As a fan of the team, it’s hard to write down into a short story on how bad they’ve been in the last seven seasons, after winning Super Bowl 50 and Peyton Manning retired.
Looking at the source of their downfall, where it actually started, was in 2013. It’s odd to say the issues started in the year Peyton Manning set single season records in Passing Yards (5,477) & TDs (55) along with winning MVP for the 5th time in his career and making a Super Bowl all in the same season.
Well, it was the bad drafting and free agency that it was Manning, who lifted the team out of a bad hole momentarily but can’t be saved forever. It took a few more years of their playoff window to be completed, by winning Super Bowl 50, as Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset.
2016 was the year they had to find their answer at QB, but also in a lot of other positions. Their O line was a mess, didn’t have much of a run game, D line wasn’t anything special and LB core was questionable, after Danny Trevathan left in Free Agency. In the mean time, the secondary was still solid with Aqib Talib, Chris Harris Jr, Bradley Roby, TJ Ward & Darian Stewart incorporating the No Fly Zone.
In the draft, Denver took Memphis QB Paxton Lynch, over Mississippi State QB, Dak Prescott. This was the start of the sinking ship as they maintain a winning record at 9-7, but fell short of making the playoffs as Super Bowl winning Head Coach Gary Kubiak, retired (briefly) the following year.
The start of the flood began in their HC search when men like Washington Redskins OC, Sean McVay and Atlanta Falcons OC, Kyle Shanahan were available for the taking but decided to hire Dolphins Defensive Coordinator, Vance Joseph in 2017. A Dolphins team in 2016, made the playoffs with an average offense & sketchy defense. They were manhandled as a result by the Steelers in the Wild Card Round. Vance Joseph’s 1st year went bad, as expected, after a 3-1 start to lose 8 straight & fell to 5-11.
2018 was where the chaos began as they had another chance to get their QB of the future as they got the 5th overall pick but chose to pass on QBs like Wyoming QB Josh Allen, or Louisville QB Lamar Jackson, and drafted NC State Edge, Bradley Chubb instead. Why?
They had the QB from the 2017 Minneapolis Miracle, in Case Keenum. Chubb may have shown a good start to his rookie campaign with a 12 sack season but it wasn’t enough, as the team fell to 6-10 & Vance Joseph was fired.
2019 wasn’t anything good in particular in terms of HC search & answers for QB. They decided to double down on DCs that made the playoffs in the previous year in Bears DC , Vic Fangio. The Bears defense that has more than half of their defensive stars making the pro bowl. Fangio’s start was awful, starting off the year 0-4 with no pressure from their defense, and an even more awful offense being ran by former Ravens QB Joe Flacco, who was traded to Denver, after Lamar Jackson got Baltimore to the playoffs in his rookie year.
The team was 3-8 with no hope of making the playoffs but there was an odd upside when the team’s 2nd round pick from Missouri in Drew Lock, started after Joe Flacco and Brandon Allen got injured, as Lock won 4 of the last 5 games to put the team at 7-9.
This ended up being a massive problem for the health of the team. The 2020 draft ended being a good day for QBs to enter the draft. LSU QB Joe Burrow, Oregon QB Justin Herbert & Alabama QB Tua Tagovailia. The Broncos ended up with the 15th pick in that draft. However, the team was in need for a reliable pass catcher & they selected Alabama WR. Jerry Jeudy.
He’s a shifty route runner but had questionable drops in 2019 with the Crimson Tide. He ended up dropping 15 balls in his rookie campaign which led all rookies & in the league. They also doubled on taking another WR in the 2nd round out of Penn State, WR KJ Hamler, who’s been nothing but injury prone as a Bronco. 2020 was a massive problem as the team fell to 5-11 with injuries, bad coaching screw ups, defensive regressions, and extremely bad QB play.
2021 was looking to be their last shot of drafting a QB of the future as we see Ohio State QB Justin Fields, and Alabama QB Mac Jones, were available for them to take with the 9th overall pick but, Denver decided to get Alabama CB Pat Surtain II, after the CB position in 2020 was dropping like flies due to injuries.
Why pass on QB yet again? They traded for Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater, after he had a disappointing season with Carolina falling to 5-11, when they paid him for 3 years at $63M. 2021 was a mess of mediocrity at 7-7, and when Teddy Bridgewater got injured, the losses piled up at 7-10, and shortly following, Fangio was fired after 3 unnecessary seasons.
2022 didn’t have a good draft on QBs but it had a good amount of positions to fill in.
However, Denver traded for Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson after suffering his first losing season, and they also added Packers OC Nathaniel Hackett to be HC. The cost for the Broncos was a pricey one. Two 1st Round Picks (2022 & 2023), 2023 2nd Round Pick & 4th Round Pick along with QB Drew Lock, DT Shelby Harris & TE Noah Fant, who was the Broncos’ 1st round pick in 2019.
The season for Denver was an outright disaster with the offense, even worse than the previous year, while the defense was keeping them afloat for the first 3 months. Hackett was fired not even a full season in his tenure at 3-8, making him the 4th HC in NFL History to be fired while not completing his first season with the team that hired him.
To add more salt to the wound, the Seahawks made the playoffs & Broncos ended up giving the Hawks a Top 5 Draft Pick as well.
In 2023, the team has decided to trade for former Saints HC, Sean Payton, to help the offense. This is the season with no excuses for another awful season with inept offense.
During the span of 2016 to 2022, they have the 2nd longest active playoff drought in the NFL behind the Jets, they had to watch QBs like Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow & Justin Herbert to name a few become franchise QBs with the teams that got them.
Dak isn’t perfect but the Cowboys can’t really do much without him, and he led the Cowboys to having Top 5 – 10 scoring offenses when he’s out there since 2019.
Josh Allen has made the Bills into playoff contenders.
Lamar Jackson was a NFL MVP in his 2nd season in 2019 & has won over 70% of his games starting for Baltimore.
Joe Burrow led the Bengals to back to back Conference game appearances, along with a Super Bowl appearance in 2021 & 2022.
Justin Herbert may have not done a lot in his career in terms of wins and losses but he broke rookie records in Passing Yards & TDs with questionable HCs. He could’ve won more games if his teams kept leads during his rookie campaign.
I can’t say much on Justin Fields since he’s on the Bears but when he was showing to be adjusted to the pace of the game, he was nothing but electric that needs more receiving targets around him.
If he pans out, the Patrick Surtain pick is going to look just as bad as Bradley Chubb over Josh Allen. The same can be said with the QB class in 2023, since we don’t know how they’ll be in the NFL.
An organization that has to watch other teams on a competitive trajectory like the Chiefs, Bills, Bengals, Chargers, and Ravens with QBs under the age of 30 while they had tried every possible thing with both youth and veterans, while the roster has been decaying in the catacombs.
They’re like the 2022 Colts, but for their last seven seasons, they have been looking for their QB of the future. Do you think the Broncos can bounce back in 2023? Let us know on Twitter @WeLikeSportzPC what you think.
– Jonathan Misak
*Photo courtesy of The Ringer*
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