Ranking Denver Broncos' 10 Most Important Players in 2015

The Denver Broncos are used to having a team full of superstars. In fact, the Broncos led the entire NFL with nine Pro Bowl selections last season. No other team had more than six.

However, in Peyton Manning's three years with the team, the Broncos have managed just two postseason victories.

The NFL, perhaps more than any professional sport, is a complete team game. One player will not win a championship. Still, a team needs proven players to meet its ultimate goal.

In the case of the Broncos, the team is looking to win a Super Bowl before Manning calls it a career. Division championships and home playoff games are nice, but make no mistake, that is not good enough for this team.

With that said, which players are most important to that cause? Which players can the Broncos not bring home a Super Bowl without?

Factoring in things such as expected production, role within the offense or defense and what the team has as depth behind these players, we have compiled a list of the 10 most important Broncos for the 2015 season.

Ranked in order, the list awaits.

10. Darian Stewart, Free Safety

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The first player on our list may come as a surprise to some, but Darian Stewart could be absolutely vital to the defense this season.

The Broncos chose not to re-sign Rahim Moore when he became an unrestricted free agent, and the team opted not to select a safety until the seventh round of the draft. They either missed an opportunity or have a lot of confidence in Stewart.

Stewart has just two interceptions and 22 passes defensed in his five-year career, and the Broncos can expect him to get tested covering deep balls. When that happens, Stewart will have to be better than the No. 54 safety in pass coverage, as he was ranked by Pro Football Focus for last season.

The Broncos have options behind Stewart. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips could slide a player like Bradley Roby or Kayvon Webster over to safety. Seventh-round pick Josh Furman could also be an option, albeit not a great one.

The Broncos have two solid cover corners in Aqib Talib and Chris Harris. T.J. Ward is a hard hitter at safety who can come up and defend the run. The weakness in the secondary is clearly at free safety.

But if Stewart performs well, he could help the Broncos have one of the top secondaries in the game. In a passing league, that's a good thing.

9. Virgil Green, Tight End

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Virgil Green's name doesn't get called very often during games, but that doesn't mean he's not playing well.

Is there a better blocking tight end in the league? Pro Football Focus had Green at No. 4 in terms of run-blocking tight ends in 2014, but he's every bit as good as any of the names above him.

The Broncos wasted no time in re-signing Green this offseason, not allowing another team to swoop in and grab him. The truth is, any team would like to have Green.

Gary Kubiak loves his tight ends, and Green will see the field often. We should even start to expect to see Green begin to show more of his skills as a receiver. If he becomes a viable threat in the passing game, teams will have a tough time defending the Broncos when they are in two-tight end sets.

But Green will earn his place as a blocker and he will be essential in the running game, just as he was last year.

The Broncos knew they had to keep Green, and that is why he was re-signed while fellow tight end Julius Thomas left for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

That works out for all parties, as Green will be a much better fit in Kubiak's offense anyway.

8. Ty Sambrailo, Offensive Lineman

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Somebody has to protect Manning's blind side, and whoever that player is, he is pretty important.

The Broncos certainly didn't expect to rely too heavily on rookie offensive lineman Ty Sambrailo when they drafted him in the second round, but with a season-ending injury to starting left tackle Ryan Clady, they'll likely have to.

Sambrailo should be shifted to the left tackle spot to open the season, placing tremendous pressure on the rookie. The Broncos have veteran tackle Ryan Harris in camp, but if he starts the season, it would only mean that Sambrailo is not ready.

That would be a disappointment, as Harris is a backup at best.

Sambrailo has the toughness and nasty attitude that the Broncos will like, but can he handle the edge rushers at the professional level? That will be the question.

Sambrailo will be one of the most interesting players to watch as training camp progresses. Perhaps no player will be counting on him more than Manning.

That makes him awfully important, even if he's yet to play a snap in the NFL.

7. Chris Harris, Cornerback

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Chris Harris has become one of the most complete cornerbacks in the league, even if you hear names like Richard Sherman, Darrelle Revis and Patrick Peterson much more often.

Harris is putting together a nice career with the Broncos. He can stick with most any wide receiver and is a good tackler. He has 10 career interceptions and 50 passes defensed in four seasons. His numbers have gone up every year in that category, from six as a rookie to 18 last season.

Pro Football Focus rated Harris as the No. 1 cornerback in terms of pass coverage. The next guy on the list, Vontae Davis, was a distant second.

Harris is primed for another strong season with the team, and his importance can't be overlooked. An argument can be made that he is the best defensive player on the team.

The only reason that he isn't higher on the list is because the Broncos have a guy like Roby who can come in and be a great replacement, should anything happen to Harris.

6. C.J. Anderson, Running Back

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When Montee Ball went down with injury last season, C.J. Anderson stepped up in a big way. His presence in the backfield gave the Broncos a strong running game behind what was a shaky offensive line. 

But can Anderson duplicate the performance?

With Kubiak, the Broncos are going to run the ball. Simple as that. Whether Anderson will get the bulk of the workload or not remains to be seen.

Ball and Ronnie Hillman are on the roster, but the Broncos probably don't want to rely too heavily on them. The team has already done that, and both players have failed to produce the kind of results that Anderson did.

The Broncos are not going to be the team that needs Manning to throw for 350 or 400 passing yards every week to win games. This team is going to run the ball early and often.

For now, that job belongs to Anderson.

5. Sylvester Williams, Defensive Tackle

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To this point, Sylvester Williams has looked like a poor first-round pick who can only contribute in a limited role. Phillips has the ability to change all of that with his 3-4 defense.

Williams will get his opportunity to show why the Broncos used such a high draft pick on him and his ability to to become a menace to opposing offenses.

As the 3-4 nose tackle in Denver, much will be asked of Williams. He will be in charge of controlling the A-gap between center and guard. If he has success in making stops in the running game and eating up double teams in the passing game, it will free up the inside linebackers behind him to wreak havoc.

That is exactly what Phillips wants.

Though the players behind Williams will be the ones making the majority of the plays, they won't have the opportunity to do so without his physical play and effort. In a 3-4 defensive scheme, the nose tackle can be considered the most important player on the field.

While Phillips could rotate guys like Malik Jackson and Vance Walker into the defensive tackle spot, there isn't much depth at the position as a whole.

Williams must be successful. If he fails, the entire defense could struggle.

4. Louis Vasquez, Guard

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Heading into training camp, most fans likely want to see what the Broncos offensive line looks like. With Clady out for the season with injury and Orlando Franklin now a member of the San Diego Chargers, the team is short on proven commodities.

The one the team does have is Louis Vasquez.

Vasquez was misplaced as a tackle last season, and the whole offense will benefit from him moving back inside to guard. There, he will need to be a mentor and veteran leader for the young players around him.

Vasquez was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 2013 season, and he should fare well in the zone-blocking system that Kubiak will be using. He still has the ability to be one of the best guards in the league.

It's not often that a team's best offensive lineman is a guard, but that is the case for Denver. The Broncos will need Vasquez to set the example for players like Sambrailo, Max Garcia and Matt Paradis.

His influence on them could help build cohesiveness and strengthen the unit.

The Broncos must have better play from the offensive line than they had last season. That much is clear. Without it, the dream of winning of Super Bowl will be just that—a dream.

3. Demaryius Thomas, Wide Receiver

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Manning has always been able to make an average receiver look good. Austin Collie, Brandon Stokley and Blair White are just a few examples of this.

But he has also been blessed with some of the best receivers to ever play the game such as Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Demaryius Thomas fits that mold, and he may end up being better than both of them. 

Thomas has not only the size but the skills that accentuate his size and demand the opposing defense's No. 1 cornerback at all times.

Emmanuel Sanders is a great complementary receiver, but if Thomas was gone, what kind of numbers would he post? How open would he get having to go against a No. 1 cornerback on nearly every snap?

Thomas has put up amazing numbers since Manning came to Denver, and the two players have formed one of the league's best combinations through the air.

Aware of this, the Broncos made sure to sign Thomas to a 5-year, $70 million contract. In the process, the team avoided a possible holdout that could have spilled into the preseason.

Though Kubiak will likely choose to run the ball often despite having one of the best quarterbacks in league history on his team, he has to know how important Thomas is to the team's success.

He's still Manning's favorite target, and he will still be the guy that keeps defensive coordinators up at night trying to design ways to contain him.

2. Von Miller, Linebacker

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Throughout the course of NFL history, few linebackers have been able to change a game and the fortunes of their team due to their ability to rush quarterbacks.

Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas are two that come to mind, but it's not a long list. However, Von Miller has that ability.

Miller could be the single most disruptive player in the NFL. Phillips will attempt to bring that out of him.

Switching to a 3-4 defense, drafting Shane Ray, having DeMarcus Ware on the other side of the field—these are all things that should make Miller an even better player. Add in the fact that Phillips will probably take a more aggressive approach than former defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, and Miller will be tough for anyone to deal with.

No defensive player can affect the result of a football game more than a dangerous pass rusher. With a few timely blitz calls, Phillips can use Miller to help determine the outcome of games.

1. Peyton Manning, Quarterback

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Like this is any surprise.

The Broncos are going to go as far as Manning takes them. Yes, he will need to rely on his running game more than he has been used to, but Kubiak also has one of the most cerebral quarterbacks to ever play the position.

Though Kubiak has a proven system, he'll be able to learn from Manning too.

In three years with the Broncos, Manning has a 38-10 win-loss record. Though he and his team have come up short in the postseason, it's hard to argue with that. Especially since it's the best win-loss record any quarterback has over that same time frame.

Manning needs to figure out how to get over the hump. He wasn't brought to Denver to win divisions or set records, he was brought in to win a Super Bowl. Perhaps the coaching change is what he needed.

One thing is for sure, the Broncos probably wouldn't have won the AFC West every year over the last three years or played in a Super Bowl if Manning wasn't the quarterback.

If the team was forced to play Brock Osweiler or just about any other quarterback over the last three years, what would the team's record be? It wouldn't be 38-10.

Kubiak may not ask Manning to throw the ball 40 times or more per game. He won't need him to throw for 5,000 yards on the season. But make no mistake, Manning isn't going to be a game manager.

Even at 39 years old, Manning is still one of the league's elite quarterbacks. Though he will probably require more help than he has been used to needing from his teammates, the key to winning a Super Bowl is still on the shoulders of No. 18.