Broncos' Roster Ranked No. 10 Overall by PFF
As the injury bug decimated the roster, the Denver Broncos' depth had been exposed last season. The Broncos lost nearly every player on the roster who'd ever sniffed a Pro Bowl.
Fast forward to the 2021 NFL summer, and on paper, the Broncos' roster no longer looks quite so anemic. After new GM George Paton restocked the shelves via free agency and the NFL draft, the Broncos are loaded for bear on this 2021 hunt.
Even the likes of Pro Football Focus, which has taken a very skeptical and at times adversarial position on the post-Super Bowl 50 Broncos, has taken notice. PFF's Ben Linsey ranked the Broncos as the 10th-best roster in the NFL this past week.
In the AFC, juggernauts the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Ravens — all of which were in the playoffs this past January — were the only clubs ranked higher than the Broncos when it comes to roster depth and talent. What does it mean?
The rub is this: the Broncos have the talent to go toe-to-toe with any opponent in the NFL.
Beating stiff competition, though, and returning to the postseason for the first time since the 2015 campaign, won't come down to how well Von Miller and Bradley Chubb get after the quarterback, or how many interceptions the Justin Simmons-led secondary tally.
No, it'll come down to Drew Lock and/or Teddy Bridgewater.
The quarterback position is really the only persisting question mark on this roster. Now, coaching acumen, that's a different story.
When it comes to personnel, the Broncos will go exactly as far as their quarterback can take them. The Broncos bet on Lock by passing on Justin Fields at pick 9 in the draft, though Paton hedged by acquiring Bridgewater via trade.
Why did Paton stick with Lock? Based on what the GM has said publicly, the Broncos still believe Lock has "all the tools" teams look for.
The talent is there, in other words, it's just a matter of putting it all together once and for all. If Lock bombs or fails to launch, Bridgwater has proven at past NFL stops that he can step in and quarterback a deep roster like Denver's and keep the team competitive.
Star Wars numbers? Don't count on it but with a smothering defense shutting down opponents and giving the offense extra possessions, combined with a potentially prolific one-two punch rushing attack, and an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions, Bridgewater could ostensibly not just keep the Broncos' ship afloat, but win some games.
Bridgewater's presence elevates the Broncos' floor. And that's comforting to fans. But Lock's ceiling dwarfs that of Teddy Two-Gloves.
Ceilings are a non-issue, however, if a quarterback can't even come close to touching it with his hands. Time will tell whether Year 3 is when Lock finally turns the corner and helps launch the Broncos into the NFL stratosphere like his NFL-rival quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson did for their respective clubs.
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