Today, the Denver Broncos are in an excellent situation. They have a franchise Quarterback in Bo Nix, a plethora of young talent on the offensive side of the ball, and a stifling defense that just finished third in scoring defense a season ago. However, things were not always so pretty for the franchise. Believe it or not, the Broncos were in dark times as recently as 2022.
On March 8, 2022, the Broncos shocked the NFL world when they traded for Russell Wilson. Denver sent the Seattle Seahawks two first-round draft picks, two second-round draft picks, a fifth-round pick, Drew Lock, Shelby Harris, and Noah Fant for Wilson and a fourth-round pick. At the time of the trade, the sports world thought the Broncos had won the trade.
The sentiment in Denver had been the same every year since the retirement of Peyton Manning. The team was just a quarterback away from contention. With Wilson’s arrival, Broncos fans had high expectations for the team. They were viewed as a team that should compete with Kansas City for the Division and make a deep playoff run. Moments after the trade, Broncos Country was in full celebration mode.
Then came the 2022 NFL season: A season to forget. The Broncos won five games in Wilson’s debut season as a Bronco, and Wilson was a catalyst for the disappointing results. He threw for 16 Touchdowns and 11 Interceptions on a 60% completion rate. The Broncos finished that year with the last-ranked scoring offense at 16.9 points per game(ppg).
The Head Coach at the time was Nathaniel Hackett, a hot coaching candidate in that offseason before the 2022 NFL season, as he was the Offensive Coordinator for Aaron Rodgers, who won back-to-back MVPs. The Broncos were hoping Hackett’s forward-thinking offensive schemes would propel the Broncos out of eight years of offensive mediocrity. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen as Hackett seemed unprepared to be a Head Coach. He was in over his head on the sidelines, which led to many blunders.
A few examples were letting time burn off the clock when trailing, the play clock dwindling, forcing the team to use timeouts early in games, and not being able to manage personalities as players clashed with one another in the latter parts of the season out of frustration.
The last straw for Hackett’s tenure was the Christmas Day game, when the Broncos got pummeled by the Rams 51-14 on National TV. Hackett was relieved of his duties before his first season ended, becoming the fourth-ever coach to do so.
The Franchise was in desperate need of a new leader to right the ship. Fortunately, there was someone out there who was taking a year off from coaching at the time.
The Broncos landed former Super Bowl-winning head Coach Sean Payton. The organization believed that the struggles in the season prior were more on Hackett than on Wilson and believed that Payton could fix Russ and return him to form. Then came the 2023 season.
The season immediately looked like things were going to go the wrong way. The team started 0-3, with one of the losses being a 70-20 beating at the hands of the Dolphins. After that game, Sean Payton and newly hired Defensive Coordinator and former Head Coach Vance Joseph were on thin ice with the fanbase.
However, after this very moment, the team rebounded and put together a solid stretch of football. The Broncos went from 0-3 to 6-5, and Sean Payton had Wilson playing decent football during that stretch. Unfortunately, Wilson was making nearly 50 million dollars a year. When a QB is making that much money, he is expected to be more than just a game manager.
The defense spearheaded the win streak, and Wilson did his best to limit mistakes. The Broncos had a stretch where they won five in a row, and Wilson’s numbers looked good, throwing for eight Touchdowns and no interceptions. He was being very safe with the football, but that also came at a price of leaving big plays on the field. He averaged less than 180 yards per game, and this style of play only works when the defense gets turnovers.
His deficiencies were evident in a game vs the Houston Texans, where both teams were 6-5, fighting for a Wild Card spot. In that game, the defense was unable to get turnovers, so Wilson had to do a bit more than he did in the previous five games. Unfortunately, Wilson threw three interceptions on the day, with the final one coming in the end zone with a chance to win the game.
The Broncos, a few weeks later, lost 42-17 to an outstanding Detroit Lions team. Once again, the defense was not having its best day, and Russ was unable to come through. After losing two pivotal games vs contenders such as the Texans and Lions, it was evident that Wilson was not the answer at QB, and his last straw was when the team lost 26-23 to a three win Patriots team when Denver was at stage in the season where a loss eliminates them from Playoff contention.
Due to a combination of poor play and an injury clause, Russ was benched for the final two games of the season and then released that season. The Broncos still had to pay him 39 million dollars due to the contract extension they gave him before the 2022 season, of five years and 242.5 million dollars. The team did not have enough cap space for a proper rebuild and was handicapped.
With the 12th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Broncos selected Bo Nix. A QB from Oregon who had a good arm and nice mobility. However, many draft analysts and pundits believed that Nix was a reach. Denver was overlooked by the National Media and was projected to win just five games for the 2024 NFL Season.
Nix struggled mightily in his first two games, throwing for no touchdowns and four interceptions. Then it all clicked for him. Nix went on to finish the season with 34 total touchdowns, with 29 of them being passing. His 29 passing touchdowns were good for 6th in the league, and the most incredible part about the stat is that he didn’t throw for his first touchdown until week four.
Nix’s 34 total TDs and 4000+ total yards were the most in Franchise history since Manning left. No one had come close from 2016-2023. Denver scored 25 points per game, which was their most since 2014. Most importantly, the kid led this team to the playoffs for the first time since 2015 with a 10-7 record.
With Bo Nix’s sudden rise, players such as Dre Greenlaw, Evan Engram, and Talanoa Hufanga look at Denver as a destination city and want to come here to play with Nix. With smart drafting, Denver has addressed their two biggest weakness: Corner Depth and Running Back. With the draft picks of cornerback Jahdee Barron, running back RJ Harvey, and wide receiver Pat Bryant, the Denver Broncos are poised to make some noise in 2025.
From what looked like a bleak future just one offseason ago, the pick of Bo Nix looks to have changed the fortunes and trajectory of this Franchise for years to come!
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