The Denver Broncos sat back at home this weekend and watched the remaining teams in the NFL Playoffs advance to the Conference Championships, eager to get there themselves someday. For Broncos CEO Greg Penner, he has high ambitions for his team going forward.
Denver Broncos playoff appearance is first step toward lofty expectations
The Denver Broncos won more games in 2024 than they have in any season since 2015, winning 10 games and making it to the NFL Playoffs.
Unfortunately, their playoff hopes fell short against the Buffalo Bills, and it left a sour taste in player’s mouths who felt like they were much better than how they played last Sunday.
Now they’ll have an entire offseason to put work in as the team makes changes and revamps personnel, adding new pieces, while some familiar faces depart.
That’s an annual process, but this time it feels like the Broncos are heading in the right direction and CEO Greg Penner believes the same.
“The results of this last Sunday were not what we were hoping for or expecting, but I think the experience that the young team got will be critical for the future,” Penner said. “I will say that while we are incredibly pleased with the progress and number of accomplishments this year, we don’t at all feel like we are satisfied with where we are. We know that this offseason will be a critical one for us to build for the future. The last thing that I will just say is to Broncos Country: Our fans are fantastic. They had a long stretch of where we tried their patience, and we feel like we are starting to deliver for them. Our main message to them is we have our sights set really high and we are going to be doing everything we can to continue to build a great team and compete for championships.”
Getting to the post-season can do a lot for a young team, especially this young Broncos team who is in a position now to build around rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Denver has the financial arsenal to make moves — they’ve also got a handful of draft picks that give them the flexibility to build their roster as efficiently as possible while maximizing their window.
As it stands, the Broncos have not yet had their free agency meeting with Sean Payton, George Paton, and Penner, where they’ll outline their strategy for how they plan to attack free agency.
“We talk—the three of us talk frequently about this and what our approach will be,” Penner said. “You saw us after our first season that we felt like we really had to do some things immediately in free agency to shore up both our offensive line and defensive line. Last year, we were more constrained. It was a measured approach and that served us well. As we go into this offseason, it’s a different situation again. We are going to have a little more cap space. Our needs are different. We have a young nucleus and a great quarterback to build around. We haven’t set yet what our approach to free agency will be. If it is appropriate, we will be aggressive, but I’m not sure we’ll need to do that.”
So basically, the Broncos are looking at every option possible to upgrade their team in areas they need it most. Every move they make will be with making the playoffs every season as the primary and advancing further than just the wildcard round. The best path to do that is to win the AFC West, which the team hasn’t done since the Super Bowl 50 season.
Part of Denver getting to that point is continuing to establish the culture that’s been set by Payton and the leadership of captains like Nix, Courtland Sutton, Quinn Meinerz, Patrick Surtain II and others — bringing in the right players that will help Denver progress forward.
“Absolutely, yes,” Penner said. “I mean we could have very easily been 2-0 against the Chiefs this year. Our absolute goal next year is to win our division. I think [QB] Bo [Nix] talking about no prima donnas is a great testament to the culture that [Head Coach] Sean [Payton] is building here, which is we want to be a winning culture. We have to have really high expectations, and everybody has to be in it together. I don’t think prima donnas would do really well right now here in this culture. So we’re going to continue to build this way. We want guys that are incredibly competitive and want to work and want to succeed.”
