The Denver Bronco have a lot of hype entering the 2025 season.
But are the skill players around sophomore QB Bo Nix good enough?
Head coach Sean Payton and GM George Paton got help for Nix this offseason, signing tight end Evan Engram and running back J.K. Dobbins. They also drafted running back RJ Harvey as well as wide receiver Pat Bryant.
Add those guys to the likes of Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin and others, and it looks like Nix has a fair amount of weapons.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell says not so fast.
He released his ranking of each NFL team’s WRs, RBs and TEs on Tuesday and the Broncos were ranked fairly low. No. 23 out of 32 teams, to be exact.
Only the Titans, Panthers, Patriots, Browns, Bills, Jets, Giants, Bears and Saints were worse. Outside of Buffalo, that’s pretty much all bad football teams.
You can read Barnwell’s full explanation here, but this part at the end at least provided some hope. He’s a big believer in Payton’s ability to coach these guys up.
“I would not be surprised to see Payton get the most out of this group given his acumen, but this wouldn’t be an imposing unit in league-average hands,” Barnwell writes.
That’s a key sentence right there and a good reminder that Payton isn’t an average coach. Most regard him as top-10 in the league, some even higher.
Barnwell also points out that some of the hype around the Broncos might just be “summer optimism.” Perhaps, but coming off a 10-7 season and a lot of the roster returning, that optimism feels warranted.
And finally, remember these rankings don’t include quarterbacks. If they did, Denver would almost certainly be a chunk higher.
To check out the full list, including seeing where the rest of the AFC West stacks up, click here.