A common theme every year around NFL training camps is the newly acquired veteran.
He will say the new situation — city, club, teammates, coaches, organization — is liberating. He will spend energy trying to convince observers he has plenty of football left. And he will stress how a fresh start is exactly what was required.
But then there is new Broncos defensive end Jurrell Casey.
“I haven’t had a bad season yet,” he said. “I don’t plan on having one now.”
Memo to the Tennessee Titans, who felt Casey’s $11.87 million cap hit was untenable so they flipped him to the Broncos in March for a seventh-round pick: Beware of No. 99 when the teams kick the season off Monday night.
Casey is motivated to show his run of five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances isn’t ending this year and he’s driven to return to the playoffs after reaching last year’s AFC title game. But Casey said he’s not driven to show the Titans they erred in trading him.
“What happened in Tennessee is in the past,” he said. “I’m ready to get going with the Broncos and go on a run for a championship season.”
But …
“The first game is going to be hyped,” he said. “You’re going to see me out there making a ton of plays.”
Casey said he didn’t need a new team to provide a mid-to-late career “lift.” The Broncos, though, felt they did need a lift and acquired Casey to replace Derek Wolfe, who signed with the Baltimore Ravens. The Broncos’ offseason build was to add experience to their defense in the form of Casey and cornerback A.J. Bouye as well as fully embrace the youth movement on offense.
In one breath last week coach Vic Fangio said Casey is a “productive player,” and “makes plays,” and “plays with good savvy,” and is a “smart player.”
Suffice to say, Fangio is glad to have Casey, who he can play at defensive end on run downs or, after a break, put him on the field for a third-down pass rush.
“He’s been a good anchor vs. the run, yet flashes athletic movement when it comes to those types of plays where you need it,” Fangio said. “We were happy to get him. We think he’s still got some more left in him, too, to play at a high level.”
Casey has already done plenty at a high level; aside from injured outside linebacker Von Miller, he is probably the Broncos’ most accomplished player regardless of position. A third-round pick by Tennessee in 2011, Casey was one of the constants as the Titans churned through coaches (Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Mularkey and currently Mike Vrabel), quarterbacks (six leading passers in nine years) and stops and starts (five 9-7 seasons, but also consecutive years of 2-14 and 3-13 in 2014-15).
Through it all, Casey put up eye-popping statistics.
Durability, part 1: Casey has missed only five of a possible 144 regular-season/playoff games.
Durability, part 2: Casey played at least 70% of the Titans’ defensive snaps in 2013-15 and 2017-18.
Pass rusher: Casey had 10 1/2 sacks in 2013, the first of his current streak of seven consecutive years with at least five sacks.
Tackles: Casey has reached 50 tackles in seven of his nine years.
A dive into Casey’s tape from the Titans’ upset AFC divisional-round win at Baltimore showed his attributes.
Casey started the game slowly, factoring on only one of his first 14 snaps. But during a stretch of three possessions, Casey took over. He had a tackle and a pressure of quarterback Lamar Jackson. He had another pressure and also clogged up the line on a failed Ravens’ fourth-down play. And to wrap it up, he had a sack/forced fumble that was recovered by Tennessee.
“In the past, his speed and strength were always a match-up issue,” said a veteran NFL offensive assistant. “We never wanted to leave a guard or center alone against him in protection. (In 2019), he was still good but wasn’t as dominant in recent years. But he was still better than a lot of guards he faced.”
The key for Casey is that he doesn’t need to do everything on the Broncos’ defense. Mike Purcell will play nose tackle. Shelby Harris will start at the other defensive end spot. And Dre’Mont Jones is emerging in his second season. The proper course for the Broncos would be managing Casey’s playing time to maximize his effectiveness.
Casey will be ready to play any role required. As a veteran, he knows teams who get off to good starts tend to build on that instead of chasing the season. That’s what motivates him.
“Just because it’s the Titans across from me, I won’t approach the game any different,” he said. “I always have a mantra, ‘You have never played a bad season. You have never played a bad game.’ That’s my whole mindset going into this game.”
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