The Denver Broncos have a lot of questions after Week 3 of the NFL season and so does Broncos Country. Is Tyler Badie in line to push Javonte Williams out of the starting lineup, or will Sean Payton stay the course after the team secured their first win of the season? We’ll answer these on today’s mailbag series.
Denver Broncos Mailbag Series: Week 3
If you want to be involved with our weekly mailbag series, please stay tuned to prompts on my social media @CodyRoarkNFL on Threads or the circus show that used to be Twitter. You can also email your questions to cody@milehighsports.com.
Do you think Denver might make Tyler Badie the RB1? – Darius on Twitter.
This is a great question. Tyler Badie has been the most consistent and impressive running back on this team all offseason long. I was shocked he didn’t make the 53-man roster, but I understand the personnel gymnastics Sean Payton had to play to get this roster and depth in place. With that said, I firmly believe Payton needs to ride the hot hand and that would mean Badie getting the first reps at the position. He’s demonstrated good vision and explosiveness and can contribute out of the backfield in the passing game. Javonte Williams has struggled mightily this season and his 2.2 yards per attempt is becoming detrimental to Denver’s offense. Perhaps Williams production might improve if he comes in as a rotational back as opposed to the primary back, but so much of that right now is up in the air.
I don’t think it will happen, nor would I want it to happen, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Denver moved on during the season if Williams struggles continue. Badie’s got the hot hand right now and deserves more looks, but how he gets to the 53-man roster is the biggest question right now.
When could we see Javonte get 12-18 carries a game and why has it not happened yet? – Junior Gee on Twitter.
I think right now it would be hard to justify that many carries for Javonte considering his yard per carry production. He’s struggled to get going, despite losing 11 pounds this offseason and looking more explosive. For some reason, it has not translated into the regular season. It doesn’t help that he’s seeing eight or more defenders in the box on 54.17% of his snaps, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
I liked how Payton involved Javonte in the passing game on the outside this past week, where most defenses would view him as a decoy. Bo Nix fired a shot to him for a quick seven-yard gain inside the red zone. I don’t think we’ll see him get that many carries, though, until he starts generating some chunk plays.
What are the adjustments you see that Vance Joseph does to put his players in positions to succeed? – Andrew Livingston on Twitter.
It’s hard to quantify the amount of in-game adjustments Joseph makes because most coordinators don’t get much time at halftime to go in and make widespread changes. I think this year specifically, Denver’s defense seems to communicate more effectively than they did last season. Against the Buccaneers, they covered over the top and inside to limit Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and that was helped set up by the front seven staying home and the edge players keeping contain, but on the film you actively see players communicating presnap and even during plays. He’s also been strategic with how he’s blitzing opposing quarterbacks, and their personnel have done a good job of disguising before the snap. On top of that, the defense is entirely bought in, and with the emergence of Riley Moss at cornerback, the defense has an entirely different mentality to them from top to bottom.
With as many teams that are having QB problems/injuries around the league, is there interest in any of Denver’s backups and who would they prefer to move? – Eddie Crowder on Twitter.
It’s certainly worth monitoring. The Miami Dolphins have become the most intriguing team to watch with their quarterback situation. Tua Tagovailoa is on IR for a lengthy amount of time and he shouldn’t rush back. Zach Wilson would be an ideal candidate, but the general vibe I have right now is that Payton is content with having three QBs. As the trade deadline gets closer, we could very well see a move happen with he or Jarrett Stidham, but I don’t expect anything to take place unless the offer was too good to pass up. The number of injuries we’ve seen already league-wide has been problematic, and if the QB position gets impacted anymore, the phone could ring for Wilson or Stidham.
What was in the water or anything else that got into the Broncos against Tampa Bay on Sunday – Ed Helinski on Twitter.
Honestly Ed, the locker room buckled down all last week after the 0-2 start. Being in the locker room after they lost to the Steelers, it was dead quiet, players were pissed. Players like Alex Singleton and Riley Moss talked about how it’s important for them to put their heads down and get back to work, and they did that last week. To open up Sunday’s game by taking the ball, which is something we don’t normally see Payton do, and march downfield on their opening possession gave them confidence. What we saw on Sunday was the team I saw during training camp and the preseason, and I’m hopeful that team sticks around.
Will the offense hold up without a game script? – Jamanne33 on Twitter.
They did on Sunday. Each week, coaches will script around 12-15 plays for their opening two series, but everything after that is normally based on the ebb and flow of what’s happening on the field. I thought Payton, Bo Nix, and the offense did a great job after getting through their scripted plays to start the game, because there was rhythm and efficiency across the board. It won’t always be that way on a consistent basis, but as long as the decision-making process is clean from Nix, they’ll have a chance to make plays sustainably throughout a game.
How does the Broncos offense get the ball rolling against a tough New York Jets defense? – Steven on Twitter.
That’s a great question and will be a challenge for sure. The Jets’ defense stingy and they play sideline to sideline with speed and discipline. Nix can’t be afraid to test Sauce Gardner and other defensive backs, but the quick passing game and a solid run game will help. Payton has to come out again and open things up for Nix and the rest of the offense. In my opinion, it starts with the run game and will boil down to once again being more efficient on first and second down situations on Sunday.
It seemed like Tampa came out in single-high and dared Denver to throw the ball. Later in the game, I feel like I saw more two-high looks. Curious what you saw and if our run game opened up once Tampa had to respect the pass. – Brad Winter on Twitter.
Mel Kiper is out there somehow screaming at the clouds about two-high safeties! Great question, Brad. Early on, I did see a lot of single high looks from the Bucs defense with the corners playing man often to the single receiver side, and zone to the multi-receiver side. They definitely dared Nix to throw the ball and he did, but I think him operating with a clean pocket and a quick passing game that was focused on attacking downfield put them in a tough position. I think the run game got going partially because of that, but Badie’s vision was impressive, and he hit the holes downhill and was decisive about where he was going. Tampa tried to keep everything in front of them, but they really had no answer because they couldn’t pressure Nix consistently enough.
Do you think Sean Payton has someone identified in case Vance Joseph gets picked up by another team this offseason? – DeviantAlaskan on Twitter.
I think that person on the Broncos staff is Jim Leonhard. He’s been in charge of Denver’s passing game emphasis defensively and has a vast knowledge of how to call a defense, even though he has yet to do so in the NFL. Joseph has done a terrific job with the defense this season and has them playing at a high level, to the point I think he does draw some potential head coach interest next hiring cycle. It would be wise for Payton to have a contingency plan in place if that were to happen, and I think that plan would be Leonhard.
Who do you think is on the trade block by the deadline? – CJStudio24 on Twitter.
Good question. Right now, it’s hard to really envision who or what that would look like, but the first guess would be that of one of the two backup quarterbacks on the roster. Whether that’s Jarrett Stidham or Zach Wilson, either of them would likely be the top two options to be dealt at the deadline. I could also see Javonte Williams potentially end up on the trade block or Garett Bolles at the deadline, which would likely require the team that’s trading for him to give him a new extension. I think Denver preserves a lot of their defensive talent and stands pat for the most part.