This is the sneaky NFL team for the 2024 season that no one is talking about
The NFL is filled with a ton of teams that have supreme talent on both sides of the ball, but this one AFC team is just not getting any love. And it's kind of hard to understand, as they did get better at several positions, yet the general NFL landscape seems to be much lower on them heading into 2024, which makes no sense.
Why is no one taking the Denver Broncos seriously? Heck, the NFL landscape was quite low on the Houston Texans heading into 2023, and look what they did...
Can the Broncos be this team in 2024? Well, they surely can, but what went wrong for Denver in 2023? Firstly, they didn't have the correct fit at quarterback, so they dumped Russell Wilson and drafted Bo Nix, who excels at most everything that Sean Payton asks of his quarterbacks. The fit made sense for months leading up to the draft, and Denver agreed.
The Broncos also had some inconsistencies at running back and wide receiver. In the offseason, they added WR Josh Reynolds in free agency. They also got WR Tim Patrick back from a torn Achilles. In the 2024 NFL Draft, they got a steal in the fourth round by taking WR Troy Franklin, who was a consensus top-50 player.
At running back, Javonte Williams is one more year removed from his 2022 knee injury, and Denver also added a talented RB in the NFL Draft in Audric Estime. Offensively, the Broncos got younger and more explosive.
Defensively was where the team truly suffered. They were especially poor along the defensive front, so what did they do to fix that? They added a plus-defender in John Franklin-Myers of the New York Jets, which gives them a above-average duo along the defensive line with Zach Allen, who had 24 QB hits in 2023.
At defensive tackle, they added legitimate depth with Malcolm Roach and Angelo Blackson. Roach was among the best run defenders in the NFL in 2023. The Broncos also had some problems in the secondary, so what did they do? They added a strong veteran CB in Levi Wallace, signed a utility knife at safety in Brandon Jones, and also took a consensus top-75 player in Kris Abrams-Draine in the NFL Draft.
Abrams-Draine somehow fell into the fifth round. The Broncos also had made an in-season change of replacing former CB Essang Bassey with Ja'Quan McMillian. McMillian quickly proved to be an above-average slot cornerback.
Now yes, I am not here saying that the Broncos are going to win 11 games and make a deep playoff run, but it's silly to discount this team the way people have thus far in the offseason.