The Denver Broncos have an emerging star in wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, but the depth behind him is almost non-existent. Eric Decker is a decent option as a No. 3 receiver, but beyond that the other guys are free agents: Eddie Royal and Matthew Willis. This, combined with $49 million in cap space for the Broncos, leads Sports Illustrated's Peter King to believe that the team will be a player in free agency for a wide receiver.
The Broncos are one of five teams with $45 million or more in cap space, which has King seeing big paydays for several receivers:
[The cap space] is good for a restricted free agent like Mike Wallace, who could get an offer the Steelers won't be able to match because of their cap problems this winter, and for unrestricted free agents like Vincent Jackson, Stevie Johnson, Brandon Lloyd and maybe an under-the-radar guy like Robert Meachem of the Saints.
We can cross off Brandon Lloyd from that list -- the team traded him because of his impending free agency -- and Mike Wallace is probably too expensive of a tender for the Broncos (there are hints that the team won't spend greatly in free agency).
The one player that would be intriguing -- though he will certainly want to be paid big money -- is Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson. Jackson is a Colorado Springs, CO, native and played for the Northern Colorado Bears in college. He's a big target (6-foot-5, 230 pounds) that Tim Tebow would certainly love. Jackson has had 1,000-plus yards receiving in three of the last four seasons.
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