It isn’t uncommon for teams in the National Football League to have lingering uncertainties about their rosters at this point in the offseason.
There are contract negotiations, injuries and position battles that every team deals with in the summer. Unfortunately for the Denver Broncos, they are dealing with all three of those issues and then some coming off their Super Bowl 50 victory.
Aside from the number of other things that Broncos are trying to get sorted out on the defensive side of the ball, there is a growing concern for veteran defensive end DeMarcus Ware.
Ware can’t seem to shake a nagging back injury that caused him to miss five games during the 2015 season. Despite only playing in 11 regular season games he still managed to rack up 7.5 sacks, second only to Von Miller.
With Ware’s future up in the air, it is beginning to look like Shane Ray will have some big shoes to fill in only his second year.
Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio 1340 AM | 104.7 FM met up with Shane Ray to discuss what Ware’s absence means for him.
“I’ve gotten leaps better than I was last year,” Ray said. “DeMarcus is still there critiquing me on everything.”
Ray showed flashes of the player he could be during his rookie year. He accumulated 20 total tackles and four sacks in 14 regular season games. Ray’s upside is bright, but filling in for Ware will be no easy task.
“I don’t really view it as pressure, I view it as an opportunity.” Ray said. “I think I’ve prepared extremely well this offseason to put myself in a position to where if I needed to take over those reps and help DeMarcus out there would be no drop off.”
Ray had quite the first season in the NFL. He was a contributor on the league’s best defense, won a Super Bowl and was mentored by DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller. But Ray made it clear that the Broncos aren’t focused on last season anymore.
“That honeymoon is over,” Ray said. “I think we’re all really excited for the season and ready to go make another run.”
To hear the rest of the conversation with Shane Ray and to hear about Les and Eric’s favorite hip-hop artists listen below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/6-9-16-afternoon-drive-discusses-their-favorite-hip-hop-and-talks-to-shane-ray-about-a-bigger-role
Catch Afternoon Drive every Monday through Friday from 4-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
