

So, what value does Minkah Fitzpatrick add to an 8-8 team? What does he add to a 6-10 team? What value does he add to a 10-6 team? If you genuinely think you're going 10-6 and you're two players short of 12-4, you add Minkah Fitzpatrick and give up a mid-20s, and hopefully 30s, draft pick. If you think you're finishing 6-10, or 8-8, and you're trading an appreciable asset (a top 5 to top 15 pick) for a depreciable asset with an expiration date, you absolutely do not do the trade.

Think of Minkah Fitpatrick as the Aqib Talib deal. Elway makes that move because he's one or two pieces short of a title. This team isn't one or two pieces short of a title. It needs too many pieces. It needs a long-term quarterback, a long-term left tackle, a long-term receiving threat. It needs help up the middle on defense. Frankly, the only major piece of a championship team Denver has is a long-term pass rusher. It's not one piece away from making a run.

You want to walk into next year's draft with chips, whether it's to move up or down or just simply make a pick, you can't afford to walk in to it multiple pieces short of making a run and zero picks.

Originally Posted by Jaded

Agreed, but you can trade picks for proven players, especially starters.

Problem: You couldn't pay him. There's problem #1. One problem. His dead cap hit in 2019 is $13,457,268. The Broncos would have to pay that because Miami certainly won't do that if they trade him. Any team that wants him will have to pay all that money.

Next year they could afford to pay him, since Chris Harris' salary will come off the books, but Minkah's going to move this year, not next and they don't have the money right now.

Problem #2: They will need every single pick they can get their hands on if they have to move up in the first round to get a QB next season. That is a very realistic scenario since

a. The team with Flacco might have a bad 6-10 season or something. The Broncos would be eliminated from the playoffs around week 11 and we'd have 5 weeks of Drew Lock starting - because why not? Why not see what you've got?

b. Flacco could have his arm torn off by a rampaging defensive lineman because Garrett Bolles missed another block and you'd have to start Drew Lock. That too is a fair bet to happen at some point, unfortunately.

In either case what does Drew Lock look like? Does he look like a star or another Paxton? If it's the latter, and perhaps even if it's not, Denver might want to move up and grab Tua or Fromm. And they could easily have a top 5 or certainly top 10 pick.

If the team continues to play like they did in game 1 that's virtually certain. The Rockies last year were 91-72 and just barely lost the division to the Dodgers. This year? They are 31 games back.

Sometimes teams actually regress because players you were counting on didn't come through (Juwan James come on down!)

We could be seeing that this season with the Broncos. In that case Denver will need every pick they can get next year because it's going to be a rebuilding year for sure.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

You can’t stop drafting people because you made a bad pick.

What's the point of drafting?