Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos were founded in 1959 by Minor League Baseball owner, Bob Howsam. Howsam originally tried bringing a franchise to Denver through the NFL, but was ultimately rejected. After the NFL denied him, Howsam and a few others would create the AFL.

Denver would play 10 years in the AFL and would join the NFL after the AFL-NFL Merger.

Championships/Achievements

During their AFL years, the Broncos were one of the worst teams. Through their 10 years in the AFL, the Broncos finished 39-97-4 and never made a title game. Thankfully for the Broncos, they would be more successful in the NFL than they were in the AFL.

So far, the Denver Broncos have won three Super Bowls and have made the Super Bowl eight times in total. The Broncos have also managed to win the AFC West fifteen times, most recently in 2015.

Ownership

The Broncos most recent owner was Pat Bowlen. Bowlen was the owner of the Broncos until his passing last year. With Bowlen gone, the ownership situation is a bit in flux.

There is an ownership battle between the trust that Bowlen chose in 2009 and the Bowlen family. The trust includes team president Joe Ellis, Bowlen’s General Counsel Rich Slivka, and his attorney Mark Kelly. The Bowlen family has made several legal claims against the trust saying that they were not acting in good faith.

Front Office

The current GM of the Denver Broncos is former Bronco great, John Elway. Elway joined the team in 2011 as GM and vice president of football operations. After advisor Brian Xanders left the team after the 2011 season, Elway would take full control of the Broncos football operations.

As GM of the Broncos, Elway has managed to win one Super Bowl with the Broncos in 2016.

Coaching Staff

The current head coach of the Denver Broncos is Vic Fangio. Through most of Fangios coaching career, he has mainly stayed on the defensive side of the ball.

Fangio joined the Broncos in 2019. Fangio’s first year with the Broncos was also his first year as a head coach as he finished with a 7-9 record.

Roster

QB

Drew Lock

Jeff Driskel

Brett Rypien

RB

LeVaunte Bellamy

Jeremy Cox

Royce Freeman

Melvin Gordan

Phillip Lindsay

Tight End

Jake Butt

Noah Fant

Troy Fumagali

Albert Okwuegbunam

Nick Vanet

Wide Receiver

Fred Brown

Tyrie Cleveland

DaeSean Hamilton

KJ Hamler

Jerry Jeudy

Courtland Sutton

Tim Patrick

Diontae Spencer

Offensive Line

Quinn Bailey

Garett Bolles

Demar Dotson

Jake Rodgers

Hunter Watts

Netane Muti

Dalton Risner

Llyod Cushenberry

Patrick Morris

Austin Schlottmann

Elijah Wilkenson

Graham Glasgow

Defensive Line

Shelby Harris

DeMarcus Walker

McTelvin Agim

Jurrell Casey

Mike Purcell

Bradley Chubb

Von Miller

Linebacker

Alexander Johnson

Todd Davis

Josh Watson

Josey Jewell

Justin Strnad

Cornerback

De’Vaunte Bausby

AJ Bouye

Bryce Callahan

Duke Dawson Jr

Michael Ojemudia

Isaac Yiadom

Essang Bassey

Safety

Kareem Jackson

Justin Simmons

Trey Marshall

PJ Locke

Most Well Known Players

John Elway

John Elway is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and the most well known Bronco of all time.

Before Elway would join the Broncos, he would play his college ball at Stanford. While at Stanford, Elway would dominate the PAC-12 and college football alike as he would win the PAC-12 offensive player of the year award twice, the PAC-12 Player of the Year award once, and the Heisman trophy.

Heading into the 1983 draft, Elway was thought of as one of the top prospects of the class. With the first pick overall, the Denver Broncos would take John Elway, and their franchise would never be the same.

Elway would play 15 years for the Broncos and would establish himself as an all-time great. Elway would win the MVP once and would help lead the Broncos to two Super Bowl wins.

Elway retired after the 1998 season, but would later return to the Broncos in a front-office role in 2011. Elway was instrumental in bringing in Peyton Manning who would go on to help the Broncos win a Super Bowl.

Denver Broncos Team Betting Preview

“We are living in a world of suck.”

Those were the famous words spoken by former Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. after his team started 0-4 during the 2019 NFL season. Harris, who has since been signed by the Los Angles Chargers, witnessed an offense that finished the season 26th or worse in yards per play, yards per game, passing yards per game, third-down conversion rate, red zone touchdown rate and scoring.

Denver ended up finishing the year 7-9 and missed out on the playoffs for the third consecutive season. General Manager and President of Football Operations, John Elway, has utilized seven different starting quarterbacks since Peyton Manning retired back in 2016 and all have failed to produce a single playoff appearance. The current defense has only one remaining starter from the Super Bowl 50 roster (Von Miller) and the offense is on their fourth offensive coordinator in the last four years.

The Broncos need stability. In 2020, they may finally have that.

Key Moves in the Offseason

Solid defensive additions

Denver’s defense, who ranked 10th overall in points allowed in 2019, has a chance to be a top-5 defense in 2020. Besides the resigning of key players like All-Pro safety Justin Simmons and defensive lineman Shelby Harris, Head coach Vic Fangio has some new toys throw into the mix.

Jurrell Casey was, by far, the biggest steal of the 2020 offseason. The five-time pro bowler got traded to the Broncos from the Tennessee Titans for a mere seventh-round pick back in March. Casey recorded 44 tackles, five sacks, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in the regular season. He also added a forced fumble and 2.5 sacks in the postseason. He also has a chance at revenge against his former team as Denver opens up the season against the Titans on Sept. 14.

A.J. Bouye was the other big-name addition along with Casey. The former Jacksonville Jaguar cornerback got traded to the Mile High City for a fourth-round pick as a part of the Jags cleansing out their secondary to make room for cap space. Bouye will look to fill the role left by Chris Harris Jr. as the primary pass defender. At only 28 years old, Bouye is two years younger than Harris and has the ability to cover No.1 receivers.

Another talented rookie class

The rookies over the last two seasons have shined for the Broncos. Two years ago it was Bradley Chubb and Philip Lindsay turning heads, and then 2019 it was Drew Lock and Noah Fant. Now it appears like 2020 may be better than the past two years combined.

Jerry Jeudy was Elway’s first-ever Alabama selection in his tenure as decision-maker for the Broncos’ front office. Jeudy was listed as the top-overall wide receiver in the 2020 draft class but somehow fell to the Broncos at Pick 15 in Round 1. Then in Round 2, Denver would return to the receiver list to pick Penn State’s, KJ Hamler. Both Jeudy and Hamler have the possibility of starting Week 1.

Those two speedsters, along with Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant, give Drew Lock plenty of options to work with.

Other potential key picks consist of center Lloyd Cushenberry III from LSU, who has been getting reps with the first-team offense during training camp, and Michael Ojemudia, the cornerback from Iowa, has the chance to be the number-three corner on Fangio’s defense.

Player Profiles

Drew Lock

John Elway has spent enough time on the quarterback carousel since their most recent super bowl win. After trying and failing with six different men under center, Denver may have finally found their man…and that’s on lock.

The second-year starter and a former second-round draft pick, from the University of Missouri, ended his rookie year going 4-1 in his first five NFL starts. Lock has been deemed the new franchise guy by the Denver fan base despite the national skepticism of the young QB.

In his first five starts, Lock completed 64.1 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. His best performance came in a Week 14 win against the Houston Texans that saw Lock rack up 309 yards, three TD and one INT. That was the same game Lock broke out the “Buzz Lightyear” celebration pretending to shoot lasers off his play sheet that hooked around his wrist.

Besides the swagger, gunslinger mentality and natural athletic ability, Lock has the team and management behind him. Von Miller has been the self-proclaimed “President of the Drew Lock Fan Club” saying that Lock is “definitely the franchise QB.”

Sports Illustrated is predicting Lock to complete 62.5 percent of his passes and throw for a projected 3,760 yards, 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

His MVP odds are surprisingly good for guy who has played in only five NFL games. BetMGM is giving Lock 65/1 odds to win MVP in their most recent predictions which is significantly better than the 150/1 odds they gave him back in February.

Philip Lindsay

“The Colorado Kid” has had a pretty successful first two years in the league. The former Colorado Buffalo has racked up two 1,000-yard seasons which is the first of his kind to do so out of any undrafted rookie free agent. Lindsay averaged 4.5 yards per carry this last season and scored seven touchdowns which were 30 percent of Denver’s total offense.

With the recent addition of Melvin Gordon, Lindsay will have to fight for reps. However, Vic Fangio says there is no reason why both running backs can have a starting position. The theory of using two running backs for the majority of the offensive snaps is something offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur will have to mess around with during his first year with the team.

Lindsay is known for beating the odds ever since he graduated from Denver South High School. He is known for being a smaller back but has said to gain 10lbs of muscle during the recent offseason so we will see if the added padding will lead to more yards on the ground.

Alexander Johnson

This man was the biggest dark horse on the Broncos roster going into the 2019 season. However, after working his way into the starting inside linebacker position, the “Dino” ended the season with 51 solo tackle, five tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in 12 starts.

His long hair and ecstatic dinosaur-like celebration made him an instant crowd favorite in Denver as well as prime starting spot on Vic Fangio’s defense next to Todd Davis.

Johnson was ranked the 41st best player on Pro Football Focus’ Top 101 Players from 2019.

Team Odds-According to DraftKings

Season win total:

Over 8.5: +100

Under 8.5: -225

Odds of winning division: +900

Odds of winning Super Bowl: +5,000 (50-1)

Season Predictions

Record Prediction: 10-6

Denver fans are notoriously known to come into the season with high expectations, only to get let down in the end. The last three seasons have been a rinse and repeat of “well we have a good feeling” but all of those turn into losing seasons. But, because of the projected success of Drew Lock and now an electric offense that has the chance to score more than 20 ppg, Bronco fans can actually hold their heads high going into Week 1.

With the 12th-hardest schedule, the Broncos have a much better chance at making the playoffs compared to last year where they were dealt the second-hardest schedule…and somehow mustered out a 7-9 record.

Placement in Division Prediction: 2nd

The Chiefs will, without a doubt, regain the division title after signing Patrick Mahomes to the biggest contract in NFL history. The best chance the Broncos have at making the playoffs is a wild-card bid and second-place finish in the AFC West. The Chargers and Raiders are both looking solid, especially LA after building what could be the best defense in the AFC. However, if Denver ends up winning six of their eight division matchups, they will be back in the postseason for the first time in four seasons.