3 Serious Questions the 2023 Broncos Have to Answer

There's a lot of hype and hope surrounding the Denver Broncos as the 2023 season inches closer with each passing day. The hiring of Sean Payton has rekindled a lot of hope after such a disappointing 2022 season when everything fell off the rails.

However, there's also some cautious optimism about the Broncos' 2023 outlook, and rightfully so. However, despite all of the improvements the Broncos have made, there are three potential issues that could lead to an underwhelming season.

While Denver can do a lot to improve the roster, not every factor or variable can be accounted for. Hopefully, by the season's end, these potential issues either didn't materialize or were overcome, and the Broncos have a successful season.

If the Broncos fail to launch once again, these three factors probably are what played a significant role.

Russell Wilson: Does He Bounce Back?

I'm mentioning Wilson just to slam on the guy. There's hope he can turn it around, and I share that optimism. Turning it around would be huge for the Broncos after everything they've invested in him, both in money and four top 50 draft picks, plus much more.

However, there was something wrong with Wilson in 2022, and not all of it can be placed on the shoulders of incompetent coaching. For starters, the Broncos' offense was 'co-authored' by Wilson with purportedly not as much coaching input as fans might think. It was an offense Wilson wanted to run, and when it was clear he couldn't, neither the coaches nor the quarterback himself took action to change course.

There are also injury concerns as Wilson is older (34) and has missed action in the last two seasons, but more on that later. He has issues holding the ball too long, taking sacks he doesn't need instead of throwing the ball away. Wilson had issues reading the field, both pre and post-snap.

However, there are some positives to look at to suggest Wilson will bounce back some. While he may not end up a top-10 quarterback, the Broncos just need to avoid him being in the bottom three. Making the top 16 should be good enough to rebound this season.

One of Wilson's positives is how humbling the 2022 season was for him. It was a massive ego check, and he seems to have put it aside and bought into what Payton and the new coaching staff are wanting to do. That means we won't see Wilson try to be a quarterback he isn't.

There's also the positive of how Wilson improved after Nathaniel Hackett was fired, which saw interim head coach Jerry Rosburg opt to remove Klint Kubiak as the play-caller and give the duties to offensive coordinator Justin Outten. None of the three coaches remain in Denver.

In the final two games of the season, the Broncos went away from what Wilson wanted to do and focused on what he could do well, and while it still wasn't great, it was palpably better. Being in an offense focused on his strengths for a full season should lead to improvement.

The issues with Wilson's pre and post-snap reads will still be there to some degree, but the Broncos' offense is going to limit those limitations with the concepts Payton runs. So there are many reasons to buy into Wilson.

In all honesty, it's next to impossible for him to be worse. If Wilson can't bounce back, and it turns out that Denver's issues were more on Wilson than coaching last year, the 2023 season could fall off the rails rather quickly.

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Can a Bad Injury History be Overcome?

Yes, injuries have to be factored into the Broncos' calculus. Looking at teams who make changes to training staff and strength and conditioning coaches, it isn't common to see a marked improvement in Year 1 of said changes. In fact, it's more common to see teams face a negative impact initially as players adjust to the changes in how things are done and the time it takes for the body to adapt. Not all strength and conditioning staffs do things the same way.

Adding to the issues is how many key players carry the 'injury-prone' tag or are even coming off major injuries. Again, Wilson has dealt with injuries in each of the last two seasons that have caused him to miss games. Is Jarrett Stidham enough to drive the Broncos to wins if Wilson misses time?

When it comes to the playmakers on offense, wide receiver Tim Patrick has dealt with injuries consistently going back to college, and Jerry Jeudy has dealt with multiple injuries during his time. Running back Javonte Williams is coming off of a serious knee injury, while tight end Greg Dulcich missed a lot of time during his rookie year with injuries.

On the offensive line, left tackle Garett Bolles is coming off a broken leg injury, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey has dealt with injuries often. Right guard Quinn Meinerz missed time in 2022 with an injury, a crucial year for his development, and so did center Lloyd Cushenberry III.

This adds up to a lot of key pieces on offense who are recovering from injury or have a significant history. It gets even more concerning when you look at the defense.

Among the Broncos' three top edge rushers, only one has played a full season starting. Denver's top two interior defensive linemen — Zach Allen and D.J. Jones — have one full season starting out of 10 combined years in the NFL.

One of the Broncos' top linebackers (Josey Jewell) has missed a lot of action because of injury, and a projected starting safety is coming off a serious hip injury (Caden Sterns). It's great that cornerback Patrick Surtain II started every game in 2021, but there were a couple of games he missed time. Safety Justin Simmons also missed time in 2022 as well.

The Broncos' injury history is extensive, and the history of teams making a strength and conditioning change, adding new coaches to help players recover from injuries and prepare their bodies for NFL attrition, isn't a guarantee of success. Oftentimes, teams don't see a significant improvement on the collective injury front until the injury-prone players are jettisoned.

Bottom line, if the Broncos fail to meet expectations in 2023, the most likely reason will be the injury bug.

Will the Culture Shock be Too Much at First?

This one is simple yet complicated. The Broncos are imbued with a losing mentality, which has been fostered after years of being one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Payton's arrival is encouraging, though. He's a proven winner with the 23rd-most wins all-time as a head coach. He has a Super Bowl Championship to his name and only four seasons (out of 15) with a losing record.

A new coach taking the reins of a team that has forgotten how to win can be a huge culture shock. Adding to it are all the differences in how the day-to-day stuff will be handled in practice and meetings. Some players may not buy-in, which could lead to issues behind the scenes or on the field.

However, the biggest change here is Vance Joseph's return as the defensive coordinator. He's an extremely aggressive coach who was in the top five in blitz percentage in each of his four years as the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, where he blitzed 35-40% of the time.

The Broncos were aggressive during the 2022 season under then-DC Ejiro Evero, but they were a more passive defense prior to that under Vic Fangio. It's well-known that teams will have a hard time handling a couple of the quarterbacks in the AFC West by being aggressive with blitzing.

So bringing Joseph back may not be a culture shock to the players, but returning to the AFC West could be such a shock to Joseph. Being in a division with Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert isn't an easy task.

If the Broncos can't handle the culture shock of a winning head coach assuming command, the product on the field will suffer. If Joseph can't handle the culture shock of being in the AFC West, the Broncos defense will likely take a step back.

The Broncos can't afford to do that if they want to remain competitively relevant in 2023.

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