The Broncos will be without one of their starting safeties against the Ravens.

No biggie. The safety position is never a factor when Denver plays Baltimore, right?

Thanks to T.J. Ward, Denver will open its season with only one safety who started a game for the Broncos last season — David Bruton. Darian Stewart (14 starts for Baltimore), Omar Bolden (zero), Josh Bush (zero) did not. Bruton started a single game. Ward is bummed he doesn’t have Tom Brady’s last name, but his (Ward’s, not Brady’s) strip-club odyssey sure put the Broncos in a tight spot.

Most important, when will the Broncos’ free-agent binge of 2014 begin to pay off?

Ward can blame the NFL all he wants for his own failures, but his one-game suspension is a significant blow to the Broncos defense. It also underscores how the Broncos haven’t enjoyed a notable return on the big-money signings of Ward, Aqib Talib and DeMarcus Ware. Fair or not, the lasting memory of Talib’s first season with the Broncos will be T.Y. Hilton conning Talib into a pair of penalties in the playoff loss to the Colts. Ware had one sack over the final seven games, and it didn’t come against the Colts. 

Now Ward’s knucklheadedness casts another shadow on Denver’s free-agent boom of 2014. Or is it free-agent bust of 2014? The three biggest names in that haul — Talib, Ware and Ward — haven’t lived up to their own billing: “Brutal nasty.” 

Maybe a shift to Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defense is just the boost they needed. Maybe Talib continues his outstanding play from the preseason (I counted four interceptions in training camp alone); maybe Ware benefits from Von Miller’s tornadic start (Vonnie Football has been a sight to behold); maybe Ward will use the suspension as fuel for the fire, or whatever is his chosen cliche.

But so far the best free-agent signing of 2014 has been the name we weren’t talking about but should have been: Emmanuel Sanders.

Without Ward, here’s a hunch Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco goes deep, early and often, and fantasy football enthusiasts should introduce themselves to Ravens tight end Crockett Gillmore, the former CSU stud.

“I think that we’re going to end up playing a lot of people (at safety),” head coach Gary Kubiak said today at Dove Valley.

The idea that Kubiak is playing for January, not September, was evident again as he discussed Ward’s suspension.

“I think that you’re going to see us, defensively and offensively, have a lot of guys on the field,” Kubiak said. “I think that’s very important early in the NFL season.”

When the Broncos set their 53-man roster, Bruton stood tall — again. He keeps hanging around. The 2009 draft pick is their longest-tenured player, first making his mark on special teams, then showing coaches he can play a little safety, too. 

Other fun facts from the 2015 Broncos: Tallest player is Brock Osweiler (6-foot-8); Shortest, C.J. Anderson (5-8); Heaviest, Louis Vasquez (335 pounds, or Terrance Knighton after three weeks of training camp); Lightest, Emmanuel Sanders/Jordan Norwood (180); Oldest, Peyton Manning (39 years, 3 months, 12 days); Youngest, Lorenzo Doss (21 years, 4 months, 16 days). 

But if the Broncos are going to become the elite defense I think they can be, it’s up to the three guys that broke the bank in March 2014. When John Elway lured the defensive triumvirate out of the free agency pool after the 2013 season, Denver’s scoring defense jumped from 22nd (24.9 points per game) to 17th (22.1) — from bottom third to middle-of-the-pack in the NFL. And that’s more like a hop than a jump.

Looks like $60 million in guaranteed money doesn’t buy what it used to.

Phillips, the wily defensive coordinator, was their most important acquisiton of the 2015 offseason. Now will Denver’s splashy acquisitions from 2014 perform up to their paychecks?

Twitter: @bypaulklee