Insider and Local Expert Picks Varty on “Year of the Broncs”
Trevor Phipps
It’s fair to say that all eyes will be on the team this season. Will the Broncos live up to their high expectations or disappoint their fired-up fan base?
After my own personal research, I have basically concluded that it depends on who you ask. But if we learned anything from last season, we know that the “experts” around the NFL and even the gurus in Las Vegas can be wrong.
Before the season started last year, nobody had confidence in the Broncos and they definitely weren’t expected to see the post season. Most experts and the Las Vegas lines only had the Broncos winning three to five games. The team had quite a rough 0-2 start, but then they turned their season around and won 10 of their last 15 games to earn a Wild Card spot.
Already this year many football buffs are very optimistic about the prospects of the Broncos. But some insiders believe the Broncs will only slightly improve. The optimistic ones (including Broncos head coach Sean Payton) think that the combination of their success last year and their offseason changes will skyrocket them into a potential Super Bowl winner for the 2025 season.
After what he saw just in one season, Payton boasted that second-year quarterback Bo Nix has the chance to become one of the league’s top five QBs. “The short-term goal is winning the division,” Payton said in a recent interview with Yahoo’s Charles Robinson. “But this is a team capable of winning the Super Bowl. I’ve coached six teams that I thought could win the Super Bowl. Some went to championship games, some to the playoffs. This is my seventh team that I think has that.”
Former Bronco all-star running back Terrell Davis told a Denver TV news station that he agreed that he saw potential in this Broncos’ team. “It reminds me of ’95,” Davis said. “We were 8-8 in 1995, and then in 1996, we end up winning 13 games. We knew it, and we were talking about it after we went 8-8, not because of the record, but because we knew… Our confidence level was through the roof. I think this Broncos team has the same confidence and mentality right now. Anything short of a Super Bowl would be a disappointment for them.”
Local real estate agent and Broncos super fan Jason Roshek also agrees with these optimistic views. He sees the team winning the AFC West Division and possibly even going further. Roshek predicts that the Broncos will tie the Los Angeles Chargers with a 12-5 record and beat them during the last game of the year to take the division.
Trevor Pick: Broncos Snag a 11-6 Record
Unfortunately, not everyone (including me) has been so optimistic. In fact, I think Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report had a good synapsis when he predicted that the Broncos 2025 could either be a “boom” or a “bust.” Gagnon predicts that either the Broncos will continue their progress and dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs, or their lack of a star receiver combined with a very possible “sophomore slump” from Nix could force the Broncos to miss the playoffs altogether.
Jarrett Bailey with Touchdown Wire went along with the low end and put the Broncos at an 8-9 finish. “Denver’s defense will be one of the best in the league, but the offense will take a step back with a lack of top weapons,” Bailey wrote for Touchdown Wire.
But in the end, I personally have to agree with PredominatelyOrange.com’s Lou Scataglia and the NFL Network’s Adam Rank when they predicted an 11-6 finish for the Broncs. Besides, the Broncos do have a harder-than-average schedule this season and they play some top-notch teams. Moreover, you can easily argue that the AFC West this season has four of the NFL’s best head coaches with Payton (Broncos, Jim Harbaugh (Chargers), Pete Carroll (Raiders) and Andy Reid (Chiefs).
After watching this year’s preseason games, I have overall liked what I have seen. I saw a lot of low-level players come out and make plays. This gives me confidence that the team has depth in the second and third string positions. For example, from what I saw backup QB Jarrett Stidham produce during the pre-season, I was impressed with our No. 2 man behind the center.
However, I was not thrilled with Nix’s debut during the first pre-season game. He looked off-rhythm, and that intentional grounding in the end zone play was definitely not his best work.
And honestly, what worries me the most is the team’s offensive line. Last year, it seemed as if Nix was constantly getting pressured and chased, making it hard for him to excel as a rookie.
I was hoping that some offseason changes would be made on the line to help protect the QB going into his sophomore year, but it didn’t really happen. I fear that Nix will once again be constantly forced to look like a chicken running around the pocket with his head cut off, which makes any pro quarterback prone to costly mistakes.
And lastly, I would like to address Payton’s so called “expert” play calling, specifically his blind screen pass he seems to love (and yes I did see it this pre-season). He needs to learn to take more risks with a young team, stop playing so conservatively all the time, and burn the page in the playbook with the blind screen pass play on it.
