What a difference a year makes.
Last year at this time, the Denver Broncos had their fingers crossed that Bo Nix was the right quarterback to get in the NFL draft as they looked to turn around a franchise that had gone through some its darkest days, missing the playoffs for nearly a decade straight and dealing with the disastrous move to acquire Russell Wilson.
Nix proved that he was the right choice and that started a domino effect that rejuvenated the Broncos in 2024, leading to a Wild Card berth. Following a successful offseason, the Broncos are in a position to contend in 2025, and Eric Edholm of NFL.com has taken notice.
Edholm chose to rank the 10 most complete rosters in the NFL and though they just slid in, the Broncos did get the No. 10 spot, a far cry from where they were not that long ago.
"The Broncos feature a top-five defense, and if you were to argue it is the league's very best, I wouldn't push back all that hard. Reigning DPOY Pat Surtain II headlines a very strong secondary that added Talanoa Hufanga and rookie Jahdae Barron this offseason. There's space for another pass rusher to emerge alongside Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto, and there are injury concerns with Hufanga and at linebacker, which will be manned by Dre Greenlaw, Alex Singleton and Drew Sanders. But all in all, this defense stacks up about as well as any unit in the league.
And it will be tested through a tough early stretch on the schedule . There's also no guarantee Nix will take a proverbial step forward in Year 2 -- don't be fooled into thinking that young quarterbacks will automatically do so -- or that the skill talent will stack up with the league's better clubs. Still, this ranking is warranted, thanks to what the Broncos have working for them on both sides of the ball", wrote Edholm.
He noted that the Broncos could have made better use of their draft picks, but still slotted the Broncos in his top 10, ahead of teams like the Commanders, Rams and Chargers. Only three AFC teams (Ravens, Chiefs and Bills) appeared higher on the list than the Broncos.
The league is beginning to take notice of the great work the Broncos are doing to climb back to relevance.
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