The Denver Broncos’ path to turning things around is more likely than most realize if the team can get the right quarterback under center. Has the Broncos ‘Moneyball approach this offseason helped create a foundation that makes this possible?
Denver Broncos path to turning it around more likely than most think
Quarterback isn’t going to be the one position that solves all of the Denver Broncos’ problems, but if they can get the right pick under center for the long term, their opportunities to turn things around are more likely than most realize.
Part of Sean Payton and George Paton’s approach this offseason has been to mitigate the financial impact of moving on from Russell Wilson, in a way that will best allow the team to build through free agency and the NFL Draft.
While Denver will eat nearly $53M of dead cap from Wilson’s contract this season, they are still in a good place to operate financially, sitting at nearly $18M in cap space, according to Spotrac.
While QB isn’t going to be the one position that solves everything, how can having the right player at the position help elevate the team?
Broncos building roster with future in focus
Eight years of agony and quarterback carousels have had Broncos Country tired of hype, hope, and what-ifs, but that’s what this business is. Every year, we see NFL teams go from being bottom-ranked to elevating up the ranks toward being competitive.
While the Broncos had various moments of poor showings last year, they also demonstrated the ability to be competitive against playoff teams, with five of their eight wins coming against teams who made the postseason.
Denver also lost a handful of games against bad teams that they should have won. It’s any given Sunday.
The Broncos took the Moneyball approach this offseason when they were forced to cut veteran safety Justin Simmons and eat a large portion of Wilson’s dead cap. While they didn’t go out and spend massively in free agency, Denver has several key players they feel will help them out as they look to turn things around.
Let’s take a look real quick at what the Houston Texans were able to accomplish this past season. C.J. Stroud unexpectedly helped lead the way for a Texans team under first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans that surpassed every and all expectations for them.
Nobody had the Texans in the playoff conversation after the NFL Draft that saw them take Stroud and Will Anderson Jr, but everybody asked the question — when will the Texans be a team to watch out for?
They rose to the occasion much earlier and have made a handful of off-season moves that have them primed to reign in that AFC South division for quite some time. How did they do it?
Stroud, however, helped elevate an offense with a hardly-existent rushing attack, finding ways to grow players’ values like Nico Collins and Tank Dell’s even further. Remember, Stroud didn’t look great in the preseason which caused a lot of people to already label him a bust in the moment on social media.
We saw what he did in the regular season, including to the Broncos.
For the past two years, the Texans haven’t gone out and spent massive amounts of money on free agents but instead invested in one and two-year deals for a handful of depth options and role players who excelled in their roles.
Denver’s taken a somewhat similar approach by maintaining players like Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Marvin Mims, adding an underrated wide receiver like Josh Reynolds into the mix, and bolstering their offensive line depth. If the Broncos can somehow add a quarterback that fits what they want to do, Denver’s window to turning things around could come quicker than most acknowledge.
While Denver’s defense got off to a horrible start last year and sputtered out at the end of the season, it’s hard to imagine that side of the ball is worse than it was in 2023, despite the departures of Josey Jewell and Justin Simmons.
Payton, Paton, and CEO Greg Penner have been open about Denver’s approach and vision toward getting back to competing and winning games. They feel that path is best achievable through smartly building in NFL free agency and nailing picks in the NFL Draft.
There is no crystal ball that says any of it will work, and often at times, fans tend to look at the outcome of the results as their main source of frustration without factoring in the process. The thought process on a variety of moves may be right, but sometimes the end results don’t match.
That’s all part of the game, but it doesn’t mean that Denver’s eulogy for 2024 should be written because past results didn’t work out. Look I get it, fans are tired of lip service and ‘we’ll get em next year’ but football is the one sport that is completely unpredictable.
While many think the pieces on the Broncos offense aren’t good enough, I’d throw out an early prediction that people will be surprised this season.
I’m not asking Broncos fans to drink the Kool-Aid or have a false sense of hope, but it’s fair to suggest that all of us (media included) let the moves and process play out and evaluate things as they come. It’s easy to say right now that they’ll be a horrible team or that it’s easy to create the hype train that they’ll be good, but there is a lot of time between now and the start of the season for the team to take steps forward.
“I would rather the angst be now rather than in September and October,” Payton said at the NFL Annual Meeting regarding fan angst.
We’ll have a very clear sense of direction for where the Denver Broncos feel they are headed when they make their first-round pick at the end of April for the NFL Draft.
The ride continues.
