Denver Broncos Need To Make Defensive Line Offseason Priority

Denver's decision to bring in veterans with one or two years of productivity left in them who can help rebuild the morale of the team and mentor the youngsters gives the team a chance to win now while also helping it build for the future.

Andre Goodman is an especially solid addition. He may not be the shutdown corner that Champ is, but he looks to play tough, and Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill will definitely be a massive improvement as a safety combination.

In short, the starting secondary for next year looks solid.

Also, although there are mixed reports about Andra Davis, he does look to complement DJ Williams nicely. I really hope they stop messing with DJ and just leave him in the middle of the field to make plays.

I think Elvis Dumervil can make the adjustment to play OLB in the 3-4, and maybe they just need to take a chance on Jarvis Moss on the other side of the field, with Boss Bailey playing at appropriate times.

But I don't see where on earth this big nose tackle is supposed to come from, unless we get prospect B.J. Raji in the draft.

And worse than this, I can't even see us getting a real top-quality defensive end either.

Effectively, this means that although we seem to have the intention of playing a 3-4 defense next year, which puts so much emphasis on space-eating, run-stuffing defensive tackles, we are not going to have the quality of player in the defensive front to be able to do this. I am worried that people do not understand this point well enough.

Without a significant trade, or the right type of draft choices, I have the starting defensive line next year being Kenny Petersen, Marcus Thomas, and possibly Tim Crowder. In other words, the same bums who contributed to last season's horror show.

Perhaps Coach McDaniels thinks there is a deep amount of defensive line talent coming through the draft and, having fixed the secondary, he can totally focus on this aspect of the game come draft time.

What I do know is if he takes anyone other than Raji, if available, or Tyson Jackson with Denver's first pick, serious problems will remain. And who else of the right type of player is available?

People who think you can find a top quality 'tweener (i.e DE/OLB hybrid) to play outside linebacker in the 3-4 before you have found your adequately-sized defensive tackle are fooling themselves. Until you have got your space eater to play right up front and dominate the middle, nothing else will fall into place.

So let's say we miss out on Raji and Jackson in the draft. I think we are just going to have to grin and bear it and possibly trade Tony Scheffler or maybe Brandon Marshall for the right type of DT/NT.

So, what do people think of this: Tony Scheffler and Brandon Marshall to Cleveland? In return, we get Shaun Rogers and Braylon Edwards.

If we get Rogers, that allows our 12th draft pick to snap up a really good linebacker, as our space eater has been found. And...wait for it...Braylon Edwards may be an even better fit for Denver in McDaniels' new spread offense than Brandon Marshall.

Scheffler, who is a great player, is still expendable, whether people like it or not, because Daniel Graham is the right type of TE for this system.

In my mind, if people can get over the idea of losing players of the quality of Scheffler and Marshall, and if Cutler can accept losing his two favorite targets, this seems to work for the Broncos.

Comments welcome.