Bob Sanders is gone, not like he was doing anything of late. Melvin Bullitt, however, is also a free agent so if they can’t resign him, they’ll need to find another veteran option. 

Guard

If they move Ben Ijalana to guard, they need a right tackle. If he plays right tackle, they’ll need a guard. 

Wide Receiver

Anthony Gonzalez and Austin Collie can’t stay healthy. They need to sign someone through free agency in case either get cut in the preseason. 

Running Back 

Joseph Addai is probably going to resign, but if he doesn’t, they’ll really be thin at the running back position. They couldn’t run without Addai last year and there’s no guarantee that rookie Delone Carter can be any different.

Draft Needs 

Offensive Tackle

You might be thinking, Peyton Manning only got sacked 16 times, his line did a great job. That’s just because he’s Peyton Manning. He doesn’t get sacked. He always gets rid of the ball right before the hit comes. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have to get the ball out faster than ever before last year, mostly due to Charlie Johnson, now a free agent, struggling at left tackle. In fact, if you go back and watch his picks against the Chargers, Patriots, Cowboys, etc. his arm gets hit on every one of them. A new left tackle could be added at 22 in the form of either Anthony Costanzo or Nate Solder, both of whom would be excellent fits for their scheme. They could also use some right tackle competition for Ryan Diem, who struggled last year as well.

Drafted Anthony Castonzo (#22), Drafted Benjamin Ijalana (#49) 

Running Back

For a while, Peyton Manning looked destined to break Drew Bledsoe’s record for most pass attempts in a season. He was on pace for about 700+ passes before Joseph Addai came back, just because they could not run the ball. Addai’s a pretty mediocre back himself, but he’s better than what they had without him. Both Mike Hart and Donald Brown suck, both at running and pass protection. I know they used a 1^st rounder on Brown just two years ago, but at the very least they should use a mid-late round selection on a running back because they can’t count on Addai to stay healthy.

Drafted Delone Carter (#119) 

Guard

Of course it would probably be easier to run if they had better guards. Their also struggled in pass protection, particularly Mike Pollak.

Defensive Tackle

They could stop the run all year before they magically were able to late in the season. Daniel Muir isn’t very good so they could use a mid rounder on a replacement. They ranked 25^th against the run.

Drafted Drake Nevis (#87) 

Wide Receiver

The reason they lost to the Jets this year was the same reason they beat them last year, receiver depth. Last year, they had plenty, this year, they didn’t. Austin Collie suffered a ton of concussions last year so his career has to be in jeopardy, especially if he were to suffer one more. Reggie Wayne made the Pro Bowl, but also was one of the league leaders in drops. He turns 33 in November. Pierre Garcon is athletic, but also drops too many passes. Blair White had a decent rookie year, but doesn’t seem like anything special. Anthony Gonzalez can’t stay healthy. They need another receiver in the mix.

Center

Jeff Saturday turns 36 in June and I don’t think his replacement is on the roster. It’s best to bring in his replacement now so he has a lot of time to get familiar with Peyton Manning in practice.

Quarterback

Peyton Manning will be 35 in March and from what little I saw of Curtis Painter in 2009, I know they don’t want the future of the team in his hands. Maybe this is the year they draft his future replacement. Brett Favre was less than a year older than Manning will be on draft day when the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers in 2005.