Broncos stand pat on NFL trade deadline day

George Paton worked the phones but no acquisition materialized. Moving Baron Browning to Arizona was Denver’s only move during trading period.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Once again, the acquisition ledger book will list the Broncos as “sellers” during the NFL’s in-season trading period.

Is it possible to sell and get better?

The Broncos perhaps more than any other team, believe this is possible. See their offseason addition-by-subtraction, highly expensive transaction involving quarterback Russell Wilson.

Also see last year’s trading period when the Broncos only move was to essentially dump outside linebacker Randy Gregory on the San Francisco 49ers while getting little in return.

This year’s trading period came and went with the Broncos making just one move: Trading outside linebacker Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals for a sixth-round draft pick. Which makes it three, sixth-round picks for the Broncos in the 2025 draft. They also have one selection each in the first, second, third and fourth rounds. No picks in the fifth round and none in the seventh.

The sixth round, though, is all Broncos. It’s the round they once got Terrell Davis and Mike Anderson, speaking of running backs.

Browning, an outside linebacker, will be a free agent after this season and the Broncos decided they were not going to re-sign him, opting instead to give a long-term contract extension to his former Ohio State teammate and fellow outside linebacker and 2021 draft classmate Jonathon Cooper.

In five games this season, Browning had zero sacks. He suffered a foot injury that sidelined him four games. Dondrea Tillman had 2.0 sacks in the first game he replaced Browning.

When Browning returned, Tillman was relegated to inactive game status. With Browning gone, Tillman will play again. The Broncos will also get outside linebacker Drew Sanders back from his Achilles injury, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

The Broncos have not been a “buyer” at the trade deadline since they acquired tight end Vernon Davis from San Francisco in 2015. While the Broncos went on to win Super Bowl 50 that year, Davis struggled to fit into the Broncos’ offense and was basically a non-factor.

Since then, the Broncos have been in the business of trading away star players they no longer wanted to pay — Demaryius Thomas in 2018; Emmanuel Sanders in 2019; Von Miller in 2021; Bradley Chubb in 2022 and Gregory in 2023. They did acquire stopgap linebacker Jacob Martin in 2022, but he only played in 5 games for the Broncos.

With a 5-4 record that currently has the Broncos holding the No. 7 AFC playoff seed, Broncos’ general manager George Paton did try to add a player or two during the trading period but nothing materialized. A lead running back would have been nice but at what price for a team that is still building?

The Broncos are trying to break two long skids — seven consecutive seasons of losing records and eight in a row without a playoff appearance. Thanks to the Russell Wilson fallout, the Broncos are currently carrying an NFL-most $81.8 million in dead-cap charges. Buffalo is a distant second with $68.8 million in dead-cap charges.

The big picture says the Broncos should wait til next year to become aggressive buyers in the trade market. That doesn’t mean the micro view prohibits a wild-card playoff appearance in the meantime.