Las Vegas Raiders, Broncos made mistake by not loading defenses
The Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos both seemed to take the same tact this offseason.
Add a litany of weapons, and get into shootouts with the Kansas City Chiefs. As the famous line goes, it’s a bold strategy, Cotton.
Las Vegas Raiders general manager Mike Mayock selected Alabama speedster Henry Ruggs III in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, giving quarterback Derek Carr a receiver with elite explosiveness on the perimeter. Later on, he took receiver Bryan Edwards from South Carolina and all-purpose weapon Lynn Bowden from Kentucky. Quite the SEC reunion in Sin City this year.
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Meanwhile, the Broncos went a similar route. In free agency, general manager John Elway added running back Melvin Gordon to play in tandem with Phillip Lindsay. At receiver, Denver selected Ruggs’ Alabama teammate, receiver Jerry Jeudy, to pair with Courtland Sutton. In the second round, Elway doubled back and nabbed K.J. Hamler, a burner out of Penn State. In the fourth round, Denver landed University of Missouri tight end Albert Okwuegbunam to join second-year man Noah Fant.
All told, the Broncos are hoping all those weapons turn Drew Lock into the best version of himself. It’s a smart play, considering Lock flashed promise in the five games he started last season as a rookie.
However, both teams seemingly forgot to fortify their defenses.
The Las Vegas Raiders added Cory Littleton to their linebacking corps alongside Nick Kwitkowski. Outside of those solid (if unspectacular) moves, Las Vegas did precious little. This despite allowing Patrick Mahomes and Co. to score 28 points in the second quarter of a Week 2 defeat (28-10) before giving up 40 points in a loss to the Chiefs in Week 13.
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Meanwhile, the Broncos allowed star cornerback Chris Harris Jr. to leave and replaced him with A.J. Bouye. The defensive line swapped Jurrell Casey in for Derek Wolfe, while the hope is Bradley Chubb returns from a torn ACL in fine form.
The Broncos gave up 53 points to Kansas City in two games last year, despite facing Matt Moore in one affair and seeing Mahomes in a blizzard the other. Denver went 0-2.
Smart money says the way to beat the Chiefs is to either have a great quarterback — something neither Denver or Las Vegas currently has — or have a fantastic defense which gets pressure without blitzing. The Broncos have the better odds of doing the latter with Chubb and Von Miller, but the back seven has ample holes to quickly exploit.
Both teams made progress this offseason — specifically the Broncos — but both have a long way to go before catching Kansas City.
