Broncos analysis: Hardening defensive middle with ILB Dre Greenlaw, S Talanoa Hufanga gives Denver chance vs. AFC’s elite QBs

Along the path to the Broncos’ first playoff berth in nearly a decade, a reality equal parts obvious and daunting came starkly into focus.

Ascending to true contender status in the AFC means tangling with a handful of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

Returning to the Super Bowl means, most likely, going through at least a couple of them in any given postseason.

Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert reside in the division and will for years to come. The Broncos in 2024 also saw Lamar Jackson’s greatness on full display in Baltimore, Joe Burrow’s best in Cincinnati and Josh Allen’s mastery in Buffalo during the Wild Card round.

None of it came as a surprise, of course. These aren’t quarterbacks just coming on to the scene. They’ve been there, done that.

When you’re actually in the mix, however, as the Broncos finally are again, the stakes become all the more real.

So for as much as the offseason conversation surrounding Sean Payton and George Paton’s team so far has been about where Bo Nix can go in Year 2, outfitting him with the weapons to help in that pursuit and identifying a “Joker,” that’s really only part of the to-do list this spring.

On the first day of the NFL’s free agency negotiating window, Denver jumped to address the other part: Hardening a too-soft middle to a defense that is elite on the perimeter and high-quality overall.

They did so by agreeing to terms Monday on three-year deals for inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga to go along with the three years dished to returning defensive tackle D.J. Jones late Sunday night. The deals for Greenlaw and Hufanga can’t be formally acknowledged by Denver until the start of the league year Wednesday, but multiple sources confirmed each and Hufanga’s agency touted his new home on the Front Range.

He and Greenlaw will be tasked with elevating Vance Joseph’s defense from very good to great.

Being merely very good in this conference still means being susceptible to Jackson hanging 41 points on other-worldly efficiency or Herbert pushing your playoff hopes to the brink by making throws only a handful of people on the planet can make.

It means fighting tooth and nail against Burrow in December and still surrendering 412 passing yards and 30 points in an overtime loss. It means hanging tough but not nearly tough enough against Allen on his home turf in the postseason.

In order to overcome any of that, let alone all of it, the Broncos will hope Nix rises to the upper echelon of NFL quarterback play.

Payton and general manager George Paton understood, however, that they also had to hold up better against the fleet of AFC quarterbacks already occupying that realm.

They showed Monday they are serious about that, double-dipping on former San Francisco 49ers standouts after giving Jones a raise.

The result: One middle-of-the-field player for each level of the defense.

Real money, although none of it top of the market, for each man.

Up to $39 million for Jones on the defensive line. Up to $34 million for Greenlaw on the second level and up to $45 million for Hufanga on the back end.

Jones’ return, of course, helps maintain continuity on a defensive front that was among the NFL’s most disruptive.

Greenlaw and Hufanga, though, must bring a new element to the heart of Joseph’s defense.

This was a group among the NFL’s elite when they could play man coverage, relying on Pat Surtain II to erase top-flight receivers and a disruptive pass-rush to rattle opposing quarterbacks.

Joseph ran into trouble, however, when he had to rely on his linebackers and safeties to cover too much, especially in zone.

He called Baltimore’s 41-point November explosion “a different type of game for us,” afterward and acknowledged, “when teams are maxing you up (in protection) and running two- or three-man routes, you’re forced to play coverage, right? That’s the way you go with that. With some of our coverages, we weren’t exact enough.”

Payton was even more peeved after Herbert carved the middle of the Broncos’ defense in Week 17.

“Some of it is really basic route principles,” he steamed afterward. “Underneath coverage. Busts. When you play a good quarterback like that you can’t make it easy on him. You get into a bunch look and you have a route distribution of a shallow or vertical — you have to be able to match that distribution. We didn’t do a good enough job several times by dropping coverage.”