Denver Broncos will be relying heavily on 3 rookies in second half

The Denver Broncos are on a much-needed bye week in Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season after a rocky first eight games. The Broncos did win their most recent game, a matchup with the now 2-6 Jaguars in London, but coming out of the bye week, this team is taking on a pretty significant change. Bradley Chubb is now a (well-paid) member of the Miami Dolphins after the NFL trade deadline and the Broncos are going to have to count on some of their youngest players to step up in the second half of the season.

Specifically, we’re looking at the Denver Broncos’ top three picks in the 2022 NFL Draft needing to step up in a big way when the Broncos come out of the bye and match up against the Tennessee Titans.

Denver Broncos top 3 rookies will be relied on in second half of 2022 season

Nik Bonitto, EDGE

Nik Bonitto was the Denver Broncos’ top pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and despite the fact that they didn’t pick until no. 64 overall, this selection came with rather high expectations. A number of outlets had hyped up Bonitto as a potential fringe-first-round guy at points during the 2021 college football season and in terms of his pass rush abilities, Bonitto certainly deserved some of that first-round hype.

Over the last four weeks, Bonitto’s usage in the Denver Broncos defense has increased. We’re all looking forward to seeing more of him in the second half of the season and the Broncos are going to need him. Baron Browning is dealing with a hip injury. Randy Gregory is coming off of a knee injury. Bradley Chubb was traded to the Dolphins.

It’s Nik Bonitto’s time to shine.

Greg Dulcich, TE

The Denver Broncos wasted no time getting Greg Dulcich heavily involved in the offense after activating him off injured reserve a handful of weeks ago against the Chargers.

Dulcich is already making his presence felt in the Denver Broncos offense and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Broncos desperately needed an infusion of some type of positivity and despite missing a ton of time between June and October, Dulcich really looked like he didn’t skip a beat.

All throughout the offseason program, all anyone on the Broncos could talk about was Greg Dulcich. Coming out of UCLA, NFL Draft pundits had him as either the first or second-best tight end in this year’s class, depending on how much they liked Trey McBride out of Colorado State. So far this season, McBride has three receptions for 24 yards compared to Dulcich’s 12 receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown.

Coming out of the bye week, Dulcich should be considered the Broncos’ TE1 and should continue to help jumpstart an offense that really needs his big-play abilities.

Damarri Mathis, CB

The Broncos had multiple picks early in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and they used the first one on Pittsburgh cornerback Damarri Mathis. Mathis had gotten some top-100 love before the 2022 NFL Draft and showed off his future NFL starter potential as a member of the Panthers.

The Broncos had to thrust him into the starting role a little sooner than expected. Ronald Darby went down with a torn ACL, and Mathis was pushed into the starter position opposite Pat Surtain II. The early returns were a bit rough as Mathis ended up getting flagged four times for pass interference against the Los Angeles Chargers. He did come back and make a clutch play late against the Chargers, though…

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Since then, he’s bounced back nicely and has played some really good football as the Broncos’ pass defense has absolutely wrecked the likes of Zach Wilson and Trevor Lawrence. It looks like Mathis could end up giving the Broncos a long-term starter at a key position.