The Denver Broncos have added the championship QB to a team that has a defense that is ready to break out. Here are the IDP Buy/Sell from this defense.
Buy
Jonas Griffith, Linebacker
The Denver Broncos traded for Jonas Griffith prior to the 2021 NFL season. He was originally signed as an undrafted college free agent by the San Francisco 49ers. They released Griffith and he signed with the Indianapolis Colts practice for a very short stint. After being released by the Colts, he re-signed with the 49ers and completed the 2020 year on their practice squad.
Griffith had a dominating career at Indiana State after playing just his senior year in high school. At Indiana State, he produced an incredible 382 tackles (200 solo), 28.5 tackles for a loss, 14 sacks, nine pass defenses, three interceptions, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. Griffith’s first year with the Broncos had him play only special teams in the first 13 weeks of the season.
Griffith gets a chance with a week 14 injury to Kenny Young.
During week 14, starting Mike linebacker, Kenny Young went down with a concussion. Enter Griffith. He played 23 defensive snaps and produced 5 tackles with 2 being solo. In weeks 14-17, he started all four games and played an average of 86% of the defensive snaps, and in week 16 he played 100% of the defensive snaps. Griffith delivered impressive performances with a combined 40 tackles (20 solo), four tackles for a loss, two QB hits, and a fumble recovery.
The Denver Broncos have belief in the talent. They did not draft a Mike linebacker and their one free agent signing was Alex Singleton. Singleton puts up excellent stats for fantasy football but is not highly regarded in the NFL circles as a great linebacker. Thus the one-year, $1.115 million dollar deal. The Broncos also re-signed Josey Jewell to a two-year, $11 million contract. Young was not re-signed and neither was Alexander Johnson after starting the last four years.
Griffith is not ranked in dynasty rankings or ADP.
He is free to obtain. It cost me a fourth-rounder in our rookie draft in one league, and then a waiver claim in another league. Buy Jonas Griffith now, before training camp news has him on both lists. Beat the rush.
Sell
Justin Simmons, Safety
The Denver Broncos drafted Justin Simmons in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft. He started three games as a rookie while getting on-the-job training from T.J. Ward, then earned the full-time starter roll in 2017 when Ward was released.
In his first year as the starter at strong safety, Simmons produced 69 tackles (50 solo), four tackles for a loss, a couple of QB hits, a sack, five passes defended, two interceptions, and a TD. His next three seasons were all outstanding and very similar. Simmons averaged 95 tackles (71 solo), two tackles for a loss, nine passes defended, and four interceptions. He was elected to the Pro Bowl in 2020.
2021 was his worst statistical tackle numbers since 2017.
Simmons will be turning 29 this year and maybe he has lost a step. He produced 80 tackles (60 solo) in his 17 games which were his lowest tackle numbers since his second year in the league. He finished 2021 with the overall safety scoring ranking of #21 in my leagues.
Fewer tackles in one more game played is not a good sign for a player going into his seventh year. He is still the 15th ranked Dynasty IDP safety in IDPGuys.org and the 15th defensive back taken in ADP. It will be hard for him to stay a high number safety with the front seven that the Broncos will put on the field. He could play deep center field on more snaps instead of in the box. Sell him now while the value is still in the low #1 or high #2 safety range.
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