Hindsight is always 20/20, right?
Last year, the Denver Broncos held firm at the NFL’s in-season trade deadline, opting not to trade wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, safety Justin Simmons or anyone else despite being 3-5 going into their bye week.
The Broncos ended up finishing the year with an 8-9 record and they missed the playoffs. A few months later, Jeudy has been traded for a pair of late-round picks and Simmons was cut in exchange for salary cap space (which was needed, but picks would have been helpful as well).
Denver probably could have gotten more for Jeudy had they traded him before the in-season deadline last fall, and even getting a late-round pick for Simmons would have been better than releasing him for nothing.
During an interview on 104.3 The Fan last November, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said, “I believe they [the Broncos] got offered a three and five” during trade talks for Jeudy. If that’s accurate, Denver turned down third- and fifth-round picks in 2023 only to later accept fifth- and sixth-round picks for the same player in 2024.
This is yet another poor result for general manager George Paton, who has fumbled numerous free agent signings and trades in recent seasons. One has to wonder just how long until the Broncos might cut Paton as well.
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