Deadlines spur action. And in the Broncos’ recent history of trading core players, the deals have typically happened in the final days before the deadline.
Demaryius Thomas, Von Miller and Bradley Chubb all found themselves dealt within 36 hours of the trade deadlines in 2018, 2021 and 2022, respectively. Only Emmanuel Sanders was not dealt so close to the deadline; in 2019, the Broncos shipped him to San Francisco seven days before that year’s Oct. 29 deadline.
Yes, the Broncos dealt Randy Gregory earlier this month. That deal had extenuating circumstances and was not a traditional deadline deal — at least, not in the vein of the ones the Broncos executed in recent years.
And that’s part of why the moment is so quiet. A fortnight remains before the 2 p.m. MDT deadline on Oct. 31. That represents two more weeks to evaluate where they stand and what they need before the deadline. Two weeks to see what needs exist because of injuries.
The Broncos’ phone may be ringing, but they don’t have to answer with a trade now.
“Look, again, the focus is on the schedule and winning the next week,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “Certainly, every year, when this time comes, there’s speculation. People call. And people call teams that aren’t playing well, or are struggling, to see if they’re interested in moving players.
“But that would be the only thing. It doesn’t require a 4-day summit relative to what the plan is. George (Paton) would bring any information to Greg (Penner), myself.
“But right now, our focus is on playing Green Bay.”
And then Kansas City after that. But don’t be surprised if the Broncos wait to make their next trade until after both of those games are complete.
As recent history has shown, deadlines spur trade action for the Broncos. And that deadline remains two weeks in the future.
