Denver Broncos: Surprise Free Agents Could Bolster the New Power Offense

A former Denver Bronco made a cameo appearance on ESPN's Jim Rome is Burning today.

There certainly won't be many teams clamoring to get a piece of the aging and oft-injured Clinton Portis, but the Denver Broncos might want to pick up the phone.

There is an inevitable shift taking place in Denver at the quarterback position. Tim Tebow time might come now, it might come later in the season, or it might come next year. Whenever it comes, Broncos fans are going to need to prepare for a much different offense than they are accustomed to seeing.

We saw brief flashes of what having Tim Tebow at the helm could look like in Denver at the end of last season. High-octane, constant passing will be off the menu. Power, grit and smash-mouth football should be on it.

If the Tim Tebow experiment is going to work, then Tebow can't be forced to be an elite passer. Many commentators (including yours truly) don't believe Tebow will ever have the skills to be an elite NFL passer. If it happens, he'll have to grow into it, but until then, the offensive game plan must adapt to what he can do.

The Denver Broncos should run lots of two-tight end sets and occasionally throw two men into the backfield. Tebow can work with his feet and needs to keep the passing as simple as possible. Players like Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal should see a large drop in touches. But it can, theoretically, work.

Bringing in an aging veteran like Clinton Portis who has great blocking skills could do a lot for the Broncos on third down. He obviously wouldn't be a viable substitute to take over the reins from Knowshon Moreno (most are mentioning DeAngelo Williams as a possible filler there because of connections with John Fox). However, it could still be a bit comforting for fans to see Portis back in a Broncos uniform, even if most of his time is spent on the sidelines.

John Elway, John Fox and Brian Xanders need to be creative during this abbreviated offseason to pull in useful free agents for the new offense.

While Clinton Portis hasn't been popularly mentioned, Broncos fans might want to keep an eye on him in the coming weeks.