Which veteran player should the Broncos trade first to start a rebuilding process?

Kiz: Let the rebuilding begin. Yes, there are players in the locker room and die-hard fans in the stands clinging to the belief these Broncos are tantalizingly close to playing winning football. But, in the NFL, the record tells the truth. The Broncos are saddled with an eight-game losing streak, dating to last season. That’s the definition of bad football. General manager John Elway needs to start playing for 2020. Which veteran player should he trade first? O’Halloran: Only the Broncos’ 11-game skid bridging the 1963-64 seasons is longer than the current eight-game skid. Team building in the NFL should be all about winning the division, and look at the Broncos — already four games back of Kansas City and two behind the Raiders and Chargers. Why not start calling around to see if an additional Day 3 pick can be acquired? The first player would be receiver Emmanuel Sanders. The Broncos have decent depth to withstand the loss of Sanders and, because he’s been productive this year and is on an expiring contract, a team may be willing to give up a fourth-round pick.

I get the sense there’s a destructive dynamic beginning to fester on this team. In Chris Harris, Emmanuel Sanders, Derek Wolfe and Von Miller, veterans of Super Bowl 50 know they have the right stuff to be champions. But they look around the locker room and see young teammates either too inexperienced or not talented enough to play winning football. It has created a rift between the old champs and the new chumps. For new coach Vic Fangio to have any chance of success down the road, why not trade an aging star for future draft picks?

Fangio has a crisis on the field (his team can’t win) and an emerging crisis in the locker room (old guys vs. young pups). Among the four veterans you mentioned, only Miller is under contract for 2020, so if you’re Harris, Sanders or Wolfe, it’s human nature to see 0-4 and wonder two things: 1. Is losing hurting my value? 2. Even if I want to stay with the Broncos, does Vic want me back? That can lead to all kinds of frustration and split the locker room. Kiz: The Broncos have so little quality depth on this roster that subtracting any significant piece from this defense will make it extremely difficult to win games the remainder of this season. But isn’t stockpiling quality draft picks the quickest way to rebuild? So before the Oct. 29 trade deadline, I would start the process by discovering if Harris could bring Denver a future first-round pick from a championship contender willing to sign a quality corner to a long-term contract.

Harris would have value, but trading him would have a negative impact on the defense (who’s left to cover?). I would expect the Broncos to tread more carefully because of that. But you raise an interesting point about Harris/long-term contract. If the Broncos trade Harris, the deal should include a conditional pick (I’d say a Day 2 selection) that goes to the Broncos if Harris signs with his new team. The other thing about the lack of quality depth — does Elway poke around to see if a draft pick and a current player (to help this year) would be doable for Harris? That should be a part of his strategy.