Man, you’d think the Denver Broncos could get a little respect around here!
I get that it’s been an up and down season, but at the end of the day, the Broncos are 12-4 and the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs; they deserved more than just two All-Pro nods.
This is a team that ranks first in nearly every defensive category, and both Pro Football Focus and Football Outsiders have Denver’s defense graded as the best unit in football, by a wide margin. If there was any unit that deserved multiple first-team All-Pro nods on the defensive side of the ball, it was the Denver Broncos, not the Carolina Panthers or Arizona Cardinals.
I mean, if Khalil Mack can get two first-team All-Pro nods by himself, you’d think the Broncos could too!
Heck, even a couple more second-team honors would have sufficed.
There are a lot of options to choose from, but here are the Denver Broncos’ three biggest All-Pro snubs:
3. Brandon Marshall
As Troy Renck reported earlier today, Brandon Marshall did receive some All-Pro votes, as did Aqib Talib, but apparently not enough. My guess is that the majority of voters still believe that the only Brandon Marshall in the league is a wide receiver for the New York Jets.
This Brandon Marshall, though — our Brandon Marshall — is one of the best linebackers in the league, and he absolutely deserved an All-Pro selection — an Pro Bowl nod would have been nice, too.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Marshall said Friday on whether the Broncos defense deserved more All-Pro consideration. “I think so. I mean we have the No. 1 defense in the league in many categories and we have a lot of players that are excellent. We’ve got two All-Pro players. It’s a shame. It’s a travesty.”
Marshall is the voice and brain of the No. 1 defense in the NFL, and I truly can’t think of four inside linebackers more deserving than him.
2. Chris Harris
Yes, Chris Harris Jr. was named a second-team All-Pro, but that’s not nearly good enough. And honestly, this may be the biggest snub of them all. The only reason I have him second is because he at least got some recognition.
The three cornerbacks that made it onto the first team were Josh Norman, Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu. And while they’re all very good defensive backs, I can make a very simple case for why Harris was a better option than any of the three: He’s the only one that plays on the league’s No. 1 passing defense.
In fact, Arizona, which had both of their cornerbacks on the first-team, is only eighth in pass defense. But the Broncos can’t even get one?
Not only that, but Chris Harris Jr. finished the season ranked higher than both Peterson and Norman according to PFF’s grading system, marking the third time in four years that he’s finished the season inside their top five (he was sixth in 2013).
Everybody remembers the Steelers game, where Harris gave up 12 catches, 137 yards and two touchdowns to Antonio Brown, but that isn’t indicative of his season in the slightest; he simply ran into an unstoppable force at the most inopportune time.
Look at every other snap this season, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll see a top-three cornerback in the NFL, and it’s a shame he doesn’t get the recognition.
This piece brought to you in part by …
[adrotate banner=”16″]1. Malik Jackson
When big-name guys like Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and DeMarcus Ware can’t get a sniff at an All-Pro selection, I can’t imagine Malik Jackson is all that surprised when he was left off the list, but he is absolutely deserving.
There are very few defensive lineman as well-rounded as Jackson is, and that’s one of the reasons why he is in line for a major payday this offseason. Not only has he been an integral part on the Denver Broncos’ run defense, but next to Von Miller, he may actually be the Broncos’ best pass rusher.
Nobody will give him credit for that, of course; they’ll point to DeMarcus Ware, Shaquil Barrett or Shane Ray before they point to Jackson. But in reality, it’s not even that close.
As expected, Miller leads the Broncos will 50 quarterback hurries on the season, but it’s Jackson, not Ware, who trails him, with 44, according to PFF. The next closest is Ware at 27 — projected to 16 games, he still would have fallen short at 39.
And to be able to bring that kind of rush up the middle creates a whole new problem for opposing offenses. Much like Michael Bennett has been one of the most important players on the Seattle Seahawks defense these last few years, Jackson is critical to everything the Broncos do.