Denver Broncos 4 biggest disappointments offensively in 2022
Early returns on Russell Wilson have been overly disappointing for Denver Broncos
To sit here and say that Russell Wilson’s impact on the team has been anything but disappointing would be a complete lie at this point. Broncos Country was ready to ride with Wilson all offseason, and the expectations for this team grew and grew every single day. Unfortunately, this season has been a disaster.
Wilson has dealt with some injuries on his own, but to think that the Broncos traded for Wilson, signed him to a massive contract extension, and handcuffed themselves to him for the next four years is a bit of a tough pill to swallow at the moment. Right now, the Broncos rank 32nd in the NFL in points per game. Their passing attack is abysmal. The team is currently projected to send a top-five pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Wilson. What makes things really tough is the fact that the Seahawks are having a ton of success this year by comparison to the Broncos, especially offensively.
The Broncos are making the easiest of concepts look difficult on that side of the ball.
Are there factors at play here besides just Russell Wilson? Yes, absolutely. But has a little fear set in that Wilson may not be the guy we saw all those years in Seattle? Yes, absolutely. That fear is starting to set in because the sample size of offensive incompetence is growing weekly. There have been some bright spots, including Wilson looking a bit better against the Raiders, but there are still missed opportunities weekly.
For Wilson, there’s been a lot to overcome. He’s not exactly to blame for all of the penalties of his offensive line. He’s not to blame for every blown assignment leading to sacks. But he is to blame for missing open receivers on well-designed plays. He is to blame for not seeing open guys and taking check-downs instead of properly going through his progressions.
The fact that these conversations are even happening right now is frustrating because this is not what the Broncos ordered when they made this trade. They were supposed to get a game-changing superstar at the position whose abilities made the offensive scheme irrelevant. Unfortunately, it looks like Wilson needs the right coach and play-caller in place to have success, and that doesn’t appear to be Nathaniel Hackett.
At this point, Broncos fans have no choice but to believe that the problem is not Russ. If Russ is the problem, the Broncos are married to that problem until 2025 at the very earliest, at least in terms of the financial aspect of things. There is no turning back now and if offensive scheme and play-calling are the primary issues and not Wilson, then the Broncos have to do everything in their power to make sure they get that right.
Russell Wilson and the passing game have been arguably the biggest disappointment of the 2022 NFL season league-wide. With seven games remaining, Wilson must turn things around and prove that he’s worth the picks the Broncos traded and money they spent to get him.