It’s no secret that the Denver Broncos are on the come up.
After years of being out of playoff contention, the orange and blue put together a solid season in 2024 as they made the playoffs for the first time since they won Super Bowl 50. Bo Nix looked good in his rookie campaign while the defense turned heads with an elite pass rush and the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in Pat Surtain II. Heading into 2025, the hype train is real as this is a team that can compete for an AFC West title and potentially be a dark horse to make a deep playoff run.
In ESPN’s recent rankings of the league’s brightest futures, the Broncos found themselves at No. 7 on the list with a grade of 85, right in the middle of the ‘very good’ tier. The only teams ahead of them were the Eagles, the Ravens, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Lions and the Packers.
The Broncos had the fourth-best overall roster besides the quarterback, the 19th-best quarterback, third-best coaching and 12th-best front office, all of which are pretty fair rankings. The front office could be higher, as George Paton and company have been much better recently, but they will always be plagued by the Russell Wilson debacle from a few years back.
ESPN then broke the ranking down into a few more categories, reason for hope, reason for concern and a bold prediction. To no surprise, the reason for hope was a combination of the quarterback, the lines and the defense, while the reason for concern was the running back group. While RJ Harvey has a lot of potential, the Broncos haven’t found a 1,000-yard rusher since Phillip Lindsay did so in 2018 and 2019, and hitting that mark is no easy feat. The offensive line is talented enough to lead a potent rushing attack, it all matters what the guys with the ball in their hands can muster up.
The bold prediction was one that would knock the socks off of Broncos fans. Seth Walder predicted that Bo Nix, who seems to be the long-lost answer to the quarterback issue that has plagued Denver since Peyton Manning retired, would lose the starting job sometime during the 2027 season. He credited his lousy numbers in completion percentage over expectation (-2.4%) and yards per drop back (6.16).
Nix has more chemistry with the five linemen in front of him now along with more chemistry with Sean Payton heading into year two. Also, the weapons around him are much better and will help those numbers improve. They’re called bold predictions for a reason, but something would have to seriously go wrong with Nix’s development for that to come to fruition.
Everything looks good for the Broncos on paper over the next couple of years. They only have a couple more players to sign to contracts, they have one of the best coaches in the league, and they have a solid quarterback making a minimal amount of money. While things are looking up, nothing actually matters until they step out on the field and start making plays with the pads on.