Half of Denver Broncos Starters Played for Other Teams, Most for Super Bowl Team Since 2002 Raiders

The Denver Broncos have eleven starters, among the position players, who have played for another franchise at some point in their career. That is distinctly different from the Super Bowl participants of the last decade, where we saw organizations like the Colts, Steelers, and Packers make runs with teams largely built with home-grown talent, with only a few key free agents. Carolina isn’t far behind, with 9 starters who had previously played for another franchise.

Denver has three first round picks who have been with the franchise their whole career and are starting: Von Miller, Demaryius Thomas, and Sylvester Williams.

The players that have been added as free agents or by trade are as follows:

• QB Peyton Manning, age 39, signed before 2012 season (Colts);
• LB Brandon Marshall, age 26, signed before 2012 season (Jaguars);
• G Louis Vasquez, age 28, signed before 2013 season (Chargers);
• CB Aqib Talib, age 29, signed before 2014 season (Patriots)
• S T.J. Ward, age 29, signed before 2014 season (Browns)
• WR Emmanuel Sanders, 28, signed before 2014 season (Steelers);
• DE DeMarcus Ware, age 33, signed before 2014 season (Cowboys);
• TE Owen Daniels, age 33, signed before this season (Ravens);
• G Evan Mathis, age 34, signed before this season (Eagles);
• T Ryan Harris, age 30, signed before this season (Chiefs–Harris was originally drafted by Denver);
• S Darian Stewart, age 27, signed before this season (Ravens)

That is the most players who have played for other teams, before appearing in a Super Bowl, since the 2002 Raiders had 12.

Here’s a summary of the Super Bowl participants back to 1990 with the fewest starters who had played for other teams:

And the most …

[photo via USA Today Sports Images]