Over the last eight years, the Broncos have played every type of football except for competent.
It is easy to predict their 2024 performance as a work in progress. They will lose more than they win. Just like the new team headquarters they will break ground on Thursday, the Broncos are under construction.
They are rebuilding. Just don’t tell them.
“We have gotta win football games. We are trying to win now. If a player or a coach stood up here and told you they are rebuilding they would probably be full of (crap),” linebacker Alex Singleton said. “That would suck. I am 30. I would be very disappointed.”
Part of the charm of the NFL is that it offers no excuses. I see a roster that deserves reframed expectations and patience. At Dove Valley, I am on an island with Gilligan.
So buckle up Broncos Country. Start Bo-lieving. This team doesn’t want your patronizing pats on the head.
“A lot of people are not talking about us. And to be honest we don’t care. When Sept. 8 hits and the ball is snapped in Seattle, we are coming. We are going to hit you in the mouth. We are going to play physical. We are going to do our thing,” tight end Lucas Krull said. “We are going to do it for each other. There is nothing selfish about this team.”
There is also very little about this roster that suggests the Broncos are ready to move up in weight class and stare down the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens or Cincinnati Bengals. I am on record loving their direction of going young.
Want to sacrifice the season for the development of Bo Nix? Go for it. That is how I will measure success in January: Does Nix look like a franchise quarterback?
I am giving them an out. They want in. So does Broncos Country. No team has more “over” bets than the Broncos, who remain projected at 5.5 wins in most sportsbooks. They are flooding in at nine overs for everyone under.
They love Nix. They like Courtland Sutton and Javonte Williams and the attacking defense. They close their eyes and see several players going from unknown to unreal. It’s August. Optimism is intoxicating.
Then comes September and reality clobbers the Broncos over the head. And there’s nothing wrong with that given that Denver is now the 10th youngest team in the NFL at 25.76 years old, per the Philly Voice.
“In a sense it’s rebuilding (because the roster is so different),” allowed Williams, the starting running back. “But as far as losing a lot of games rebuilding, I definitely wouldn’t say that.”
The Los Angeles Rams gave the draft a middle finger for years, moved on from Von Miller and Jalen Ramsey, and reached the playoffs in 2023. Tampa Bay lost Tom Brady to retirement and picked up Baker Mayfield from the salvage yard — and returned to the postseason. The Houston Texans went from embarrassment to a sexy Super Bowl pick.
I believe the Broncos are in transition. They are not buying it. Coach Sean Payton has never won fewer than seven games in a season, and doesn’t seem resigned to ending the streak at 16 years.
“I am never one to make predictions at the start of a season,” said Payton, though he did project the Broncos as a playoff team last July. “I think it’s about playing well early. What does that mean? We can’t get off to the (1-5) start we did a year ago and dig ourselves a hole. I think that’s important. The leadership is ever-evolving because there have been a number of former captains who were here that aren’t anymore. … There’s a prove’em wrong mindset.”
The Broncos walk out of the locker room and they see a perfectly manicured field. I see a perfectly assembled crib. Look at the depth chart at running back and receiver. There are nine players listed. Six are either rookies or are in their second season.
The longest-tenured Bronco is Garett Bolles, who is entering his eighth season. Next is Sutton.
No wonder Singleton joked that Nix acts like he’s 30. He wants him to be.
“We were in the same high school class,” he said.
Nix is a weathered 24, having played with five different play-callers in five college seasons. His ability to process information from early in training camp is a big reason players don’t see the Broncos as rebooting or tanking. There’s a quiet confidence that if he can play closer to C.J. Stroud than Bryce Young, then the Broncos will remain in contention.
This is not a standard I hold him to. Show progress. Finish strong. That’s all I am asking after the last eight years of being catfished by a carousel of underwhelming quarterbacks.
Upgrading from disappointing to encouraging represents improvement for an organization that has been fighting delusion for entirely too long.
Accept the grace. Allow for the courtesy clunkers that are on the way. There’s nothing wrong with ambition. But it seems misguided if it is not pointing at next season as the season.
This state, this region, exhales in and out with the Broncos’ results every Sunday.
I believe it’s OK for all of us to take a breath, and give this painting time to dry.
The Broncos don’t want an extension.
“When I hear the word ‘young,’ I think of going out there and playing free,” Williams said. “You bring it every day and you might inspire someone else to go even harder.”
So, it is, the Broncos will not fall for age-old logic. They insist they can flip the script. Their lack of experience is not an excuse, but rather a reason they can win.
Alrighty, then.
“It is a young man’s game,” Payton said. “It really is.”
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