Insider Drops WILD Broncos Trade Report... This Is Insane | Denver Broncos News

Sean Payton was asked if the Broncos are buyers at the trade deadline, and his answer was five words. We're not looking to sell. That's a coach with a 7-2 team and a five-game win streak and the number two seed in the AFC. The trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. But not looking to sell is not the same as nobody is leaving and another headline this weekend says Peyton leaves the door open to a deal. The easy deal to imagine is a cornerback where Denver has more bodies than it does jobs. So today we asked the simple question, should the Broncos move a cornerback? And I checked the numbers and the answer is clearer than I expected. The Athletics' Jonathan Jones wrote that Detroit and Chicago would each Love to add a cornerback if the price is right. Then he added, I would suspect teams will call the Denver Broncos, who have some depth at that spot. And look at how Denver is behaving. ESPN reported the Broncos checked in on Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, and Arizona shut it down. Jones also has Denver in the mix for Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, with a reported offer of a second round pick and a fifth that some sources doubt. That's a team that thinks and knows it's a buyer, but the question is whether a buyer should be shopping its own depth, and to answer it, we need to know exactly who is in the room. Now, obviously, Pat Surtain is the headliner, 9th overall in 2021 out of Alabama, a 4-year $96 million deal that pays him $24 million a year. Next is Riley Moss, 3rd round pick in 2023 out of Iowa on a $3.92 million cap hit that expires after this season. Jaquan McMillan was not drafted at all, he came out of East Carolina in 2022 as a free agent, he's on a $5.77 million deal that also expires after the season. And Jaden McMillian is the future, the 20th pick in the 2025 draft, out of Texas, signed through 2028 at $4.1 million, then $4.9 million, then $5.8 million. And Chris Abrams, during a 5th round pick in 2024, is signed through 2027 for about $1.2 million a year. Two of those five are on expiring deals, and three are signed past this season, which means Denver could still sell one and still have four corners, and I'll show you why that math is actually a trap. Before we talk about selling, I want to spend a minute on McMillan, because his path is the strangest in the room. He started 29 of 33 games at East Carolina and picked off 12 passes in college, and still nobody drafted him. Denver signed him as a UDFA in 2022, cut him in August, and brought him back on the practice squad. Last season, he had 9 pass breakups, 2 interceptions, 4 sacks, 5 TFLs, and 2 forced fumbles from the slot. Then this year, he's had 3 sacks and 4 tackles for loss already, including a sack and 2 tackles for loss at Carolina. On Sunday, a slot corner who rushes the passer is one piece a defense can't copy. His deal ends in March. Another big obstacle that this team may deal with by moving or selling one of their depth pieces is when a star went down. We saw Pat Sertan got hurt and the proof was there. He went down with an ankle injury on October 4th and lost in San Francisco, missed weeks 5, 6, and 7. In that run, the Broncos beat the Chargers, beat Seattle in overtime, and beat Arizona 30-16. That's three games. 3 wins without their best corner. Barron started against the Chargers and played all 67 defensive snaps, and a week later, he played all 85 against Seattle. Barron said it himself. You don't know when your name's going to be called. That's the whole reason you carry the depth, and depth like the Broncos have right now when it held up. But holding up and producing are different things, so who made the plays? This season, Riley Moss has 8 pass breakups, the most on the team, and an interception. Jaquan McMillan has 7 pass breakups, an interception, 3 sacks, and 4 TFLs, all from the slot. Abrams Drain has 5 pass breakups and an interception, and he did that on just 213 defensive snaps through Week 8. Pat Sertan has 2 pass breakups in 6 games, that's slow and I won't pretend one stat explains it because we know how good he is, and his stats may not actually be up to par because nobody's throwing in his direction. What I can say is that last year, Moss had 19 pass breakups on 1,089 snaps, and Sertan had 12 in 14 games. And so far this season, 2 expiring corners have been the 2 best players on the roster. And the defense around them is not strong enough to give anything away. Look at what the pass defense has done this season. Last year, Denver allowed 212.1 passing yards per game, 11th fewest in the league. This year, it's 249.9, which ranks 25th of 32. The pass rush is why it hasn't been worse. Denver was first in the NFL in sacks last year with 68, and this year it's still near the top. The passer rating Denver allows, 83.3, is still 9th lowest, so the corners are doing their jobs behind that rush. Here's the problem with selling, though, is the unit that's slipping... is the pass defense and the corners are what's holding it together. One takeaway from a defense that's already 25th in passing yards and in January you find out what you've done. So what would selling anybody on this team actually bring back? Trading Moss frees $3.674 million in cap room and leaves $240,000 in dead money. Denver already has $24.1 million in cap space so it doesn't need any room. Now look at what the market pays. Von Miller went to the Rams in 2021 for a second and And a third round pick, Bradley Chubb went to Miami in 2022 for a first and more. Those were stars, and Denver was out of the race. At corner last year, Sauce Gardner brought two firsts. Rotation corners brought day three picks, like conditional sevens for just Deser Taylor. Sports Illustrated's own take is that a fourth round pick for Moss would be a mistake, so it's a floor for him, and that's a second. And a quick one before we do jump to the other side of this. If you want every single Broncos update regarding this deadline, after, before, whatever, be sure to subscribe to the channel here. We're on the road to 3,000 subscribers. Now, let me argue the other side, too, because I think there is a real case for selling, but it still is something you have to be careful with. Both Moss and McMillan are free agents in March, and Denver already has $332.6 million committed to 38 contracts for 2027. Sports Illustrated projected a Moss extension to be up to four years and $80 million, and That's an opinion, but it shows what he could ask for, and likely what he could very well make. So you could say Denver will lose him one way or another, and that a pick now beats losing him for nothing in March. The flaw is the same one from before, though. This team is 7-2, the AFC West leaders and the 2-seed in the AFC, with a pass defense that's 25th in passing yards a game. So a pick in the future does nothing for a team with a legit shot at a Super Bowl in January. Now, the two corners that nobody are talking about because they're the ones Denver can't move. Farham, 20th pick, played 334 snaps as a rookie last year with five pass breakups and an interception. This year, he has 26 solo tackles and eight assists, plus six solo and two assists this win at Carolina this weekend. And Abrams-Dream has the interception, five pass breakups, and a forced fumble. He's about $1.2 million. But he was out against Carolina with an ankle injury, which tells you how thick So let's just say Denver sells Moss, Sertan is back from his injury, Abram Strain was hurt, and Barron has two pass breakups in seven games. That's one injury away from a lot of snaps for a young corner who hasn't proven he can handle them just yet. So is it a good idea to move cornerback depth? Not really for this team since they're 7-2. The depth is why Denver went 3-0 without pass certainty, and the two expiring corners lead the room in plays. Pass defense is 25th, so you can't take from one position and keep it afloat. That's three reasons stacked on top of each other. The depth is proven, the defense can't spare it, and the return is thin. And each one alone says hold, together it's not close. And the price on the other end is a pick that doesn't get any help in January. And Sean Payton says they're not looking to sell, and the stat says he is correct in that. The only version I'd listen to is a second round pick, or a player who starts, and nobody reported that offer, and it could happen, but seems unlikely. The real decision comes in March, when Moss and McMillan both hit free agency, and that's a video of its own that you know we're going to see here on the channel. Now, would you keep Moss and McMillan or cash in before Tuesday? Let me know in the comments below.