There are two ways to look at Sunday’s loss to the L.A. Chargers.
First, the Chargers look to be the class of the AFC West – if not the AFC – and the Broncos went toe-to-toe with them, on the road, with a better than puncher’s chance to win. Hey, maybe the Broncos are pretty good, too.
Or, second, the Broncos might be good, but don’t execute like a good team should. In fact, they’ve squandered two games already; they should be 3-0, yet they’re 1-2. Ultimately you are what your record says you are.
Pick either option you like, but there’s an admission – a glaring fact – that comes along with with either: The Broncos aren’t quite good enough to “miss” just yet.
Not on deep balls.
Not on drafts.
Not on free agents or how healthy they might be.
Not on wild predictions that suggest they’re a Super Bowl contender.
There’s no shame in a 23-20 road loss at the hands of one of the best teams in the NFL. Funny thing is, though, such a loss has a way of putting every little miss under a microscope.
They say football is a game of inches, and “they” couldn’t have been more accurate when it came to Bo Nix on Sunday. Had it not been for three inches – one inch on three separate throws – Nix would have easily had his best game of the season instead of a game the Broncos “could have” won. His offense might have put up 34 points. His stat line would have eclipsed 250 yards and boasted three touchdowns and likely a triple digit rating. But that just missed. On three separate occasions, Sean Payton dialed up the perfect play call and Nix made the perfect read. Unfortunately, each of his throws were off by roughly an inch. Two would have gone for touchdowns. One would have likely sealed a win. Blame it on being too amped up, blame it on depth perception, blame it on whatever, but Nix missed and missed bad.
Those who are calling for Nix’s job are silly. Nix hasn’t forgotten how to play quarterback; he just hasn’t returned to his peak rookie form yet. Plugging in Jarrett Stidham would only derail the path that should lead Nix back to being the Broncos franchise quarterback. At quarterback, the Broncos most definitely aren’t that deep.
Jahdae Barron isn’t a bad player. He might even become an excellent player. It’s hard to say exactly how good he is, however, because he doesn’t play all the time. It’s understandable that Barron doesn’t play more than reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II, or even opposite starting cornerback Riley Moss. But the Broncos most recent No. 1 pick is currently playing fewer snaps than Ja’Quann McMillian. In fact, Barron has played 53 total snaps compared to McMillian’s 126.
Having depth on defense – and the at the cornerback position, the Broncos do – is a great thing. But if the Broncos were that deep, why in the world would they use the No. 20 overall pick on a player who either can’t get, or isn’t needed, on the field? Either the Broncos missed on the perceived depth they had (or didn’t), or they missed on Barron they player.
Speaking of depth on defense, the Broncos sure could use some at inside linebacker. Dre Greenlaw looked like a great acquisition, but his history of being injured has become a major part of the Broncos present story, as he’s yet to suit up in Denver. Was there a linebacker in this year’s draft that could have provided an insurance policy for the oft-injured Greenlaw? Turns out, there was, as Jihaad Campbell – who was taken 11 picks after Barron by the Eagles – is looking like a steal.
Meanwhile on offense, tight end Evan Engram, the supposed “Joker” Sean Payton had been needing, wasn’t able to play on Sunday at all. Engram has been battling injuries all season, playing only 51 snaps and being targeted just six times. It can only be a hypothetical, but could the Broncos have slid up to draft tight end Tyler Warren (who, by the way, simply killed Denver a week ago in Indianapolis)? Warren was taken at No. 14 by the Colts, and it’s even possible the Broncos did explore moving up. But even if they didn’t, surely another pass catcher could have been on the menu – perhaps Emeka Egbuka, who went one pick before Barron, or Matthew Golden who went three picks after.
Denver certainly could have taken running back Omarian Hampton, who was drafted at No. 23. Payton and Paton did address a need by drafting a running back – R.J. Harvey – but Harvey has seen just 56 snaps and produced 109 total yards from scrimmage. On Sunday, he had two carries for two yards. Veteran free agent J.K. Dobbins, conversely, has played almost twice as much. Dobbins was excellent on Sunday, logging 83 rushing yards and a touchdown. Hampton, ironically, was arguably better than both Broncos backs combined, as he rushed for 70 yards and tacked on 59 more in the air. The Broncos are slowly trending toward running the ball better in 2025, but surely Hampton would have made bigger impact on offense than Barron has made on defense.
Perhaps the biggest miss this season hasn’t been on the field. It might be what’s been said, printed and read a little too closely by the Broncos themselves.
Ahead of the season, Payton was not bashful about talking up his team and his quarterback – calling the Broncos a team that could win a Super Bowl and predicting Nix to be “a top-4 or -5 quarterback” in the NFL. There’s a fine line between confident and cocky, and Payton straddles it regularly. It’s one thing for a coach to pat his team on the butt, giving the kind of boost only a coach can; it’s quite another to arm them with a false belief of who or what they are. At present, it feels like the Broncos might have been reading one too many press clippings.
Last year, the Broncos made the playoffs. This year, they’re supposed to make them. Over last season and the first three games of this one, they’re a lackluster 2-8 in one-score games. Essentially, they’re beating the teams they should, but more often than not, unable to get over the hump against teams that present a formidable challenge – like the Chargers on Sunday.
The Broncos could still be a very good football team, but at the moment, it feels like there’s a lack of depth perception in Denver. And if that continues, their playoff run won’t be deep at all.