5 Reasons Broncos Preseason Hype Was Unjustified

The Denver Broncos have failed to meet expectations through the first quarter of the season.

Prior to the 2022 NFL season getting underway, plenty of Denver Broncos fans had visions of a Super Bowl dancing through their heads. After all, the Broncos had acquired quarterback Russell Wilson in a trade, and some people thought the team was a quarterback away from breaking through.

However, after four weeks, it's become clear that this Broncos team is not yet a Super Bowl contender. While the playoffs aren't out of the question, even with the mistakes that have been made, expecting a Super Bowl win this year was too much.

The truth is, while the Broncos did make an 'all-in' move to acquire Wilson, it wasn't going to put the Broncos over the top by itself. The Broncos failed to make the playoffs last season, and you can't declare a team to be a Super Bowl contender until it proves to be a playoff contender first.

And there were going to be plenty of things the Broncos had to prove to demonstrate that they were a playoff contender. There would not be a quick fix because going into 2022, there were plenty of areas in which the Broncos were unproven, even with acquiring a proven quarterback.

Let's go over some of the reasons why it was premature to call the Broncos a Super Bowl contender before they played a game.

1. Nathaniel Hackett is Still Learning his Way

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Certainly, Hackett has made a few frustratingly bad decisions, most notably his call to kick a 64-yard field goal with more than a minute left against the Seattle Seahawks on a fateful 4th-&-5. However, while Broncos fans shouldn't have expected decisions like that, they should have expected that Hackett would have to learn a few things.

Unlike John Fox and Gary Kubiak, both of whom saw the Broncos reach the playoffs in their first year with the team (and in Kubiak's case, the Super Bowl), Hackett had no prior head-coaching experience. Fox and Kubiak, while not perfect, got to learn things about guiding a team from previous stints, whereas Hackett had a lot to learn.

Hackett has shown a willingness to get better, and while he still has issues, he did a better job with decisions against the San Francisco 49ers, and his play calling against the Las Vegas Raiders, while not great, wasn't terrible, either.

Only after this 17-game season will we know if Hackett might be the right head coach for the job. And while we shouldn't expect decisions as terrible as that long field goal try, we should expect Hackett to go through a learning curve.

2. Wilson Needed Time to Adjust to a New Offense

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Back when the Broncos signed Peyton Manning, they took an important step toward becoming a Super Bowl contender. However, while Russell Wilson is a future Hall-of-Famer, he's not exactly like Manning.

A key difference between the two is that Manning was used to calling plays himself. Wilson can certainly make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, but he doesn't call every play on every down as Manning did.

Thus, Wilson was going to take a little time to get comfortable with a new offense and understand what Hackett had in mind.

The good news is that Wilson played better this past Sunday than he did the two previous games. There is concern about his shoulder, but hopefully, it's not serious and Wilson will continue to improve in the weeks to come.

3. The O-Line is a Work in Progress

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The Broncos' offensive line had a poor outing against the Raiders and didn't do a good job responding to the physical play the opponent brought.

While losing O-line coach Mike Munchak didn't help, the truth is that the Broncos didn't have everything settled within the unit and there wasn't going to be a quick fix.

Garett Bolles is a fine left tackle and Quinn Meinerz has the potential to be a quality guard, but Dalton Risner's long-term future is iffy, Lloyd Cushenberry still hasn't proven he's the answer at the center and the Broncos don't have their long-term guy at right tackle on the current roster.

It will likely take another season before the Broncos find additional players who can help out on the line and fit the scheme Hackett and company want to run. The Broncos may have to explore free agency in 2023, though the draft can't be ruled out.

4. Defense Lacks a Game-Changing Front Seven

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While the Broncos have some players that can do a good job in the pass rush, they don't have a guy like Von Miller in his prime. Miller, as you will recall, transformed the Broncos' defense in his first year with the team.

The likes of Randy Gregory, Bradley Chubb, Dre'Mont Jones, D.J. Jones, and Josey Jewell are quality players, but none of them are comparable to Miller in his prime. And with Gregory set to miss at least four weeks, it remains to be seen what others can do, though expecting them to be like Miller is expecting too much.

That doesn't mean the defense can't be a good unit — a top 10 unit isn't out of the question. But having a game-changer in that front seven is what really puts a defense over the top and makes it one that can get you to a Super Bowl. And the Broncos don't have such a player at this time.

5. Depth Still Needs Some Work

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While the Broncos have quality starters at most positions, depth remains an issue. Teams that are stacked with depth have a better shot at the Super Bowl than teams who don't have it.

At safety, the Broncos don't have a player who can pick up the load with Justin Simmons out. Kareem Jackson isn't the player he once was and, while Caden Sterns is giving a lot of effort, he still hasn't reached his full potential.

The Broncos also don't have a lot of depth on the defensive line, aside from Mike Purcell. While there are young players with potential, they are still developing.

At tight end, the Broncos have gotten solid play out of Eric Saubert, but Albert Okwuegbunam appears to have fallen out of favor with the coaching staff. Running back depth is an issue, between concerns about Melvin Gordon's ball security and Mike Boone's issues with pass-catching and pass protection.

Depth can be acquired over time, but it wasn't going to be perfect immediately. In some cases, it's about finding players who can fit the schemes, while in other cases, it's about special teams — and the latter was something the Broncos really needed to improve going into 2022.

Bottom Line

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Bronco fans shouldn't give up on the season just yet, but it does help to have some perspective. While the team is better in some ways than last year, it still has plenty of room for improvement.

One thing Broncos fans can do is not get caught up in the hype. By this, I don't mean they can't criticize anything that goes wrong — I mean, they need not to get caught up in the drama that can surround a particular game.

All the talk was about Wilson facing his former team in Week 1 vs. the Seahawks. With the Raiders, not only was it an AFC West rival but a team coached by Josh McDaniels, who had a failed stint with the Broncos.

The narratives about Wilson's former team and a former Broncos head coach might cause one to expect too much out of the team. That doesn't mean you don't expect to win games (you should), but it does mean you need to put the hype aside and focus on what's important — and that's improving as a team and learning from mistakes.

The other thing to watch is comparing everything GM George Paton has done thus far to what John Elway did in his first two years. Elway did good things his first couple of years, but fortune smiled upon him in some cases.

Consider that Elway got two game changers in his first two seasons: Von Miller and Peyton Manning. That gave him the perfect players to build around and assemble a Super Bowl contender quicker than he might have otherwise.

Paton did well to land Wilson, and Patrick Surtain II looks like a keeper, but he still has work ahead of him. What's important is how he evaluates everything this season, then responds in the coming offseason.

Again, one can't rule out a playoff trip just yet, but expecting an immediate Super Bowl was expecting too much. For teams who recently won Super Bowls, such as Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and the L.A. Rams, they didn't get them through an overnight process, but through building over the long term until they found the QB to put them over the top.

Paton may have that QB, but he doesn't have everything in place just yet. Once the 2022 season is finished, we'll know more about what he does have in place, and how much closer the Broncos really are to a possible Super Bowl trip.

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