2023-10-15 05:25:50
Things continue to go from bad to worse for the Denver Broncos.
After Thursday’s 19-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs dropped Denver to 1-5 — the worst start in franchise history — one question looms over the Broncos: Where do they go from here?
Denver hit a crossroads following the 2021 season following finishing 7-10 and taking last in the AFC West for the second straight season.
Head coach Vic Fangio was let go following the season, and the Broncos seemed to just be a piece or two — most notably a quarterback — away from contending following bolstering the third-best scoring defense in the NFL that season.
So Denver decided it was time to go all in, and well, it’s not going well.
The Broncos quickly set their sights on future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers as potential trade partners.
Denver reportedly was ready to send Green Bay three first-round picks, Drew Lock and Jerry Juedy to acquire Rodgers, but the trade fell through at the last minute and Green Bay decided to run it back with Rodgers one more time before sending him to the New York Jets following the 2022 season and an infamous darkness retreat.
The Broncos then quickly pivoted and agreed to a deal that sent six draft picks — two first-rounders, two seconds, a fourth and a fifth — plus quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant to the Seattle Seahawks for then-33-year-old quarterback Russell Wilson last March.
Wilson had been on a possible Hall of Fame trajectory through his 10 seasons in Seattle, finishing with a 104-53-1 record as the starter for the Seahawks while racking up 37,059 passing yards and 292 passing touchdowns to just 87 interceptions.
This was plenty of evidence for John Elway, who was the Broncos’ general manager at the time, to put together a huge trade package to acquire Wilson before signing him to a five-year, $245-million that would last through his age 40 season.
Elway continued to spend big money headed into the 2022 season and signed edge rusher Randy Gregory to five-year, $70-million deal.
Trading for Wilson and signing Gregory looked from the outside like it might take a young, talented roster and put it over the edge and into contention with the elite teams at the top of the AFC.
Wrong.
The 2022 season was a disaster, to put it kindly. Led by their new quarterback, the Broncos had the worst offense in the NFL with just 16.9 points per game, finished 5-12 and last place in the division once more and let go of Hackett as head coach before his first season was even completed.
Hackett was widely blamed for the team’s failure to produce with Wilson at quarterback, leading the team to think it was just a coach away from contention this time.
This led Denver to another extremely aggressive move in trading for a new coach, Sean Payton.
Payton retired in January 2022 and spent last season as an analyst for Fox Sports, but the New Orleans Saints owned the rights to Payton through 2024, meaning the Broncos would have to, yet once more, put together a trade package to acquire him.
Denver was able to get a deal done, sending the No. 30 pick in the 2023 draft and a 2024 second-rounder to the Saints for Payton and a 2024 third-round pick.
And in Broncos’ fashion, they signed Payton to a five-year deal where he can earn up to $100 million.
If anybody might turn around the situation, Payton might. Right?
Wrong, once more.
Fast forward through the first six games of this season, Denver is preparing for a fire sale.
The Broncos have already traded Gregory to the San Francisco 49ers for pennies on the dollar, pairing him with a seventh-round pick to acquire a sixth-round pick in return, released Frank Clark, Wilson is likely to get benched soon and many more moves seem to be on the horizon in the coming weeks.
Denver will continue trying to move on from pieces that can help replenish the quantity of draft picks it has traded away in the past two offseasons, but the Broncos may be stuck with Wilson.
Wilson is under contract through 2028 and does not have a potential out in the deal until before the 2026 season, which would bring along a $31.2-million dead cap hit.
It’s clear the relationship between Wilson and Payton is not working, but I find it very hard to believe a team is going to trade anything for an aging quarterback that has struggled during the past three seasons on the field and refuses to develop any relationship with teammates off of it.
The best case scenario would be a tank for Caleb Williams — which Payton has been on record saying is the type of generational player teams will purposely lose for.
The road to the top pick will be tricky, though. The Chicago Bears are in a great position for the top pick with a 1-5 record, including a loss to Denver that would give them the tiebreaker in case the two sides end with the same record, and have the rights to the Carolina Panthers’ first-round pick — the only winless team in the NFL.
So I once once more ask the question: What in the world do the Broncos do now?
There is no clear answer to the question and it may be a long few years ahead in Denver.
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