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Denver Broncos should trade for Vernon Davis

By Kevin Parvizi

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It’s been a disappointing season for the entire Denver Broncos offense, because only the elite wide receiver duo of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders has managed to find success this year. Peyton Manning‘s decline hasn’t helped the cause, but the fact that the Broncos are a disappointing 17th in the league in scoring goes beyond Manning. C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman have failed to consistently move the chains for the offense on the ground, with Anderson being one of the disappointments of the season due to a woeful 2.6 yards per carry average.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Is Davis one of the best tight ends in NFL history?

Quietly, however, it’s becoming clear that the position the Broncos need to upgrade the most on offense is tight end, because there has been a massive drop-off from Julius Thomas to the Broncos current TEs. Before the season, I had Owen Daniels and Virgil Green ranked as top 30 TEs, but I doubt both would be on the list if I re-ranked the position today.

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Green is a quality player, but we haven’t seen much of him this season. He’s received just five targets this season, but his forte is his blocking. Unfortunately, Pro Football Focus has handed Green a negative grade for his work this season as a blocker, but, of course, he hasn’t been the worst tight end on the Broncos roster this year.

That distinction goes to Daniels, who has looked like the opposite of the effective possession receiver he seemed to be in 2014 for Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens. This year, Daniels has been beaten with ease as a blocker, and his pass-catching has been particularly weak. The former Houston Texans standout has an awful 46.2% catch rate, which is easily the worst on the Broncos right now. He’s a big reason why Manning is struggling, because, at this stage of his career, Manning needs a variety of effective options.

See, back when Manning had the “Four Horsemen”, he could spread the ball around to Thomas, Thomas, Eric Decker, and Wes Welker. Even last year, he had a greater variety of effective options around him. This season, it’s literally been the Sanders and Thomas show. While I understand that Thomas and Sanders will look good no matter what and that Manning has declined greatly, it’s crazy how much Peyton has relied on these two receivers.

Thomas and Sanders have 58 and 53 targets this season, respectively, whereas Daniels has 26 and Jordan Norwood 16. Manning, again, is a QB who has shown in the past that he likes to spread the ball around, but he simply cannot do that this year. Thomas and Sanders have 65.5% and 64.2% catch rates, but Daniels and Norwood are averaging 2.35 and 5.06 yards per target, respectively. For No. 3 and No. 4 options with an aging QB who is most effective when he has depth, that is unacceptable, and if the Broncos want to win the Super Bowl, they need to rectify this.

Enter San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis. According to CBS Sports’s Jason La Canfora, the 49ers have received calls about Davis’s “availability”, and La Canfora reports that the organization is “open” to trading him.

That would make sense, because Davis has been terrible ever since making a stink about his contract situation before the start of the 2014 season. Davis, of course, never received a new deal, and he certainly didn’t make Trent Baalke and the 49ers reconsider after he struggled to just a 26/245/2 line in 2014 that was also impacted by the offense’s ineptitude and an injury.

Unfortunately for Davis, he hasn’t bounced back this season, as he’s only fourth on the 49ers in targets. Even though he hasn’t played well this year, the crazy thing is that his 53.3% catch rate is higher than Daniels’s, as is his 7.3 yards per target. Because he’s been so disappointing over the past two seasons, it’s easy to forget that in 2013, Davis was one of the NFL’s most effective tight ends with a loud 52/850/13 line and 16.5 yards per reception.

Oct 11, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) throws a pass under pressure by Oakland Raiders defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. (97) at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Davis is 31 and is also on the decline, but the Broncos only need a short-term fix for this season as Super Bowl contenders, and the 49ers TE only has one year left on his deal. Trading for him would require no commitment, and the upside of having this deal work out is massive. After seeing Michael Crabtree succeed for the rival Oakland Raiders this year following his poor season with the Niners in 2014, it’s easy to wonder if Davis’s struggles will also subside if he changes scenery; it’s becoming hard to trust the 49ers organization with anything at this point.

The Broncos have clearly missed Orange Julius more than we could have imagined, and I wonder if Davis is the type of athletic, explosive, red zone threat who could make things happen. I guess it’s always sexy to envision a big-name skill position player boosting a Super Bowl contender’s sagging offense, and there’s reason to worry that acquiring Davis would do nothing for this offense, because, again, he looked done last year and might no longer be “explosive”.

Sep 14, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis (85) walks onto the field before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Levi

Even so, he almost has to be an upgrade over Daniels, and that goes for both his work in the passing and running game. See, the Broncos could also use an injection of run blocking work, and Davis has graded positively for his run blocking this season from PFF.

31-year-old tight ends are rarely high-upside additions, but I think that would be the case for the Broncos.

He would give Manning a credible option at TE that he desperately needs, and there’s always a chance he bounces back on a team with a quarterback that can actually read through progressions (even if he can’t get the deep ball going anymore).

Davis’s catch radius could also be a big boon, so I think adding a potential marquee TE to the Broncos offense could be an important fix that must at least be explored by a team that has to be all-in on a Super Bowl.

Next: Are both Sanders and Thomas top-ten wide receivers?

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