Want to know who’s on the latest Broncos injury report? It might be faster, at this point, to say who’s not on it.
If you grabbed a roster and gave it the old “eeny-meeny-miney-mo,” you still wouldn’t hit on enough players. Yes, more than 25 percent of the 53-man roster was listed on the final “Practice and Game Status Report” heading into the Week 13 tilt against San Diego.
A full 19 players comprised that list just two days before kickoff. That’s an astounding 36 percent of the roster battling injury or illness. And that was before the team lost C.J. Anderson (ankle) and Vernon Davis (concussion) at the half and Danny Trevathan (concussion), David Bruton (knee) and Omar Bolden (hamstring) in the second half.
Denver has been fortunate so far this year that it has depth (especially on defense) at key positions. DeMarcus Ware has been spelled successfully by Shaqil Barrett, Bruton has filled in admirably for T.J. Ward, Max Garcia has played well in rotation with and in place of Louis Vasquez and Brock Osweiler has, in some people’s minds, done more than just “hold down the fort” for Peyton Manning.
To paraphrase Marv Levy, depth is great, until you have to use it. The loss of Bruton and Bolden would be huge if T.J. Ward is unable to return this week against Oakland, but there are other positions that would be far worse to lose here in the final quarter of the season.
In this week’s edition of “Power Rankings” we look at the five players Denver can least afford to lose down the stretch.
No. 5 – Brandon McManus
We are not so far removed from a time when Brandon McManus was the most wasteful position on an NFL roster: Kickoff specialist.
Just 13 months ago, Denver waived McManus in favor of Connor Barth after McManus struggled on field goals through the first half of the season. He was re-signed almost immediately when Denver realized Barth couldn’t get the ball into the opposing end zone on kickoffs.
This season started well for McManus, missing only once through the first eight games. But in the past two weeks McManus has started to show cracks, going just 2-for-4 and dropping his field goal percentage below 90 percent on the year.
Physical injury is less of a concern for McManus as is the dreaded “mental” fatigue. Late in the season, with an offense that continues to struggle to put points on the board, Denver needs to scrap for every point it can get.
McManus needs to regain his early season confidence and fast. If he’s a no-show even once, it could cost the Broncos a playoff bye or worse.
No. 4 – Von Miller
Denver has what seems to be an overabundance of plenty at outside linebacker, starting with arguably the best one in the game, Von Miller.
Add in DeMarcus Ware (when healthy) and the duo make up a dominating edge rush that no defense has shown the ability to contain. Even when Ware has been sidelined with injury, Shaquil Barrett has proved to be a disruptive force opposite Miller. And on the few snaps when Miller needs to catch his breath from constantly harassing quarterbacks, rookie and top draft pick Shane Ray has shown his own ability to make big plays.
But everything about Denver’s dominating pass rush, not to mention its stellar pass protection starts and ends with Miller. Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, Pro Bowlers in their own right, are made even better when Miller is giving the quarterback less than two seconds to unload the ball. Miller plays a major part in the run game as well, eliminating the edge and absorbing blockers.
Miller is without a doubt Denver’s best player and the No. 1 defensive weapon opposing teams must game plan against. The only reason he’s not ranked higher on this list is the incredible depth that Denver has at the position. Still, losing Miller would be a major blow to the NFL’s best defense.
No. 3 – Matt Paradis
Welcome to your first year on the active roster, Matt Paradis. All the Broncos are going to ask you to do is center the line on a revamped offensive scheme led by the NFL’s all-time greatest passer and winningest quarterback. And oh by the way, the last few guys who held the job haven’t lasted more than a season and a half. Also, please don’t snap the ball over Peyton Manning’s head. He doesn’t like that.
Head coach Gary Kubiak put an immense amount of faith in a player who spent his first season in Denver on the practice squad, and Paradis has rewarded him by being Denver’s most durable offensive lineman. At 831 snaps, Paradis leads the team and is a full 84 snaps ahead of the next closest player, Evan Mathis. For context, the Broncos are averaging 65 plays per game in 2015 according to Sporting Charts. That’s more than five full quarters worth of load Paradis has carried compared to the rest of the offensive line.
Pro Football Focus hasn’t been kind to the first-year player, rating him at a -8.5 overall on the year. But there’s something to say for consistency and durability at this point – especially on this carousel of a line.
His backup, James Ferentz, has played just six snaps on the year. How little do the Broncos think of Ferentz? They didn’t even bother to fill out his “Bio” on his player page on the team website.
Any more instability on this line and it could come crashing down. Paradis is the glue that’s holding it together.
No. 2 – Demaryius Thomas
This is meant to take nothing away from Emmanuel Sanders, who prior to Sunday’s three catches on eight targets had been Denver’s go-to wide receiver in clutch situations all year, but there is no greater offensive loss the Broncos could suffer than Demaryius Thomas.
Yes, the loss against Kansas City was exacerbated by Sanders’ early exit, but with a week to game plan without him (and without Peyton Manning for the first time in three and a half years), Denver’s offense rebounded to the tune of 389 yards, 219 of that through the air.
Thomas has not been without his faults this year. His performance against New England was as bad a game as he’s ever played, and his struggles early in the year and early in games are well documented. But Thomas still represents the greatest offensive threat in Denver’s offense and one of the few players on that side of the ball that commands the attention of two, sometimes even three, defenders.
Denver has a cadre of receivers in Sanders’ mold. Sure, Andre Caldwell, Bennie Fowler and Jordan Norwood are far cries from Denver’s No. 2 downfield threat, but none of them – even Sanders – compare to Thomas physically or in the way teams must defend when he’s on the field.
Thomas and Sanders are a dangerous one-two punch. Without Thomas, Denver has some jabs, but nothing that can deliver a knockout.
No. 1 – Brandon Marshall
We saw firsthand on Sunday what the Denver Broncos defense looks like without Sylvester Williams and T.J. Ward – a little soft up the middle. Now imagine that defense without the team’s leading tackler and one of the best inside linebackers in the league, Brandon Marshall.
With Danny Trevathan, Marshall is part of an ILB duo that plays more like Batman and Superman than Batman and Robin. But the Broncos are incredibly thin behind them. Todd Davis, who backs up Marshall, and Corey Nelson, who backs up Trevathan, have just 77 combined snaps under their belt this year for good reason.
Marshall’s numbers aren’t eye-popping, necessarily. His 84 combined tackles are good for only 21st in the league; he has no interceptions and just 1.5 sacks. But Marshall quarterbacks a defense that is tops in yards, passing yards and sacks and ranks second in takeaways and scoring.
The Broncos have had a knack for elevating under-the-radar ILBs – think Wesley Woodyard and Joe Mays – but we saw with Marshall’s foot injury last year that Todd Davis won’t be an adequate replacement. In Week 15 last year against Cincinnati, with Marshall on the sidelines, the Bengals ran for 207 yards. It was Denver’s worst effort against the run all season by a full 74 yards.
Denver had to make do without Trevathan during the second half on Sunday when he left under concussion protocol. The Broncos maintained against a Chargers team that was playing from behind. Against the Steelers or Bengals, losing Trevathan would be big. Losing Marshall would be catastrophic.