On the whole, the Broncos’ offense has submitted far more competent work compared to a perplexing 2022 season. After finishing last in scoring last season, Denver is 10th through five games. But the defense — a reliable facet for most of the franchise’s post-Peyton Manning years — has faceplanted, ranking last across the board and leading the way in a 1-4 start. Naturally, teams are monitoring the Broncos ahead of the trade deadline.
Denver has made a habit of selling at recent deadlines, unloading Demaryius Thomas (2018), Emmanuel Sanders (2019), Von Miller (2021) and Bradley Chubb (2022). They have already cut bait on Randy Gregory, dealing him to the 49ers. Reports ahead of Week 5 indicated the Broncos were not preparing to be early sellers and that offensive players were not in line to be moved, but after the team dropped another home game, it appears potential buyers believe the retooling squad will be prepared to move assets.
Teams believe Denver will be “open for business” in trades, per Dan Graziano of ESPN.com, who indicates the team is prepared to listen to offers. While recent reports pointed to the Broncos not being ready to unload key offensive pieces, Graziano adds the team is expected to once again listen to offers for Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton along with talent on defense. The Broncos are not interested in trading Patrick Surtain, per Graziano, as the franchise naturally views the All-Pro cornerback as a building block. But Denver supporting-casters are likely to come up frequently in rumors, especially if the team’s losing streak against the Chiefs continues Thursday night.
“We’re not looking to do business with any of our players. That doesn’t prevent teams from calling at times, so we just — you pick the phone up, that’s kind of where it’s at,” Sean Payton said, via ESPN.com’s Jeff Legwold. “We’ve got a good handle on this current roster and our vision for the roster a year from now, that’s the part about improving and getting better.”
GM George Paton was at the controls when the team unloaded Miller (for second- and third-round Rams picks) and Chubb (for Dolphins first- and fourth-rounders, with Chase Edmonds included as salary filler). The third-year GM is almost definitely second in command to Payton this year, and with the longtime Saints coach not present when the most of the team’s trade pieces were initially acquired, it is logical to expect the Broncos to strongly consider moving talent before the Oct. 31 deadline. Players are leery of a potential teardown, NFL.com’s James Palmer notes.
Confirming a weekend report that Frank Clark is likely available, Palmer adds players took notice at the Gregory trade. The Broncos cut an edge rusher who began the season as a starter, agreeing to pay almost all of Gregory’s salary — a tactic they used with Miller to increase trade compensation from the Rams — to convince the 49ers to acquire him. The Broncos accepted a Day 3 pick swap in 2024 for Gregory, who is tied to a five-year, $69.5MM contract. The team will undoubtedly be looking for better returns for other trade chips.
Jeudy and Sutton came up as chips early this offseason, with the Broncos wanting a first-rounder for the former and a second for the latter. The Broncos engaged in “a lot” of conversations about Jeudy and Sutton this offseason, Graziano adds, and the Ravens moved close to acquiring Sutton before their Odell Beckham Jr. signing. Based on the starters’ early-season showings, those asks seem farfetched. Jeudy has totaled 208 receiving yards in four games; Sutton is at 229 in five. Both have submitted better work, but neither has been consistent in Payton’s offense just yet.
Payton’s Saints teams relied on WR1s Marques Colston and Michael Thomas, but his first Broncos squad has spread the ball around. Second-round rookie Marvin Mims leads the team in receiving yards (246), despite being a part-time player on offense. Moving one of the regulars would open the door for Mims, though the Oklahoma-developed deep threat has a clear WR3 window as is. Nevertheless, he has only played 28% of the Broncos’ offensive snaps.
Left tackle Garett Bolles has come up loosely in rumors in the past, including over the weekend, and the Broncos do have swingman Cameron Fleming as insurance. Though, the team experienced rampant O-line health issues last season. Bolles has recovered from the broken leg that ended his 2022 campaign, starting all five games this year. Bolles, 31, is a seventh-year starter who is signed through 2024. Eighth-year safety Justin Simmons turns 30 next month; his $15.25MM-per-year contract runs through 2024. The Pro Bowler is tied to a $14.4MM base salary.
Sean Payton is such a piss poor head coach it’s finally being seen by everyone. Drew Brees made that bum. Drew should be entitles to 3/4 of Sean’s paychecks.
Sam for Bill B. Tom made that bum as well.
I’d give Belichick a little more leeway. He hasn’t had a good qb since Brady left although he had a hand in drafting Jones.
A loss to Buffalo and/or Miami may see Belichick sacked before Halloween. As the saying goes, they’ll fire you for losing before they fire you for cheating.
For most coaches, yes, but I believe even Kraft isn’t dumb enough to sack their winningest coach before the season ends. My money’s on a forced retirement in February.
9 seasons is plenty of leeway. 5 in Cleveland and 4 in NE.
I’m leaning towards Brady being the reason too
So, Payton taking the offense from last to tenth is evidence of him being a piss poor coach? How does that work?
When you’re a coach and they trade 2 high end draft picks and give up 18M a YEAR you better not have your team out of the playoff race by mid October. He hasn’t only done that, they’re already selling off players and they look worse than the RAIDERS. The perennial basement living Raiders.
You can attempt to justify Payton all you want, the dude is a bum and the Broncos are going to highly regret the whole deal, if they don’t already. He has no chance to compete with KC. Never will unless Mahomes is gone. And this franchise won’t compete with the Chargers either, and that’s another pitiful franchise.
You can give up all you like for a guy, but that doesn’t change anything about your roster. I can tell that you dislike Payton, but realistically, he’s not going to reinvent an entire team in less than a year after his hire. That’s just ridiculous to expect.
And, for his part, the offense IS much better. It still has a long way to go, but it is leaps and bounds better than it was under Hackett. Calling someone a bum might be fun, but it doesn’t tell you anything about what the individual is actually doing. If the Broncos hadn’t improved at all, I would agree, but they have on offense. The defense is mostly Joseph’s mess. I don’t expect that to improve too much until the offseason, to be honest. They need talent at a few spots and a better coach. And I will say again that Denver would be stupid to start selling while they are still building, at least on the offensive side.
Payton’s offense is real impressive right now
Okay? I said that they have a ways to go. It’s still better than last year. If you’re only interested in lazy analysis, I don’t see the point of this conversation. I’m not sure what you would suggest. Making your mind after less than half of a season seems like a great way to get the right solution…
Payton’s a loser get over it lol. The team sucks. He sucks. Defense sucks. It falls on him.
His overall record says otherwise, but don’t let that stop you…I don’t have any emotional attachment to Payton, unlike you seem to, but I know that it’s ridiculous to make these conclusions not even halfway through the FIRST season after taking over of a terrible team. As bad as Denver is now, they were worse last year, at least on offense, which is Payton’s area of expertise. Of course everybody expects more from him snd the team, and the start has been awful overall. However, the team has improved in some areas and it has a long way to go.
Last night Payton called a good game. Wilson was terrible beyond all expectations. As usual, Payton’s scripted first drive went well until Wilson threw an interception. You can tell that Wilson is limiting what Payton can call and can’t because of his disadvantages. Wilson is too short to see the deep middle of the field, which he has to roll out to be effective (which Payton realized and had him do on the Broncos’ few effective offensive plays). Even when Wilson does try to throw over the middle, tall defensive linemen bat down his throws, which happened numerous times and led to another INT. Payton tried to get around this by moving receivers, like the excellent call to motion Jeudy to the backfield and have him run a Texas-style route to the middle so he got mismatched with a linebacker. That’s the type of great play design we expect from Payton, but we only saw it once because Wilson (or the offense) can’t run the plays. Payton substituted McLaughlin a few times in similar styled plays, but he’s a UDFA in his rookie year. Payton is being limited by a quarterback who does not know the offense or simply cannot run many of the essential plays that it requires-at least, not last night.
And before you blame THAT on the coach, Wilson has had these issues his entire career. Go watch him in Seattle (you can look it up if you prefer not to); the issues mentioned here date back to his time there. Wilson is bad on throws over the deep middle, and does not possess the vision needed for precise timing routes in that area. That’s why he has to roll out, hold the ball, and scramble on most of his plays-so he can see downfield. Can he get better? Maybe, time usually improves familiarity with a playbook and allows a coach to what works. But since time is nonexistent in your authoritative understanding of the universe, it’s already over. I won’t even get into the fact that the defense played surprisingly well last night, and if Wilson had only been mildly competent, Denver likely would have won. They only needed two touchdowns and a field goal, after all, but their quarterback could not complete the plays called. I put that game almost entirely on Wilson, who has played much better overall this year.
There’s not much else to say. If you want to cling to your opinions because that feels more satisfying, fine. I am offering you facts and analysis, and you keep repeating the same simplistic name-calling over and over. But, then again, I actually watch the games, so maybe that’s the difference.
There’s no deep look needed. He sucks. His team sucks. And he needs a HOF QB in their prime to win anything.
But then again, I actually don’t care what you do or say, that might be the real difference
Denver went from *just a QB away*
To putting all their chips in a QB.
Then they are *just a Head coach away!* puts all their chips in a trash coach.
Now Denver is a defense and a line and real talent from winning.
Backwards is the only steps being taken. No emotional attatchment, just the brains to see past the talk of Payton being some good football mind.
By the time they’re ‘built’ all the offensive pieces need contracts and they ain’t gonna pay them. Plus your QB is a sinking hole of dog poop. Payton’s a bum. Walked into this situation and I can’t wait until he quits like he did on the saints when his HOF QB left him.
You replied before I posted. My reply is above. You have given no facts to support your comments (other than labels). There’s not much more for me to say, other than to encourage you to look deeper into things. Specifics will tell you what happens better than starting from a conclusion and working your way backward.
Comedy within this article – “ if the team’s losing streak against the Chiefs continues” – the writer has doubts?
They should absolutely trade Jeudy or Sutton. Maybe then they would play Mims more than 5 snaps after trading up to draft him. Payton is a buffoon.
That would be a mistake. Playing Mims more is certainly a good idea, but trading players when the offense is finally starting to improve is not a good idea. Everyone always assumes that trades will be positive, but what is Denver going to do with those picks? They’ll have to replace whomever they traded.
The offense still doesn’t know the playbook, and Joseph has ruined the defense from a schematic purpose. Both of those issues are not roster issues, they’re time and coaching issues. The Broncos will lose more than they gain by ridding themselves of either starting receiver. Joseph is the person who needs to go, but the hard issue there is that it is unclear who would take over for him if that were to happen.
Trade everyone.
You don’t need a lot of 8 figure salary players if you are planning to lose 13 games.
I guess the Broncos need to do something because the Nuggets and Avalanche offer a much better product to fans in Colorado.
So says someone who thinks “Pro Sports Uber Alles”. The CU Buffaloes up the road in Boulder have grabbed all the local attention even when they don’t win.
BTW, NBA and NHL are not NFL.
Attention versus success are two different things. Sanders has done a good job in his prior stops, but ESPN being literally obsessed with the Buffalos doesn’t translate to them being the best product. Not to mention the fact that you, who are arguing for the popularity of collegiate sports, are forgetting that there is at least one other notable college program in CSU in the state. Not everybody is a Colorado fan in Colorado, and while Sanders has likely boosted popularity instate too, I would wager that proportionately most of the newfound bandwagon are people from out of state anyway.
I’m not sure how you can call out Lemon for pointing out the legitimate fact that the two other pro teams have offered a much better product than the Broncos have for the last few years.