The Denver Broncos have spent the past two years building a reputation as a defense-first football team. That unit is elite, as defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is one of the best in the business, and the identity has been the foundation of everything the franchise has accomplished during the Sean Payton era.
But something changed this offseason. The offense, long viewed as the side of the ball that needed to catch up, is starting to look like it might not just catch up but leap forward entirely.
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On a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, fill-in host Will Petersen posed the question that has been building in Broncos Country for months.
“Will this be the year that when we look up at the end of the season, we go ‘Wow, the Broncos finished sixth in the NFL in total offense?'” Petersen asked.
That’s a bold framing, but it isn’t unreasonable given the pieces the Broncos have assembled.
Bo Nix enters his third with two full seasons of offensive experience under his belt. Jaylen Waddle joins the receiver room to give Nix a legitimate deep threat that this offense has never had. Courtland Sutton continues to operate as one of the most reliable outside receivers in the league. J.K. Dobbins returns to the backfield after a hot start to last season was cut short by injury, and if he can stay healthy, he gives Denver the kind of explosive running game that changes the entire structure of the offense. Add in Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Evan Engram, and the weapons chart looks deeper than at any point in recent memory.
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Mark Schlereth didn’t hesitate when asked whether that leap was actually possible.
“Yeah, I definitely think it has that ability,” Schlereth said.
That’s a meaningful endorsement from someone who spent his career on the offensive side of the ball and doesn’t hand out compliments lightly. But Schlereth’s optimism came with a legitimate caveat. The play-calling change that will define whether all of these ingredients actually cook the way the Broncos need them to.
“Obviously, we’re gonna have to see exactly how the play calling and Davis Webb, how that offense fits,” Schlereth said.
Davis Webb has never called plays in the NFL before. The pieces on paper look elite, but the coordinator’s ability to deploy them in ways that maximize each player’s strengths is going to be the decisive variable.
Great weapons in the wrong hands don’t produce great results. Great weapons in the right hands do.
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Schlereth then made clear what the play-calling shift actually looks like from the inside.
“It’s not like they’re gonna run a bunch of different plays that they didn’t have in before. It is frequency and menu,” Schlereth said.
Broncos fans shouldn’t expect a wholesale reinvention of the scheme. Payton’s offensive DNA remains embedded in the operation. What Webb changes is what gets called when, the rhythm of the play sheet, the distribution of concepts across down and distance, the specific packages that get emphasized in critical moments.
Different menu. Same kitchen.
If Webb finds the right rhythm and the weapons stay healthy, a top-six finish in total offense is more than a pipe dream. It’s a legitimate possibility.