The 2022 season, which marks a new era for the Denver Broncos, begins soon. Which Broncos should we look out for in week one? Denver has a laundry list of players who can have massive games against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
They should be able to win this game easily. The matchup differences are rather stark, so unless something goes terribly wrong, Denver should have their way against a rebuilding team.
On offense, Russell Wilson gets to play against his old teammates. A lot of them should know some of his tendencies, which could end up being an issue, but Wilson’s elite pedigree should trump most of the Seahawks’ starting defense.
Denver Broncos to watch closely in week one
Jerry Jeudy, WR
The Broncos need to see a big year from Jerry Jeudy. The former first-round draft pick had a nice rookie season but took a step back in year two. Now that he has a legitimate quarterback throwing him the ball and a clear role on the offense, there should be absolutely no excuses for him to have a 1,000-yard season.
Jeudy has the talent to be one of the best receivers in the NFL and should be able to take advantage of a below-average Seahawks’ secondary, which is projecting to start Sidney Jones IV and Artie Burns at cornerback.
These are two below-average players who shouldn’t be able to hang with Jeudy or Courtland Sutton.
If Jeudy is able to be contained in week one, I would be slightly worried.
The revamped front seven
The Broncos added some juice to their defensive front this offseason. They signed DJ Jones and Randy Gregory, along with drafting Nik Bonitto and moving Baron Browning to EDGE.
It’s likely that Browning could see a bit of time playing inside linebacker, but I am curious to see how much chaos this unit can cause in week one. The Seahawks’ offensive is below average, and Denver’s front should have their way and sack Geno Smith multiple times.
I am especially curious to see how DJ Jones matches up against their center, Austin Blythe. Blythe is undersized for the position and is about 45 pounds lighter than DJ Jones. Jones should be able to get a ton of push on Blythe and contain their run game.
I’m also looking to see if the edge rushers can have their way with a rookie left tackle in Charles Cross, and a below-average right tackle in Jake Curhan, who most of us have not heard of.
Russell Wilson, QB
This is an obvious choice. They’ll surely be emotions running high for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks fans. Wilson brought life to the franchise from the minute he arrived in 2012. He led them to over 100 regular season wins, two Super Bowl appearances, and one Super Bowl victory.
Hopefully, Russell Wilson is able to shake off what’ll likely be some pre-game jitters and “thank you” moments. Denver’s roster is exponentially better than Seattle’s, and Wilson is the biggest advantage and best player on both rosters.
Sure, he doesn’t need to have the best game of his career, but he needs to be effective if Denver wants to win. That’s usually how it goes with franchise quarterbacks anyway. If they’re on their game, the team usually wins, and if they’re not, the team usually loses.