Denver Broncos: Why Antonio Smith Will Be a Great Under-the-Radar Acquisition

The Denver Broncos have brought in a few players this offseason who could be seen as retreads of new head coach Gary Kubiak. Shelley Smith, Gino Gradkowski and James Casey are examples of this. Casey just signed with Denver on Saturday, according to Marc Sessler of NFL.com.

Each of them have had very average careers in the NFL and Kubiak and the Broncos will just be looking for added depth on the roster with these players.

But one guy who played for many years with Kubiak as a member of the Houston Texans is Antonio Smith. Although his signing won't be remembered along the same lines as Ndamukong Suh or Darrelle Revis, he could easily have a very big impact with his new team.

In today's NFL, there are a few things teams can't have too many of. Big, physical cornerbacks and versatile wide receivers are essential in today's game. So are pass-rushers. Smith can rush the quarterback.

Smith is familiar with Kubiak, but more importantly, he is familiar with defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and the type of defensive scheme he likes to employ.

Year	Passing Snaps	Pass Rush Snaps	Pass Rush %	Sacks	Hits	Hurries	Pass Rush Productivity	NFL Rank
2011	468	467	99.8	6.5	15	29	8.6	2
2012	512	511	99.8	7	8	31	7.3	6
2013	413	412	99.8	8	9	29	8.9	6

During his five seasons in Houston, Smith tallied 27 of his 44.5 career sacks. Eighteen-and-a-half of those came while Phillips was the defensive coordinator. He also had 32 quarterback hits and 89 hurries in those three seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.

Current Denver defensive line coach Bill Kollar was also there. Phillips and Kollar know how to maximize Smith's ability.

Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson are promising players, but neither has experience as pass-rushers in a 3-4 alignment. Therein lies the reason why Smith is such an excellent signing.

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#Broncos Antonio Smith expects to play a lot because so many teams stay in nickel bc of the pass-heavy attacks

— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) April 6, 2015"

Smith will be a solid option to come into the game as a situational pass-rusher. In addition, he can provide knowledge to players like Wolfe and Jackson. That's as good as any coaching they'll receive.

"

Antonio Smith, on leadership: "Anything (young teammates) need from me -- advice, help…I'm an open book…I take pride in teaching the craft."

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) April 6, 2015"

The Broncos totaled 41 sacks as a team last year, which put them in a tie for ninth in the league in that category. Still, it's way down from the 52 sacks the team came up with in 2012.

Under Phillips, the Broncos need to devise an aggressive defense that plays to the strengths of the natural pass-rushers they have in Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, something the team didn't seem to do last year.

Smith will fit in as a great rotational player in that type of system.

In addition to all of that, the Broncos can take the defensive end position off their draft board, or wait until late in the draft to add a rookie. Along with the signing of Vance Walker, the Broncos have addressed the position by adding two solid veterans to the rotation.

When searching for lists of the best free-agent signings of the offseason, Antonio Smith probably won't be on them. There probably won't even be a mention of him. But when those lists are compiled at the end of the season, it would not be a surprise to see his name there.

The Broncos signed Smith to a one year, $2 million deal. There isn't much to lose.

Broncos fans may be wary of some of the former Texans and Baltimore Ravens that have been brought in,  but Smith is a player they should all be very excited about.