The Denver Broncos are in fine position heading into the back stretch of the season, even with Peyton Manning a little banged up, but one thing that could have been bolstered a bit is the pass rush, which ranks in the middle of the league and one way could have been a trade at the deadline for Minnesota Vikings DE Jared Allen.
There are a number of deals that could or "should" have went down at the slow deadline and while there were discussions about Allen to the Seattle Seahawks, the Denver Broncos should have taken a look at this deal instead. At the time, there were some reports that the Broncos were interested, but the tough part was the selling price, as the Vikings were asking for a high pick and on top of that Allen has a pretty hefty contract, although it will be up and he will be a free agent. The Broncos played six games without star linebacker Von Miller and while he has returned, the team still has not been able to generate that much of a pass rush this season.
The team ranks in the middle of the NFL at number 14 tied with the Oakland Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals with 26.0 sacks and while that is a solid amount, it pales in comparison to the Kansas City Chiefs, who are tops in the AFC West division ahead of Denver with 36.0 sacks and now the Broncos are lagging behind as the two teams are set to face off on Sunday night football in Week 11. Allen is 31-years-old, but he is an elite pass rusher and while he has just five sacks this season, acquiring him would overhaul the defense right away and would add a Pro Bowl level talent to the defensive line.
This season he has 25 tackles and five sacks in nine games and over the past six seasons he has come in with double digit sacks and he also has been very durable, never missing a game during his time with the Vikings. Allen has developed into one of the best linemen in the league and he has put up 30 sacks over the past two seasons, including 22.0 two years ago and now he is still with the Vikings obviously, but adding him to the Broncos could have made for a fantastic pass rush heading down the stretch this season.
Another way the move could have helped the Broncos is with their passing defense overall, as they are giving up way too many yards to opposing teams, ranking 30th in the league with over 280 per game. Part of that is for the fact that they had so many early leads earlier in the season that teams were forced to pass, but it also is due to an inconsistent pass rush. When teams can get to the quarterback on a regular basis, it makes them make bad decisions and also can force them to throw before they would like, allowing the secondary to play better against the wide receivers for the other team.
While that would have been a nice boost for the Broncos, they likely wanted to keep their high picks and go with the team they built. The next stretch of games will decide how they will be in the playoffs this season, as they play the Kansas City Chiefs twice in three weeks and they also play on the road against the New England Patriots sandwiched in between that, which could be the final game between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the regular season.