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But he's full of it in the article. The Broncos didn't need a OWR1, because they had one. They didn't need an OWR2, because they had one. They didn't need a TE1, because they thought they had one in Thomas. The problem with Chatham's argument is that it's predicated on nothing beyond "They didn't go out and get what they already had". Unfortunately for that argument:
They needed a TE2 and a slot WR. They went out and got a TE2 that Manning was already familiar and comfortable with, in Tamme. They also went out and got the best slot WR in the game. Then, when Decker's deal was up, and he was going to be signed away to be a WR1 with WR1 money, they needed a replacement receiver. They went out and practically stole the guy they wanted. Sanders was literally in the office in K.C., getting ready to sign a contract, and the Broncos went at him hard enough to convince him to leave that place and sign with them.
Contrast that with NE. NE comes out looking exactly the way people have been painting things. NE tried to sign Sanders to a cheap offer sheet and failed. Then, when Sanders was on the market, they signed Lafell on the comparative cheap, instead, while Denver was the team that ponied up for Sanders. In other words, by choosing Denver, Chatham chose the worst possible comparison, and doomed his article from the start.
Gotta love Deus' revisionist history.
Joel Dreesen (March 23, 2012) and Jacob Tamme (March 29, 2012) were signed by the Broncos in 2012 to be the top 2 TEs for the team. Julius Thomas was the #3 TE for them. He caught ZERO passes in 2012. For you to claim that the Broncos thought they had a #1 TE in Thomas prior to them signing Dreesen and Tamme is an outright fabrication on your part. If Thomas hadn't shown up in 2013, he was a goner.
A 2.5M offer sheet isn't cheap. It was a 2nd round pick. It also forced the Steelers to make some contract changes to other players and push money into the future they didn't want to have to at the time.
Lafell (March 17th, 2014) was signed by the Patriots AFTER Sanders signed with Denver (March 16, 2014) . The Pats had tried to get him to NE before he went to KC and couldn't. Saying that they chose to sign Lafell over Sanders is another fabrication on your part.
Only your own ignorance and revisionist history dooms Chatham's article from the start. Maybe if you stopped making things up and went with reality, you'd be able to follow well written articles and sound intelligent to other people.