Getty Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
The instinct is to do something. To tinker. To try and improve the roster in any capacity — any little way that might give your team even the slightest advantage moving forward.
Sometimes, the right thing to do is just not mess with a good thing. And right now, the Denver Broncos have a good thing going. Maybe making a move before the NFL trade deadline on November 5 isn’t the best course of action.
ESPN NFL insider Bill Barnwell thinks the Broncos are one of a group of playoff contenders who should not make a move before the trade deadline.
“The Denver rebuild is ahead of schedule,” Barnwell wrote. “A blowout victory over the Panthers in Week 8 took Sean Payton’s team to 5-3, and its plus-53 point differential suggests the success isn’t a fluke. The Broncos’ playoff chances have jumped from 12.6% before the season to 42.8%, and they’re in a position where they could realistically consider adding talent for the second half of the campaign.”
While that sounds like a pretty compelling reason for the Broncos to make a trade, Barnewell’s final verdict on the Broncos was for them to “stay put at the trade deadline.”
What Broncos Need to Improve on Offense
While it doesn’t seem fair to put the entire trajectory of the Broncos’ season on the shoulders of one player, rookie quarterback Bo Nix’s improvement will be the biggest factor in whether or not the franchise ends a decade-long playoff drought.
Nix, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, might already be considered a game manager with upside. He’s coming off his best game as a pro in a 28-14 win over the Carolina Panthers, but torching arguably the league’s worst team might not be the best way to gauge his improvement.
One thing Nix doesn’t have right now are reliable offensive skill players around him. Perhaps the most disappointing part of that has been veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who drew the ire of Payton after losing a fumble at the goal line late in the Broncos’ win over the Panthers.
Sutton leads the Broncos with 29 receptions for 377 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he’s done so with 58 targets. That’s not a good rate of return for a player who spent the majority of the offseason campaigning for a raise — which he got — and will make $27.4 million over the last 2 years of his contract, which runs out after 2025.
Sean Payton was not happy with the way the Broncos closed the game Sunday, yelling at Courtland Sutton after fumbling the football up 28-7. Sean’s wanted his team to keep the foot on the gas. Then postgame Jaycee Horn barked at Payton for trying to run up the score. @KKTV11Sports
What Broncos Need to Improve on Defense
You can make an argument that the Broncos’ defense has been good enough this season that if the offense would have been even halfway competent to start the season they would have had a good chance at being either a 1-loss team or undefeated.
All 3 of the Broncos losses have been by one score, and the opposing team never scored more than 30 points in any of those losses, including an 0-2 start after a 26-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and a 13-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Denver is third in the NFL in team defense (282.6 yards) and third in scoring defense (15.0 points) headed into Week 9.
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NFL Insider Urges Broncos to ‘Stay Put’ at NFL Trade Deadline