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AS the Denver Broncos continue to prepare for a winning season for the first time since 2015, they decided to make a move at outside linebacker.
The Broncos announced that they have released outside linebacker Jake Martin.
Denver acquired Martin and a 2024 fifth-round pick last season in a trade with the New York Jets for a 2024 fourth-round pick.
In five games with the Broncos last season, Martin recorded one sack and one quarterback hit while totaling up six tackles and two tackles for a loss.
According to Mike Klis of 9News in Denver, Martin had $1 million fully guaranteed left on his $4.25 million salary.
Martin was born in Aurora, Colorado and attended Cherokee Trail high school before playing college football at Temple.
Drafted in the sixth-round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Martin will be looking to play for his fifth NFL team with 16 career sacks.
Broncos Need Help on the Edge
Bradley Chubb and Dre’Mont Jones were the top two sack leaders for the Broncos last season. The only issue with that statement now is that neither of those players are on the roster entering the 2023 season.
The duo combined for 12 total sacks last season, even though Chubb was traded to the Miami Dolphins after Week 8 and Jones missed the final four games of the season.
Denver’s next sack leader on the roster is Baron Browning who finished with just five sacks in 14 games in 2022.
The Broncos also signed Randy Gregory last offseason with the hope that he can put up Pro Bowl numbers, but that wasn’t the case either.
In six games, Gregory only sacked the quarterback twice and had seven quarterback hits.
In 2022, the Broncos had the seventh-worst number of sacks in the NFL with just 36. Denver also totaled up just 36 sacks in 2021.
The current pass rushers on the current roster from last year are Gregory, Browning, Nik Bonitto, and Jonathon Cooper. All four combined for 10.5 sacks.
Broncos Can Add a Vet Pass Rusher
So far, Denver has yet to add another outside linebacker that can get to the quarterback in the current offseason. With five draft picks, the Broncos failed to address the edge position, but they did find a middle linebacker that can rush the quarterback in Drew Sanders from Arkansas.
Last season Sanders had 9.5 sacks for the Razorbacks.
Denver can look to the free agent market to add another pass rusher to help the Broncos defense out.
The Broncos can target Leonard Floyd, 30, who had nine sacks last season for the Rams. Floyd also had 22 quarterback hits and played in all 17 games.
Another option for Denver is Yannick Ngakoue who appeared in 15 games last year for the Colts. The 28-year-old recorded 9.5 sacks and added 16 quarterback hits.
If the Broncos wanted to add a familiar face to defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Denver could target Markus Golden.
The 32-year-old veteran only had 2.5 sacks last season in 17 games, but in 2021, in Joseph’s defense, Golden tallied up 11 sacks and 19 quarterback hits in 16 games.
The Broncos could obviously look to make a trade, but there are not many great pass rushers in the league and if the ones that are, are not likely to be available for a decent price. Sounds like Denver will have hope that one of their young draft picks from recent years can break out along with Gregory.
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