Linebacker Shane Ray cleaned out his Broncos’ locker along with the memories of a lost season.

“New opportunities for me, new life and new possibilities,” Ray said. “I’m looking forward to all of that.”

Ray, a 2015 first-round pick, was a healthy scratch for the final three games and finished the year with only one sack and 10 tackles. He will enter free agency in March for the first time.

“I will be a starter the next place that I go,” Ray said. “That’s the kind of player that I am and that’s the type of player that I’ve been. Wherever I go next, they’ll want me and it will be time for me to do what I could have been doing. And I’ll be healthy. That will be a difference, too.”

Ray, who has had multiple wrist surgeries leading into this year, started 15 games over four seasons for the Broncos. The prospect of entering free agency has revitalized the 25-year-old edge rusher.

“You get to go and see which teams want you,” Ray said. “You get to go somewhere when the team doesn’t have a preconceived notion about you and get to be your own person. You get to just live and play football.”

Broncos to pick 10th. The NFL released its first-round draft order on Monday and slotted the Broncos No. 10 in the first round. They were one of four 6-10 teams, but tiebreakers put them behind Detroit and Buffalo and ahead of Cincinnati.

It is only the time third since 1992 that the Broncos have had a top-10 pick and the first time since 1972-73 they could pick in the top 10 in consecutive years.