As the NFL offseason
is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in
2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of
the Denver Broncos.
2017 Season Recap:
While the 2016 season ended with an end of an era with the retirement of
Peyton Manning, the 2017 Broncos still found themselves in need of identifying
their starting quarterback. John Elway chose in favor of the defense when he
hired former Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to take over the
reins of the legendary franchise. On day one, Joseph preached to the media that
the quarterback situation would be a fluid competition between 2016 starter
Trevor Siemian, reacquired backup Brock Osweiler, and second year pivot Paxton
Lynch. True to form, training camp was an obvious competitive rotation as
Joseph and then offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, evaluated the potential of
all three men. With the overall questions of who would begin the year as the
starter for this offense, the excitement was heavy as Vance would institute his
form of a defensive system with a fantastic cast of characters on that side of
the ball. Ultimately as the situation at quarterback found a way to resolve
itself, the Broncos named Trevor Siemian to once again take the team under his
wing announcing him the day one starter.
Coming out the gates, Denver found a way to sneak past division rival –
the LA Chargers, to narrowly win by three points. Riding the confidence of
their opening day triumph, the Broncos annihilated the Dallas Cowboys 42-17 on
the strength of Trevor Siemian’s 4 touchdown passes looking like a young Peyton
Manning in the process. Siemian looked decisive on nearly every read as he was
able to pick apart the Cowboys with ease. The hype train began to roll in post
victory over Dallas as offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was crowned an early
genius to extract everything from the limited skillset of Siemian. Rolling into
Buffalo with a 2-0 record the Broncos fell back down to earth as the Bills
defense stifled the Broncos offense in what ended up to be their first loss of
the season. Siemian looked pedestrian in this contest as the hype train was
about to lose some stream. Rebounding quickly, Denver hosted the Raiders in
week four and narrowly came away with the victory winning by six and extending
their record to 3-1 entering their early week five bye.
Looking the part with some uneven play, the Broncos entered the next 12
weeks of the season with large expectations which included winning the AFC West
crown. Unfortunately for the Broncos roster, someone forgot to send them the
memo. The next twelve weeks would see Denver start off with an unprecedented
eight game losing streak from week six to week 13. In the process they dropped
games to the Giants, Chargers, Chiefs, Eagles, Patriots, Bengals, Raiders, and
the Dolphins! During the terrible losing streak, Trevor Siemian was lost to
injury during weeks nine through eleven, though his play the previous three
weeks would’ve found him riding the pine never the less. Turning to Brock
Osweiler in Siemian’s absence, anything resembling offensive production fell by
the waste side which also got offensive coordinator Mike McCoy fired as the
scapegoat to the inept Head Coaching of Vance Joseph. Two weeks removed from
seeing McCoy hit the streets, the Broncos were able to win two meaningless
contests against the Jets and the Colts. Finishing up the season Denver
ultimately packed it in dropping their final two games to the Redskins and the
Chiefs to finish a regrettable season with a record of 5-11. Not the story book
ending Broncos fans expected for 2017, but change on the horizon could be very
interesting moving forward.
2018 Offseason
Workbook:
Offseason Review:
While Head Coach Vance
Joseph learned some valuable lessons in his first season as bench boss,
retooling the broken pieces of this team is obviously priority number one.
Entering the offseason, John Elway pondered the option to fire his Head Coach
just one year removed recruiting and hiring the young talent. Making quick work
of the speculation, Elway confirmed that Vance would again hold the position
for the Broncos in 2018 putting trust in the process to fix what is currently
broken. Having received back the keys to the palace, Joseph would indeed need
to tinker with his staff to show Elway and company that progression will be
made. With that in mind, Joseph chose to stand-pat keeping his current
offensive and defensive coordinators in Bill Musgrave and Joe Woods
respectively. This move didn’t come as much of a shock, as hiring new
coordinators, especially on the offensive side might pose more detrimental then
helpful at this point. Choosing to clean house in respect to most of the
speciality coaches, Vance relieved six individuals of their roles. The hammer
came down letting go of their special team’s coordinator Brock Olivo, assistant
coach/running backs coach Eric Studesville, receivers coach Tyke Tolbert,
offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, line baker coach Fred Pagac, and defensive
backs coach Johnnie Lynn. While the list appears long, these were changes that
needed to be made in order to provide the face lift which is required.
It’s no secret the
glaring weakness of this team resides on the offensive side of the ball.
Reviewing the Broncos 2017 season aside from the inept play of the
quarterbacks, this offense lacks talent on many levels. Starting with the
patch-made offensive line, Denver requires a massive talent infusion on this
front which struggles to pass protect and is limited in their power to help the
run game succeed. In terms of running back skill, Denver has amassed a group of
subpar talented backs that have either past their prime (Jamaal Charles), or
just won’t cut holding down the top position as lead back (CJ Anderson &
Devontae Booker). With all due-respect to Anderson and Booker, they both employ
very ordinary skillsets where one is simply a downhill runner, and the other is
a change of pace back that couldn’t entertain 300+ carries a year. Elway has
tried to recreate a single back with two that have no versatility in convincing
defenses they are able to create on the opposite skill, thus making them very
predictable to game plan against. Ever since we witnessed Manning throw a
multitude of touchdowns to Julius Thomas, the Broncos have chosen to neglect
the tight end positions all together. Virgil Green has primarily been a stay at
home blocking tight end to assist a weak offensive line. Opposing teams
understand that there is virtually no threat for Denver to burn them through
the air to the tight end. With all these inadequacies, the Broncos do possess
two of the better talented and consistent players at the receiving position.
Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are a fantastic duo that can cause havoc
anytime they touch the ball. Outside those two receiving threats, Denver would
be smart to find more viable talent to support these them.
Not much of an
argument has to be made to convince the public Denver requires massive help
offensively. Finishing the season ranked 27th in points scored (18.1
PPG), will surely never get the job done. Though the ranks for total yards and
rushing yards were middle of the pack, they held the 17th rank for
total yards (324.1 YPG), and holding the 12th rank for rushing yards
for the season respectively (115.8 YPG).
Defensively, the
Broncos are still a fantastic unit that housed top five numbers in most
statistical categories from the 2017 season. Ranking 3rd in the NFL
in total yards allowed (290.0 YPG), followed by a 4th overall
ranking in pass yards allowed (200.6 YPG), and holding a superb 5th
rank against the run (89.4 YPG). In reviewing these statistics it’s easy to
question – “how come this defense didn’t carry this team”? The answer is very
simple once you review the Broncos 2017 offensive game film. Far too often the
Denver defense would generate stops giving the ball back to their offense. As
the game wore on, the offense would provide no favors placing this unit in
horrible situations begging them to bail them out consistently. All in all,
this defense simply ran out of mojo to provide essential playmaking to just
witness the offense give it all away. In other words, the defense gave up on
this team and rightfully so. Reviewing this side of the roster, the Broncos defense
still possesses fantastic talent and depth to continue to be a force for the
next few seasons. The addition of Domata Peko solidified their run defense to
another level allowing Derek Wolfe, Von Miller to pin their ears back and rush
the passer. It was left to the imagination of the viewing public what Shane Ray
could’ve been if he hadn’t missed the majority of the season to injury.
Provided he can stay on the field in 2018, the Broncos pass rush will again be
dominate.
With recent news that
Aqib Talib could be on the outs, there’s not much panic as the Denver secondary
would be able to manage while seeing a slight drop off in production Talib
would’ve ultimately provided. Chris Harris should continue his extremely
fantastic shutdown play while Denver could add players via the draft to rebuild
an expensive back end unit. If the Broncos defense has a weakness, it would
reside in the form of coverage line backers. Brandon Marshall still oozes
talent, but is better suited to stop the run. Outside Marshall, Denver employs
young potential that hasn’t proven much on the field as of yet. If Denver could
draft yet another star player at middle linebacker, this unit would radiate
fear across the NFL.
Rostered Free Agents:
The Broncos enjoy a
short list of free agents that more likely than not, will find their way
looking for a new team come March 14th. Realistically, the only
player on the list that should garner any interest from John Elway is - line
backer Todd Davis. Denver is extremely thin at the position as would struggle
to improve the collective set of players if they let this player walk out the
door. Davis employs a serviceable skillset that would easily fit the Broncos
defensive scheme. Davis did have a productive year as a starter and would fit
nicely with a cap friendly deal. Outside of Davis, Elway should cut bait with the
rest of his free agents.
Though the Broncos
have many holes to fill they enjoy a decent amount of cap space on the books
holding nearly 28 million dollars in space. With virtually no dead money to
speak of, John Elway can get creative and cut bait as he sees making sense. As
mentioned above, Aqib Talib has most likely seen his last days as a Bronco
simply because Denver would save 11 million to cut the veteran loose. Keeping
with the secondary, Elway could also chose to cut bait and release Bradley Roby
saving another 8.5 million dollars in cap space with no dead money. CJ Anderson
is another prime cut candidate as letting him walk would create an additional
4.5 million on the books. Aside from those possible cuts, Elway would have to
get creative in releasing depth players to generate more income.
NFL Draft:
Finishing the year
with a 5-11 record, it again gives the Broncos a top five selection in the NFL
Draft. With that, Denver also enjoys a plethora of picks now holding ten total
selections with four being held in the top 100. It’s quite possible Elway might
have his eye on a quarterback as he missed the boat on drafting Paxton Lynch a
few years back. Picking 5th overall, he definitely has options to
move down the board and collect more picks while rounding out his roster. With
a draft class full of running back talent and secondary receiver talent, it’s
very possible Elway has his eye on stacking the offense from his 2018 draft. Without
question, drafting more offensive line depth with hopes to steal at least one
starter to help improve a unit that is lacking on so many levels. John Elway
has a great opportunity to round out his team more so if they make the big
splash in free agency and bring heavily sought after quarterback Kirk Cousins
to the squad. The Denver draft should be extremely interesting.
Overall for 2018:
Denver isn’t a team that is a true 5-11 squad as their record indicates.
The Broncos still possess an elite level defensive unit that can shut down
teams at will. The most interesting part of the Broncos offseason will be if
they indeed intend to go after Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback. If
Cousins does sign on the dotted line to be in Denver, the entire dynamic of their
draft board will undoubtedly change. Adding receivers and running backs with
offensive line help would be in large part how they would attack the draft. If
they miss the boat for Kirk, Denver would greatly entertain getting one of the
highly touted gun slingers and start over at the position yet again. If Elway
executes this draft and free agent market with great success, expect the
Broncos to find their way back into the playoffs with possibly being Super Bowl
contenders once again. 
Comments
Post a Comment