Broncos aim to not be caught short up front against run

The Broncos defensive line needed help. And it still might need plenty of it.

Monday, they added Angelo Blackson to a group they fortified a month ago with the signing of former Saints defensive lineman Malcolm Roach. Blackson isn’t in Roach’s caliber as a run defender, but based on the data of the 2023 season, few were.

But another log on the fire up front is the Broncos’ interest in defensive linemen. Later this week, the Broncos will interview massive Texas standout T’Vondre Sweat this week, as first reported by NFL Network.

Sweat will have plenty for which to answer — beyond his work on the field. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Travis County, Texas earlier the smonth. There were already questions about Sweat’s size — at a checking in at a mammoth 366 pounds.”>mammoth 366 pounds, is he too big to hold up to the physical rigors to be placed on his joints as he reaches the next level? It’s fair to be skeptical, as the injury rates for players of that size aren’t promising, and it’s likely he would be a situational player only.

But Sweat isn’t the only player at which the Broncos are looking up front. To that end, the Broncos held a formal interview Florida State’s Fabian Lovett at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Lovett doesn’t come with Sweat’s pedigree — or frame, for that matter. Lovett carries 314 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame. Meanwhile, Sweat has a half-inch on Lovett — and 52 pounds.

The Broncos need run defense help. To that end, they had a formal interview with Florida State DL Fabien Lovett on Monday.

“I liked how they came off. I like their energy. I think they liked me; I’m not really sure. But I enjoyed it. I like them as a team,” Lovett said. pic.twitter.com/BY1pwiW6gB

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) February 28, 2024

That doesn’t mean Lovett can’t have an impact in the precise area in which the Broncos were lacking last year: run defense.

“I liked how they came off. I like their energy. I think they liked me; I’m not really sure. But I enjoyed it. I like them as a team,” Lovett said at the Combine.

Lovett was a one-man wrecking crew of run plays during his work at East-West Shrine Bowl practices in January.

“I was kind of getting into the groove,” Lovett said at the Combine. ““I was just trying to get used to stepping forward and attacking more. At Florida State, I wouldn’t say that we don’t attack, but it was more of a lateral step and more of trying to mirror the guy.”

The Broncos have added to their defensive line room this spring. Blackson provides depth. Roach is proven and could start. And the expected return of 2022 fourth-round pick Enyi Uwazurike from a gambling suspension gives the Broncos a chance to re-start the clock on a player who had some promise as a pass rusher in brief spurts during the rookie season before he served his suspension.

They’ve already done work to try and repair a run defense that was among the league’s worst across the board. Even if you take their best and worst performances out of the equation — and do so with every team — the Broncos ranked 29th in rushing defense. That proves that their woes weren’t just about one Week 3 debacle in Miami.

The run defense and defensive interior needed restoration work. So far this offseason, it has received it.

The smart money says the Broncos’ reconstruction of the run defense is not done.