It truly is remarkable how quickly we can move on from a championship season. Peyton Manning hoisted the Lombardi Trophy less than two weeks ago and here we are focusing on whether Brock Osweiler and Malik Jackson will be back in Denver next season.
Now, I’d like for everyone to take a moment to smell the confetti-laden flowers, but it is what it is. Sports fans are insatiable. Success breeds the desire for more success, and Broncos Country already has their eyes set on February 2017.
But we’ve got a long ways to go, and there’s a lot to do. And I’m not just talking about the free-agency dilemma; there are a lot of critical questions the Broncos need to answer in the next few months.
In fact, here are five of them:
Who’s the Broncos’ starting quarterback?
For a Super Bowl winning team, the Broncos had an inordinate amount of drama at the quarterback position, so why would you expect anything different now?
As I wrote about earlier in the week, re-signing Brock Osweiler is anything but a sure thing. With the quarterback market, both in free agency and the draft, running a little thin, a guy like Osweiler, who played a major role on a championship team, could be looking at a big-time payday. Not only does he have upside, but he’s proven himself in big moments, completing double-digit comebacks versus the Patriots and Bengals.
And if he bolts, Denver is suddenly stuck in a very precarious position.
Is Peyton Manning the answer? Our own James Merilatt thinks so, but that’s up to Manning. If he decides to retire, then the Broncos are left with Trevor Siemian; that’s not encouraging.
Mile High Sports Radio’s Benjamin Allbright has reported that the Broncos are looking into Robert Griffin III, but that’s a gamble at best. Do you swing a trade for Colin Kaepernick? Do you grab a complete unknown like Chase Daniel?
Who knows? But it’s critical that they figure something out. Denver managed to win one Super Bowl with little help from their quarterback; I’d be surprised if the league allows them to do that again.
Who’s expendable?
There’s turnover on every roster every year, but the Denver Broncos are in an especially unique situation. Essentially, John Elway has the ability to bring back the gang, run out the same squad that won the Super Bowl and see if the Broncos can go back to back, or he can shuffle the decks, change course and see if this team can get even better.
In the first option, Elway goes defense first, locking down Malik Jackson, Von Miller, Danny Trevathan and company, cutting cost at quarterback and relying on the league’s top defense to carry the load. In the second, maybe Elway lets Malik, Trevathan and others walk, pouring that money towards a revamped offense.
Both make sense, but neither is an easy path to take.
The Denver defense will still be good, maybe even great, without Malik and Trevathan, but they probably won’t be historic; the offense would have to carry a bigger load.
And it’s not just the free agents. Elway could choose to part ways with guys like DeMarcus Ware and Ryan Clady, saving the Broncos millions in cap space, but are they truly expendable?
I guess we’ll see.
Will we see the real Gary Kubiak offense?
The Denver Broncos ranked 19th in the NFL in points per game, a distinction that stands out as one of the few black marks on Gary Kubiak’s record.
In fact, in the 21 years Kubiak has spent as a coach or coordinator in the NFL he’s only ranked lower twice, his first and final seasons in Houston. Otherwise, he’s coordinated a top-10 offense in 15 of those seasons.
Pretty impressive.
So what was different about last season? Well, for one, there was the whole Peyton Manning thing. Even at full health, it was clear Manning and Kubiak’s styles were never going to mesh perfectly. And while Brock Osweiler may be more of “Kubiak quarterback,” a guy who can stretch the field and roll out of the pocket, it’s not as if Kubiak could really get his hands dirty with his scheme.
Kubiak runs a very specific offense, an offense that has been very successful in the NFL for the last two decades, but he could not run that offense in 2015, at least not to its fullest capabilities. We knew that when he came in. We knew that Manning was not a “Kubiak quarterback.” And it not only affected the plays Kubiak could call, but it impacted the running game that was a staple in the old Broncos and Texans offenses.
Kubiak has coordinated 14 top-10 rushing attacks (nine top-five), but the Broncos clocked in at 17th in 2015. Sure, some of that can be blamed on the offensive line and some of that can be blamed on the backs themselves, but some of the blame has to be placed on the fact that playing out of the pistol and shotgun took out, or severely altered, many of Kubiak’s staple plays.
Will that change next season? Will the Broncos be able to construct an offense built around Kubiak’s style?
Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
Can Demaryius Thomas rebound?
Demaryius Thomas may have just recorded the most-dissapointing 1300-yard, 105-catch season in NFL history, and it’s entirely justified.
He choked. I don’t like saying that, but he did. He didn’t just drop the ball; he disappeared.
During the Broncos’ most-important moments, the playoffs, he caught just seven balls for 60 yards in three games; he caught one for 8 in the Super Bowl.
That’s not the type of production you expect from a guy making $14 million a year
Now, whether you think it’s in their best interest or not, the Broncos can’t trade Thomas; they can’t cut him, either. He’s getting paid to much. So, instead, you have to hope and pray he gets his game back on track.
I’m hopeful, if that means anything. I think the release of his mother from prison, the attention he received from the drops, as well as the general pressure that comes with a Super Bowl season got to DT, a guy who would like to stay as far from the spotlight as possible.
Maybe, with a few months away from the game, he can comeback next season with a refreshed mind and a rejuvenated game.
And, let’s remember, he did catch 105 balls for 1,304 yards and six touchdowns. Even at his worst, DT is one heck of a wideout.
Can the Broncos repeat?
Well, we’ve reached the most important question of them all. Really, it’s the only question worth asking (still read the others, though!).
Can the Denver Broncos repeat as Super Bowl champions?
Right now, the answer is probably not, at least from a national perspective. According to VegasInsider.com, the Broncos currently have 20-1 odds to win the Super Bowl next season, eighth in the league. Exactly the same as the 4-12 Cowboys!
So if Denver is going to be taken seriously as back-to-back contenders by the general populous (not that it matters in the long run), they’re going to have to make some moves in the offseason, and it’ll all start by answering those previous four questions.
In the end, though, I believe it’ll all come down to whether the Broncos can improve their offense to the point that they’re bordering on a top-10 unit in the league. They may have won on defense alone last season, but we can’t use that as a template; the 2015 Broncos may end up being one of the NFL’s biggest outliers when all is said and done.
Plus, for as good as I expect them to be, there’s no way the Denver defense can be as historically great as they were last season. As I wrote earlier, that group may have been the most-impactful unit in football history, offense or defense. It would be near-impossible to replicate that success, especially with so many of their starters hitting free agency.
It’ll be interesting to see what John Elway ends up doing.