Top five reasons to watch the Denver Broncos in the final four weeks of 2020.
There are always reasons to watch football, yet it may be hard to find them during trying times. This season there was hope and excitement as this offseason brought the Denver Broncos an array of talent. On paper, this was the team’s most complete unit since the 2015 and 2016 Denver Broncos teams, who are also the last winning teams for the franchise.
As fans, we can be so invested in the here and now, we may lose sight of what can be. Or, we can be so upset our team isn’t winning that we no longer engage in the team down the stretch.
If we disengage, you may miss the build-up of something special. Like baseball fans who stop watching their team in September, we could be missing out on the rise of a young player as they ascend to something great.
There are several cornerstones to this team, but there are many solid role players on this roster.
This will likely be a team that comes back almost entirely next year, so it is important to see how these last few games shake out.
Could these last few games give Broncos fans hope, like the end of 2019? Or will there be a further disappointment as there was in 2018?
The team may not be in the playoffs, but the year is not lost. Here are the top five things to watch for over the last four games of the season as we look to 2021.
Reason 5 to watch: What is Jerry Jeudy’s role?
Jerry Jeudy has seen his targets reduced over the last few weeks as Drew Lock has built a solid rapport with Tim Patrick. However, Jeudy had a lot of looks over the previous 4 weeks.
So what will his role actually look like?
Jeudy, the number 15 overall pick in the 2020 draft, came with all the fanfare of a top-flight draft talent. He has seemed to fall in the wide receiver ranking of the draft class.
He may be the fourth or fifth-best receiver of the group, or maybe the best. Jeudy’s ability to separate should only improve over time, and his importance to the offense should only grow over the next few years.
It is important for his relationship with Drew Lock, and Pat Shurmur will go to show how his role can be solidified going into 2021.
With Courtland Sutton returning next season, the continued growth of Noah Fant, and the emergence of Patrick and fellow rookie K.J. Hamler, Jeudy’s fit is something to ponder, and the last four weeks will give us a hint to what it is.
Reason 4 to watch: Will there be continued growth of the offensive line?
The offensive line should provide the fans with a reason to watch. Four of the five starters are certain to return in 2021, and the fifth could find his way back potentially.
Garett Bolles has performed above all expectations and is a real candidate to earn his 1st Pro-Bowl nod. Bolles was rewarded with a nice new contract and should be around for years to come.
Like Bolles, guard Graham Glasgow is under contract for the next few seasons and pays well for his service.
Add recent premium draft picks Dalton Risner and Lloyd Cushenberry III, and the Broncos have a batch of young talent up front they will have or the next few years.
Add the return of athletic (but often-injured) right tackle Ju’wuan James and the Broncos should be set next year with their first predictable unit in a long time.
With the help of coach Mike Munchak, how that group meshes will go a long way in establishing the team’s identity on offense and how effective it is in 2021. Denver’s offensive line has been a struggle for general manager John Elway, which may be the beginning of that issue being remedied.
According to Football Outsiders, this offense ranks in the middle of the pack but has played well over the last few weeks. The run game has been terrific, and Drew Lock has not been sacked often lately.
Reason 3 to watch: Are Josey Jewell/Alexander Johnson the future at LB?
When the offseason began, the Broncos had seasoned veteran Todd Davis and Alexander Johnson covering both inside linebacker positions. Soon into camp, the Broncos made a flurry of moves by signing Mark Barron, claiming Austin Calitro, drafting Justin Strnad, and releasing Todd Davis.
Broncos Country was unsure what to think about Josey Jewell, who seemed to be the group’s forgotten man. Jewell, a 2018 4th round draft pick, had fallen out of favor and lost his starting job to Johnson early in 2019.
Since Davis left, Jewell and Johnson have formed a solid duo and helped keep the Broncos a top defense in the league. Jewell has performed above expectation, and Johnson has seemed to maintain his play from last season.
However, does the team think their play is enough? Both players are under contract in 2021, and the team must make decisions on both. Neither player is overly athletic, which is usually a staple of Vic Fangio’s defense. Yet, neither of them has had to be his season as their communication and cohesion has produced some wonderful results.
Keep an eye out for these two, and how they play over the stretch may lead the team to declare them as the plan in 2021.
Reason 2 to watch: Coaching progression or regression moving forward?
From all reports, it looks like Vic Fangio and Pat Shurmur will be back in 2021.
Therefore, it is important to see how those two coaches build their approaches around their players.
The Broncos have seemed to identify a solid game plan over the last few weeks. Throwing out the NFL’s debacle of the New Orleans Saints game, and both the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs matchups provided a playoff-style matchup for the Broncos, and the way each game was called shows a lot about this team’s identity.
Additionally, fans got to see Fangio’s growth and subsequent errors on the sideline while also witnessing Shurmur’s continued focus on establishing the run game.
There is no secret; Vic Fangio must manage the game better in terms of situational football. This can only happen with experience, so these last four games will continue to provide him with the opportunities to gain a feel for how critical situations must be handled.
Also, will the special teams continue to be steady as they were in the last few games? Or are they the liability they have been over the course of the 2020 season? Tom McMahon’s job is very much on the line and maybe the only position up for review on this coaching staff.
Is this team the one that went toe-to-toe with two of the AFC’s best teams? Or is this the team that failed to show up against the Las Vegas Raiders just a few weeks prior?
The team most likely runs it back again, so how the coaching staff continues to evolve and adapt to their players is absolutely something to watch over the final four weeks.
Reason 1 to watch: Is Drew Lock the guy for the Denver Broncos?
Is Drew Lock the quarterback of the future, or isn’t he?
If you watched the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football, you have support for your position regardless of which side of the fence you sit on.
Lock made several key throws throughout the game and kept the team on schedule. He displayed moxie and touch on several of his throws. Additionally, he took zero sacks and had his offense moving throughout the game.
On the flip-side, Lock threw two interceptions and missed several easy completions.
So, the answer is yes and no. Drew Lock is not a finished product, so these last four games will provide him with much-needed reps. The final contests will provide coaches with information about what he does well and what shouldn’t be run moving forward. Finally, these last four contests provide the organization with more data to decide if bringing in a vet or a high potential draft pick is necessary to get this organization back to competing for championships.
Lock has been the talk of the town since playing his first game in 2019, and sometimes it is for all the right reasons. He has an opportunity to show continued improvement and provide hope to the franchise and its fans.
The Broncos must pick a direction. They must decide if Lock is a guy to invest in the long term or if he isn’t. We have seen the band-aid fixes over the last few years (Case Keenum and Joe Flacco), which ended badly and pushed a young quarterback’s development opportunities off years.
So, the team must commit to Lock and build around him more in 2021 or use these four games to decide if it is time to move on.
No matter how you slice it, there is a lot to watch for in the final weeks.
5 current Broncos who might not be on the roster in 2021
The Denver Broncos may not have a ton of roster turnover in 2021, but there will be some departures. Who might not be around in 2021?
Stay tuned, Broncos fans.