Competing or rebuilding: What Broncos fans should realistically expect in 2019

The Broncos are undergoing a sea change with Vic Fangio at the coaching helm. What does that mean for Denver's 2019 prospects?

The regular season is just two weeks away. Two weeks! 

As the preseason wraps up, Denver Broncos fans are finally starting to get a slightly clearer picture of how this team may look in 2019.

It is easy this time of year to get caught up in the preseason hype. I’ll admit I was even optimistic this time of year heading into the Vance Joseph seasons and obviously was very, very wrong to think that.

Broncos through a different lens

Let’s pretend for a second that you’re not a Broncos fan. You’re just an unbiased and most importantly, educated (so no Raiders, Chiefs, Bills... so just remember this is hypothetical), NFL fan with no team allegiances.

Keep that lens on and look at the 2019 Denver Broncos.

You see a team that’s coming off an 11-21 record the past two seasons. A team that has gone from Trevor Siemian to Paxton Lynch to Brock Osweiler to Case Keenum and now to... Joe Flacco at quarterback in the three seasons since Peyton Manning retired. 

This is a team that has unfortunately taken quite the backseat to national media attention in that same time span.

Back to Broncos fans for a second.

It is so easy say how much better the coaching staff looks this year compared to the downright embarrassing 'leadership of men' over the last two seasons. All Vance Joseph jokes aside, he and his staff alone is likely two wins a year worse than Vic Fangio, Rich Scangarello, and Mike Munchak.

But coaching can only raise boats so much — you still have to have above-average-to-elite talent to win in the NFL. And this team is not devoid of elite talent with players like Von Miller and Chris Harris, Jr.

The reason many expect the Broncos to be a sub-.500 team this year is because of the offense. The scoring side of the ball has held this team back significantly over the last two seasons. There are a lot of encouraging aspects to this offense, but it still has to all materialize on the field.

For the offense to improve, fans have to hope for a combination of as many of the following things:

• Flacco proves to be an improvement over Keenum
• Sanders is his old self
• Second-year receivers Sutton, Hamilton, and Patrick improve significantly
• Lindsay and Freeman build on their rookie years
• Noah Fant makes an immediate impact
• The offensive line is at least average
• No significant injuries

If the Broncos are somehow able to hit on all of the above, you could start to imagine a 10-win season. But only hitting on a couple of those benchmarks could spell much much worse.

The saving grace has to be the defense. And with Fangio at the helm, I’d have my money on the Broncos having an elite defense this year.

There’s just a lot to like. What area of the defense did the Broncos get worse in? I can’t think of one. In fact, I could argue the Broncos have improved almost across the board.

The secondary has looked incredible during the preseason. New additions Kareem Jackson and Bryce Callahan stepped right in and have been making their presences felt, although we're yet to see Callahan in-game. Young players Isaac Yiadom and De’Vante Bausby have also impressed.

The defensive line depth is crazy. I don’t think many expected to see such great depth out of this unit. Backups like Zach Kerr and Dre’Mont Jones have played incredible. DeMarcus Walker also has shown up every now and then.

You also feel in your gut that this could be a career year for Von Miller and Bradley Chubb — all signs certainly point to it.

The only apparent Achilles heel is at inside linebacker, but this group isn’t in a worse spot than they were last year. One hopes Fangio will find and coach up someone to avoid allowing this position to become a major vulnerability.

Put this all together and this Broncos defense could be significantly improved from 2018.

So where does that put this team?

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As opportunistic fans, it’s easy to throw out a record prediction like 10-6, thinking the offense improves significantly and the defense is elite again. Honestly I’m right there, I could see this happening, but only if everything we think will happen actually happens. Why?

Look at the schedule!

• W1: @ Raiders

• W2: vs Bears

• W3: @ Packers

• W4: vs Jaguars

• W5: @ Chargers

• W6: vs Titans

• W7: vs Chiefs

• W8: @ Colts

• W9: vs Browns

• W10: BYE

• W11: @ Vikings

• W12: @ Bills

• W13: vs Chargers

• W14: @ Texans

• W15: @ Chiefs

• W16: vs Lions

• W17: vs Raiders

Really look through each game. How many are you confident the Broncos will win? 

I’m thinking Denver should be able to beat the Titans, Bills, Lions, and snag two division wins. So five wins? And I’m not thinking any of those are gimmies.

There are also seven games on that schedule against teams that made the playoffs last year. Are the Broncos good enough to win two of those?

From that schedule, it starts to become difficult to find a path to the playoffs for the Broncos. That is why we must appreciate what this season for what it will be.

This is a rebuilding year 

Sure, it would be fantastic to catch lightning in a bottle and see Denver return to the playoffs. It is certainly possible — but the goals for this season have to be talent development and rebuilding the winning culture.

This team has a lot of amazing, young players. Bradley Chubb is a rising star, as is Phillip Lindsay. Rookie LG Dalton Risner is already looking like an NFL captain. 

Elite Hall-of-Fame caliber veterans Chris Harris, Jr. and Von Miller don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. And the Broncos have a ton of high-upside supporting starters on both sides of the ball.

Look, I love the Denver Broncos, win or lose. And if I’m being completely honest with myself, I know there are still too many question marks on this roster that need to be answered before being back in the Lombardi discussion.

The biggest question mark of all continues to be the offensive line. Maybe those questions will be answered this season, but it’s more likely this team needs one more offseason to get back into the hunt.

If everything works out, Drew Lock will be a big part of that leap back to the playoffs when the time comes.

So let’s just go into the season appreciating it for what it is, and make sure we aren’t setting unlofty expectations. For the first time in a few seasons, there is a lot of optimism for the direction of this team.

Let’s enjoy the ride.

Follow Trevor on Twitter @TrevorJudge.