I wrote something similar yesterday, and want to say up front that this is in no way meant to imply that the Patriots are better off right now than Denver, and is not meant to imply that the Patriots do not have holes to be filled and upgraded.
But for some perspective, let's consider the current state of the Denver Bronco's roster:
WR: Decker is leaving and Welker is one high hit from involuntary retirement; as of this moment they would have Andre Caldwell out wide opposite D Thomas.
RB: Knowshon Moreno is an unrestricted free agent; that leaves Montee Ball (who has had pass protection issues), and Ronnie Hillman (who played his way on to the bench after being handed the starting role).
LG: With Zane Beadles departing to Jacksonville, who starts? Ben Garland? Ramon Harewood? Perhaps Chris Clark can make the transition from tackle to guard.
OL: Zero depth at both guard and center; none on the entire OL if Clark becomes the starting LG.
DE: Robert Ayers and Shaun Phillips are both free agents, and Derek Wolfe mysteriously collapsed last November.
OLB: Von Miller is not expected to be ready to start the season, who starts until then?
MLB: Who takes Wesley Woodyard's spot? As of this moment former Patriot Paris Lenon is the starter.
CB: Aqib Talib was signed, but he misses on average about 20-25% of the games every year. Chris Harris is coming back from a torn ACL suffered in January. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is a free agent and won't be back. That leaves Tony Carter to fill in outside if/when Talib and/or Harris is out.
PR/KR: Trindon Holiday was not tendered, so that's another position that needs to be replaced.
Granted, some of those positions (RB, PR, KR) are relatively minor issues, but I just wanted to add some perspective here. The Broncos had $27 million in cap space, but after signing Talib and Ward I'm guessing that is down to about $16 million. Figuring a minimum $7 million for rookies and emergency for use during the season, that leaves Denver with only $9 million in cap space for everything else.
There's not much on their roster that can free up cap space other than converting some salary to signing bonus for Ryan Clady, which could add about $4 million in space. Even with that, there's still not a lot of cap space to sign a starting ILB, G, DE, and additional needed depth. Season ending injuries are an unfortunate reality, not an exception. Denver was able to persevere last year because they had quality depth; I'm not seeing how they will be able to handle those inevitable injuries in 2014, especially if they do indeed sign DeMarcus Ware. That's a lot of holes to be counted on to fill from the number 31 spot in the draft.