ENGLEWOOD – Aqib Talib was one of the first passengers to board the Dallas-to-Denver flight early Wednesday morning. He slipped on his headphones after sliding into his second-row seat and quickly fell asleep. When Talib awoke midflight, he saw a familiar bald head in Row 1.
It was DeMarcus Ware.
By Wednesday afternoon, they officially were teammates as John Elway and the Denver Broncos spent major cash overhauling the defense. The message was clear: The Broncos, embarrassed in the Super Bowl six weeks ago, are going all-in to make another championship run.
“The mentality is just a ‘now’ mentality; it’s a mentality of not looking forward to the next season or the season after that,” Ware said. “When I looked back there in that back seat and saw Talib, it was like, ‘they’re trying to get the job done.’”
Elway, the executive vice president and general manager, committed $110 million, including $60 million guaranteed, in the first 24 hours of free agency on defensive end Ware (three years, $30 million, with $20 million guaranteed), cornerback Talib (six years, $57 million, $26 guaranteed) and safety T.J. Ward (four years, $23 million, $14 guaranteed) – three players the team are hoping will help put teeth into a unit that proved to be the weak link last season.
Denver’s offense was the most prolific in NFL history, but the defense (a group that lost five starters to injury by mid-January) finished 19th in yards allowed, 22nd in points allowed and 27th against the pass.
The deficiencies especially were glaring in the blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, as the Broncos gave up 43 points (including a pick-six off a Peyton Manning interception, a safety, and a Percy Harvin kickoff return). The Broncos looked across the field and saw a tough, physical and downright nasty defense, all things they would try to replicate in 2014.
“We knew during the season that we needed help. The problem is, once you’re in the season, it’s not set up that way,” head coach John Fox told USA TODAY Sports. “This is the first real step. They’ve played Pro Bowl-caliber football, all three of them, and are all at positions of need, and it kind of fell that way for us.”
The Broncos spent big, but they entered free agency with more than $27 million of salary cap space, and even more cash to spend after adjustments to the inflated salary cap. Even after signing the three defensive players and re-signing wide receiver Andre Caldwell on Tuesday, the Broncos expect to have at least $10 million of salary cap room remaining. They still need a starting middle linebacker and depth at wide receiver.
“We still have room. Every year there is always a second market,” Fox said. “It’s never done, really.”
In just three years since Elway and Fox were hired, they have remade nearly the entire roster, with only seven players under contract that the duo inherited from the team that finished 4-12 in 2010. The Broncos have won the AFC West each of the three seasons since, including back-to-back 13-win seasons in 2012 and 2013.
That’s what drew Ward to the Broncos after a Pro Bowl season with the Cleveland Browns. Ward was the first of the defensive trio to sign, but it was clear to him from Elway’s pitch to his agent and from his meetings with coaches and several new teammates Wednesday that the Broncos are embarking on another Super Bowl-or-bust season.
“Why wait?” Ward said. “I think with the team we have here, the players we have, and with them coming off a Super Bowl appearance, the next step is to win the Super Bowl and bring that trophy home.”
The rest of the NFL likely has taken notice, said Ware, who lasted less than a day on the market after being released by the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday. In Denver, the only place Ware scheduled a visit, he found a place where he hopes his career will be rejuvenated after dealing with an elbow injury that limited him to six sacks in 13 games last season.
“We’re trying to make a statement – a statement that we’re a team to be reckoned with,” Ware said. “It hurt hard enough playing as well during the regular season and not being able to finish, and (the Broncos) are saying we’re going to act right now and not let that happen again.”
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