Its interesting that the 2015 draft was a blank for the Broncos, yet they won the Super Bowl anyway.
Round 1: LB Shane Ray (backup)
Round 2: OT Ty Sambrailo (played weeks 1-3) then tore a labrum and went to IR for the season)
Round 3: TE Jeff Heuerman (tore his ACL in rookie minicamp 8 days after the 2015 draft, lost for the entire season)
Round 4: OT Max Garcia (lost the starting job in camp. Broncos signed Evan Mathis because Garcia wasn't good enough. Regained job because of injuries to the line. Started 5 games.)
Round 5: CB Lorenzo Doss (active, no stats)
Round 6: NT Darius Kilgo (developmental player, backup nose tackle)
Round 7 QB Trevor Siemian (backup)
Round 7: CB Taurean Nixon (no stats)
Round 7: S Josh Furman (cut)
You can blow a whole draft and still win the super bowl. Grading GMs is not about looking at their busts, because they all have busts. You grade them on their hits.
blow the draft?
Shane Ray played every game he was healthy for and stepped in for Ware when Ware was injured this year. he laid a huge hit on Newton in the Super Bowl on the long completion to Funchess.
Max Garcia also played nearly every game this year up until maybe the Super Bowl. Denver rotated Mathis/Garcia/Vasquez and Garcia was a fixture on the ol.
Sambraillo was the starting RT til Clady was injured and then was the starting LT until he was injured. that's not blowing the draft.
I know he said they blew the draft but I don't really think that's what he was getting at. I think he was more suggesting that they did not get a ton of production out of the draft. As you said, Garcia and Ray came up big in spots, but he's right that no one from that draft class played a prominent role for the Broncos this season, at least from a pure numbers/production/playing time point of view.
That being said, I don't think the roles that Garcia and Ray played should be minimalized simply because they weren't starters. Garcia allowed Mathis and Vasquez to remain fresh by rotating series with both of them, something which can't be measured but probably had an impact in several games given that the running game came up big late in key spots--this may not have been possible if the OG's weren't fresh. Shane Ray (along with Shaq Barrett) were integral in stepping in for Von and Ware for 10-15 snaps per game and still applying comparable pressure which played a huge role in keeping them fresh thus allowing them to make key plays when it mattered most.
The amazing part of this Denver team was its depth, and that is where they are going to be most hurt during this free agency period. They may be able to keep the big name free agents (Von, Malik, Brock, maybe Trevathan) but they are probably going to lose several solid depth players. Then again, when you consider that nearly $30 million of this years cap went toward Clady who didn't play a snap and Peyton who.... yeah.... the future of this team and its ability to retain its core players looks pretty bright. Further, much as I would hate to see it happen, I could see Ware retiring which would free up another $10 or so million. Supposedly he hinted at this during his pre-Super Bowl speech Saturday night.
and I too hope Ware restructures.
