“He’s a mismatch,” said nearly every starting defensive back for the Broncos Wednesday afternoon when asked about their newest teammate, Vernon Davis.

As the Broncos moved to 7-0 Sunday night, in large part due to the great performances of the team’s tight ends, John Elway was still looking to make moves to ensure his team was in the best position to win. Monday that move was made in the form of ten-year veteran and two-time Pro Bowl tight end Davis. The Broncos defense, which ranks 1st in nearly every statistical category, knows what Davis represents for their opponents moving forward.

“Oh man, he is mismatch. Just on his speed and his route-running ability but I think people sleep on his blocking ability as well. So he is going to help us in the run and the pass and also he is bringing that championship experience and that leadership,” safety T.J. Ward said Wednesday.

The Broncos defense, which has gone on an incredible run through seven games, has faced some impressive tight ends in Travis Kelce, Eric Ebron and Gary Barnidge to name a few, but they view Davis as a game-changer and certainly still an elite tight end.

“We had to go up against him in training camp. The mismatches that he provides against safeties and linebackers is tremendous. He is just another weapon that Peyton [Manning] is going to use to help out our team,” linebacker Brandon Marshall said Wednesday. He went on to detail how tough it was to guard him when they played in Week 3 of the preseason.

“He just has better routes than every tight end. He ran a comeback route on me and it was the fastest stop I’ve ever seen from a tight end. Julius [Thomas] has great routes but he doesn’t stop that fast. He came up, stopped on a dime. This is when I was coming back from my foot and I tried to stop on a dime and my foot started to hurt and I was like, ‘Oh man. I’ve never seen someone stop that fast.’”

The fact that Marshall had so much trouble covering him is telling. Marshall is the second-ranked inside linebacker in the NFL and 12th in coverage this season according to Pro Football Focus and he knows what challenges Davis will present to opposing linebackers and safeties, especially in addition to the weapons Manning already possesses.

“You have to give him more space because if you press up on him and he beats you, he’s gone. I think that is something that you definitely have to think about.” Marshall said. “He can run a bunch of routes so its like, ‘What can you do?’ That is the thing about it, everybody probably rolls to DT [Demaryius Thomas] right now, a lot of times that leaves opportunities for Emmanuel [Sanders] and now we have Vernon [Davis] too. Who are you going to double? Regardless, you still probably have to double Demaryius but that leaves Emmanuel, Vernon one-on-one and they are going to win that match up.”

Davis is leaving a sinking ship in San Fransisco. The 49ers in recent years went to multiple NFC Championships and a Super Bowl, but have seen all the major pieces to their team, including the head coach, leave this offseason and it appears to have affected the tight end’s production.

In 2013 Davis made his second Pro Bowl after catching 52 passes for 13 touchdowns but has since seen a drastic decline since. Last season he caught only 26 passes for 245 yards in 14 games. This year he has caught 18 balls for 194 yards in six games. Davis believes he can regain his 2013 form and his thoughts on his recent decline in production Wednesday were illuminating.

“Everyone is asking that question, where did I go? If you look at San Francisco, look at the year when I started to drop off. What happened with the team? They started to fall all in. There were so many things going on, so much turmoil. No one really excelled. No one really had success. As a team, we didn’t have success. If the team’s not having success, the chances are that I’m not going to have success. That’s what it is. Look at them now. They’ve only won two games. It’s hard and it’s tough to be able to play with a team where you just don’t have everything that you need.”

Davis’ biggest attribute that everyone, from Elway to Marshall, has focused on is his speed. The Broncos watched in the offseason as their big pass catching tight end Julius Thomas signed in free agency with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Until last Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, newcomer Owen Daniels and blocking specialist Virgil Green have not had the impact in the passing game head coach Gay Kubiak would have liked. The trade for Davis certainly addressed that. Cover cornerback Chris Harris Jr. sees that as well.

“He is really a mismatch for the linebackers to cover. He has a little more speed, a little more juice to be able to run past safeties. He has that vertical threat, that speed threat from the tight end position,” Harris said.

Davis represents an addition to a star-studded team that is coming off their best performance of the year and maybe several seasons. The move for Davis will be analyzed for days and weeks to come by many but arguably the most valued opinion of move is to ask the best defense in the league what they think. By all accounts it is a great addition and according to them, soon enough the “mismatch” of Davis will yield great results for an already great team.

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