Should the Broncos Pay or Pass in 2020 – Defensive end Adam Gotsis?

The Broncos have a lot of interesting decisions to make this offseason in regards to free agency. Before they decide on which ones to target from other teams, Denver must first look at its own players who are set to hit the open market.

Heading into the offseason, the Broncos have 14 players who are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in 2020. At the end-of-season press conference, Broncos general manager John Elway said the Broncos are going to wait a month before they start evaluating their own players.

“That gives us more time to do it the right way. Rather than doing it on a personal side, because the coaches get connected with (players). I think you get a better objective view when you get away and you’re able to go back and look at it individually,” Elway said.

In the meantime, let’s take a tour through the list of players the Broncos need to make a decision about. During the next few weeks, I’ll take an in-depth look at Denver’s pending free agents, answering a simple question: Should the Broncos pay to keep them or take a pass, letting them head into free agency.

First up…

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ADAM GOTSIS
Defensive End

The Broncos selected defensive end Adam Gotsis out of Georgia Tech in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. That might have been a round or two too high compared to where Gotsis was ranked during the pre-draft process.

I had been watching Gotsis since his freshmen season (when I saw him stand out watching his college teammate Jeremiah Attaochu), but only felt Gotsis would be worth a fourth-round pick. He reportedly was a favorite of defensive line coach Bill Kollar and the Broncos had intelligence that another team (rumored to be the Bears) had designs on taking him early in the third round. The Broncos made the move and picked him with the final pick of the second round, at No. 63 overall.

I had suggested in my mocks leading up to the 2016 draft that the Broncos should consider Yannick Ngakoue out of Maryland. While Ngakoue has 37.5 sacks in 63 pro games, Gotsis has just 5.0 sacks in 57 games. Jaguars general Dave Caldwell has publicly stated that impending free agent Ngakoue is the top priority for the Jaguars this offseason and Gotsis has to be far down the list on the Broncos priority list.

Should the Broncos pay or pass? Let’s take a look.

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Positives

Gotsis has a year under head coach Vic Fangio and that experience could help him perform better in 2020. He’s started 28 out of 57 games for the Broncos, but only started three games for the team in 2019.

He’s a strong player at the point of attack and mostly does a good job of holding his ground and keeping containment as an outside defensive lineman. While Gotsis doesn’t get a ton of sacks, he has shown a knack for knocking passes down at the line of scrimmage.

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Negatives

He hasn’t really developed as a prospect with the Broncos during the last four years. Coming out of college, Gotsis was not known as a player to create interior pressure. Four years later, Gotsis is still not a player who is going to make plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

Gotsis has been slow to read and react at the pro level, and that’s one of the reasons why he is only solid at the line and not a player who penetrates and creates problems for offensive linemen. In fact, Gotsis is fairly easy to block. Sure, he’s not going to get moved easily, but he’s unlikely to find the play quickly to make a play.

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The Market

Defensive ends can get very expensive in the NFL, even if they aren’t star-caliber players. Looking over cap hits in 2019 at the defensive end position, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence ranks at the top at $21 million. The player who ranks at No. 10, Jaguars DE Calais Campbell, had a cap hit of $15 million in 2019.

Last season, Broncos DE Derek Wolfe had a cap hit around $9.1 million, which ranked No. 21 in the league. Gotsis is not the same caliber of player that Wolfe is, so he shouldn’t be expecting to get that number. Instead, Gotsis may only get offers that pay him roughly what he made last season ($984k). Paying the veteran roughly $1-2 million annually may make the most sense, and Gotsis may not get more than a one- or two-year contract.

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The Verdict

The Broncos need to pass on Gotsis. They took a chance on him, but he has not developed and grown as a player in the way the team must have expected. Gotsis is going to be cheap to re-sign, but there is no reason to bring him back when other and younger players on the roster like Dre’Mont Jones and DeMarcus Walker need to get more playing time.

He appeared in most every game during his four-year career with the Broncos, but it seems like his time in Denver has come to an end.

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PAY OR PASS 2020?

Will Parks | Safety

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