Ted Sundquist had his head down, doors locked and calculator working since the moment the Broncos’ season ended in the AFC championship game.
After he emerged from his bunker, Denver’s general manager said he was surprised to hear some believed the team hadn’t done much in free agency.
“We’ve gotten exactly what we’ve set out to do,” Sundquist said Thursday. “We’re very satisfied with the progress made and where we are at this point. If we would have gone one game further and won the Super Bowl, we would have done this same thing in the offseason. We like this group.”
The Broncos have been one of the more successful teams this offseason in terms of keeping their nucleus intact. Denver has re-signed or restructured the contracts of 13 players, including signing eight of their unrestricted free agents. The high-priority re-signings were center Tom Nalen, left offensive tackle Matt Lepsis, defensive tackle Gerard Warren and running back Ron Dayne, who, at this point, is favored to start in 2006. Warren, Lepsis and Nalen accounted for about $18 million in signing bonuses.
“People may not want to look at it this way, but those guys were free agents,” Sundquist said. “We added those guys to our 2006 team because we felt that they were important to keeping us where we want to be, and that’s at the top. If we didn’t commit a good amount to those players, we would have had to replace them, and we didn’t want to do that.”
Sundquist said the salary cap-induced cuts of starters Trevor Pryce, Mike Anderson and Jeb Putzier were made because the team thinks it will be able to withstand those losses.
“They are typical difficult decisions,” Sundquist said. “We decided the cost it was going to take for all three, who we appreciate for all of their time here, may not be worth the production we were going to get compared to what else we needed to do in the offseason as far as signing the free agents we needed to sign. I think teams sometimes make mistakes in paying for future based on past production.”
Sundquist said the reality is teams simply can’t keep their own free agents and make significant additions. The Broncos signed defensive end Kenard Lang, who will be the team’s extra pass rusher in the nickel package, and agreed to terms with backup linebacker Nate Webster. They made an offer to defensive end Andre Carter, who signed with Washington, and explored signing running back Jamal Lewis.
“I guess some people think we didn’t do anything because there’s no big-name players,” Sundquist said. “But we were 13-3, not 3-13. You don’t dismantle from 13-3. We like where we are and where we’re going.”
The focus of the offseason now is squarely on the draft, Sundquist said. The Broncos put themselves in strong position for the April 29-30 draft when they acquired the No. 15 pick in the first round from Atlanta on Tuesday in exchange for this year’s No. 29 selection, a third-round pick this year and a fourth-rounder in 2007.
The Broncos can use the picks to trade up, perhaps into the top six. Or they can stand pat or trade one of the picks. Whatever happens, Sundquist said the team is confident it will pick up a couple of impact players.
“It gives us great flexibility,” Sundquist said.
The team will look at some veteran free agents, but most will be backups. It will monitor cuts after June 1, and there has been a growing trend of available quality veterans cut just before the season. Unlike in recent years, Denver may be a player in that market this year.
Sundquist said he is satisfied with how the 2006 team is shaping up, despite some general angst that there are few new faces thus far.
“What makes sports exciting is the questions, and I appreciate that,” Sundquist said. “Last year we were questioned for bringing in all those Cleveland defensive linemen. Then we were questioned for drafting three cornerbacks, and those both worked out pretty good for us. Hopefully, a year from now, everyone will say the same thing about what we’re doing now.”
Staff writer Bill Williamson can be reached at 303-820-5450 or bwilliamson@denverpost.com.
