In order to help tide us over during this sporting dead period, the NFL released its All-Decade Team for the 2010s on Monday.
Two defensive players with Broncos ties, Chris Harris Jr. and Von Miller, made the All-Decade team, but no one from the offensive side of the ball or on special teams made the list.
Miller’s inclusion on the team should come as no surprise. Since entering the league as the second-overall pick in the 2011 draft, he recorded over 100 sacks, was named to eight Pro Bowls, was a three-time All-Pro and a Super Bowl MVP.
Miller sits 25th all-time in sacks for his work done in this decade, and his 106 sacks in the 2010s are 10 more than any other player recorded.
Chris Harris Jr.’s inclusion on the list as a defensive back is more surprising but just as well-deserved, considering how underrated he’s been throughout his career.
That puts Harris Jr. in an elite club of fewer than 20 undrafted players who made an all-decade team. The great news for Harris is that most of those players later made their way into the Hall of Fame. Harris made his gratitude for the placement clear on Twitter.
wow Undrafted to All Decade team – God is Amazing https://t.co/Y9z57s4IrD
— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisJr) April 6, 2020
The inclusions of Miller and Harris Jr. were fantastic, but the Broncos did have some players that were somewhat surprisingly left off.
Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers made the team ahead of Peyton Manning, which is a little surprising considering Manning’s historic run in the first half of the decade, but to be fair, he only played in six seasons in the 2010s, and only five of them were good.
Meanwhile, Demaryius Thomas’ numbers put him among this decade’s elite receivers, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who would take him over Antonio Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones and Calvin Johnson.