With the Denver Broncos roster being whittled down to 53 players as the regular season quickly approaches, this is still a roster with as many questions as answers. One area on the depth chart with a lot of uncertainty is the safety position.

After years of stability with Kareem Jackson and Justin Simmons as the starters, Denver now has a handful of relative unknowns set to protect the back end of the defense. Across the league, the safety position appears to have been greatly devalued, as evidenced by how long it took Simmons to sign with a new team, and for how little money-wise.

Outside of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers retaining Antoine Winfield Jr., there were more expensive safeties cut this offseason than signing new big contracts. The Broncos did “reload” at safety after moving on from Simmons by signing 26-year-old Brandon Jones to a three-year, $20 million contract. Still, overall Denver went young and inexperienced at the safety position.

Unfortunately, Jones missed almost the entirety of training camp and preseason with a hamstring issue. He did go through pre-game in the preseason finale, and we heard that he “feels great,” but after Jones, the assortment of P.J. Locke, JL Skinner, Devon Key, and Keidron Smith are more or less unproven.

Given the devaluation of the safety market and the Broncos’ obvious questions at the safety position, perhaps the front office might work the phones to look for an additional option. At least, that’s what Bleacher Report‘s Alex Kay thinks, as he urged the Broncos to pursue a trade with the Atlanta Falcons for starting safety and former second-round pick Richie Grant.  

“The Broncos could make a run at Richie Grant to shore this weak point up. Grant, a second-round pick in 2021, has spent the last two seasons starting for the Atlanta Falcons but may soon be relegated to the bench following the emergence of DeMarcco Hellams. With Jessie Bates III also locked in as a surefire top safety for the Falcons, Grant could be expendable.

“Given Grant’s cheap, expiring contract—he’s only owed a shade over $3 million in base salary on the final year of his rookie deal—and age (26), this move works as both a budget one-year rental and potential tryout for a new deal this coming spring,” Kay wrote.

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The Broncos are obviously a team in transition with financial constraints following the Russell Wilson release, but Kay argues the Broncos “should be on the lookout for serviceable talent at a cheap cost who can help this rebuilding squad contend again.” Specifically, the secondary, outside of superstar cornerback Patrick Surtain II, could use further fortification for the 2024 season.

Denver could address the cornerback opposite Surtain, especially now that Damarri Mathis is set to miss some time. However, cornerback is a more expensive position with fewer options. Riley Moss is auditioning now for a long-term spot, but Kay believes that “the most concerning is at the safety spot, where Brandon Jones and P.J. Locke are projected to start and little of note in terms of depth behind them.”

Would the Broncos look to make a move at safety? For the cost projected from Kay, acquiring Grant for a 2025 sixth-round selection, there is little risk in adding someone with so much starting experience to the back end of the defense, given the uncertainty of the position. There is also something poetic about Denver adding Grant, who lost his starting spot in Atlanta due to the Falcons signing Simmons.

Grant has been hit or miss during his time in Atlanta but has accumulated 2,338 defensive snaps during his three years in the league. Grant would likely compete with Locke for the starting spot opposite Jones. Grant would also provide insurance should Jones’ hamstring injury do what many hamstring injuries tend to do and linger.

The Broncos could be on the lookout for a number of positions to add to the roster before Week 1’s bout in Seattle. Linebacker, tight end, offensive line depth, and safety seem the most likely spots Denver may peruse outside of its initial roster. If Grant were available for such a cheap cost and the Broncos’ brass assessed the contract as acceptable, the trade would make some semblance of sense.

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Denver’s nonstop international flights will increase this winter and Denver International Airport officials anticipate global connections will push DIA’s annual traffic above 100 million passengers sooner than expected with a projected record-high 82 million passengers this year.

The new flights will carry travelers to Mexico, France and Iceland.

They build on the launch earlier this year of a 13-hour nonstop flight from Denver to Istanbul, Turkey. DIA officials have prioritized the expansion of international flights and they’re exploring more routes, including one linking Denver with Ethiopia, increased flights to Japan, and a nonstop flight to Amsterdam.

International air travel increased by 17.2% during the first half of 2024 compared with 2023, a factor in the overall increase from 77 million passengers in 2023 to a projected 82 million, DIA chief executive Phil Washington told city council members this month. A monthly record 7.6 million passengers boarded planes at DIA in June. “We think we might break the June record around the Labor Day time frame,” Washington said.

DIA officials have been planning on 100 million passengers a year as soon as 2027. The airport was built to accommodate 50 million. Current construction includes the installation of an expanded, 17-lane security checkpoint.

Starting this winter, DIA  will offer 14% more flights to European destinations.

Here’s the expanded service travelers will see, according to information provided by DIA communications manager Michael Konopasek:

— Air France nonstop flights to Paris. The summer seasonal service will expand to year-round service with flights three days a week between November and March

— Icelandair nonstop flights to Reykjavik. Icelandair Air will run flights on four days a week from January through mid-February, then ramp up to five days a week through the end of winter, increasing to as many as 11 flights a week during peak summer months. In recent years, Icelandair didn’t run flights between early January and late March.

— Aeromexico will add a flight to Monterrey, Mexico starting on Dec. 21 (one day a week on Saturdays through mid-April). This adds to the Viva Aerobus nonstop service between Denver and Monterrey.

“It’s a big deal,” Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce president J.J. Ament said. The new flights “show that we continue to emerge as a place where you can do business around the world, taking advantage of Colorado’s highly-trained workforce and deploying it globally,” Ament said.

“The airlines wouldn’t be doing this if the routes were not performing economically. And it is a testament to the vision our airport officials have for the future.”

DIA is the third busiest airport in the United States and the sixth-busiest in the world, with passenger numbers increasing from 69 million in 2019, according to the latest data from the Airports Council International.

Originally Published: August 28, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.