Denver Broncos 5 most surprising players of the 2022 season

The Denver Broncos had a surprisingly bad 2022 season that ended with an altogether disheartening 5-12 record. The team’s disappointing record and continued playoff drought led to major changes with the coaching staff.

As disappointing as the season was, there were some unexpected twists and turns with the roster and expectations that were either unmet or just completely turned on their heads as a whole. Which players were the most surprising — for better or worse — in 2022? Let’s take a look at the top five.

Denver Broncos most surprising players in 2022

1. Alex Singleton, linebacker

If it weren’t for unmet expectations, Alex Singleton probably would have graded out as the most “surprising” player on the Denver Broncos entire roster in 2022. In a good way, that is. Look, many of us — myself included and perhaps first and foremost — must eat crow regarding the opinions we shared about Singleton over the course of the 2022 offseason.

Eagles fans were not sad to see Singleton leave after last season despite having over 100 tackles in each of the last couple of years, and those opinions along with the fact that Singleton’s contract was barely worth that of a Day 3 draft pick led to assumptions that he would be limited to a special teams role.

Fortunately, those preconceived notions were proven very wrong. Singleton ended up leading the Broncos with 163 total tackles, he had six tackles for loss, and he added three pass breakups as well as a forced fumble. He was not only effective on special teams, but he became one of the team’s top playmakers defensively.

If anyone has earned another contract in Denver in 2023 among the team’s unrestricted free agents, it’s Singleton.

2. Russell Wilson, quarterback

It wasn’t a good year overall for Russell Wilson, and nobody can really sugarcoat that. At least over the last month, we saw some much better play from the Denver Broncos’ QB1 than we had seen early on in the season, although it still certainly wasn’t without flaw.

Wilson had one of the worst years of his football career whether you’re talking about the professional level or otherwise. He acknowledged as much, saying that he didn’t play up to the standard he knows he’s capable of and that he’s played at for a decade among the elite of the elite.

When Wilson arrived in Denver, he was anointed by the fan base and the pressure of being the savior of the organization ultimately weighed him down on the field. At least, that’s what I see from the outside looking in. The good news? In three of the final four games of the season he played, Wilson had three total touchdowns. His 10 total TDs in his final four starts represented more than half of his 19 overall TDs on the season.

3. Latavius Murray, running back

The Denver Broncos were desperate for running back help early in the season with Javonte Williams suffering a knee injury and Melvin Gordon struggling (badly) with fumbles. Latavius Murray was coming off of a nice performance for the Saints in London after being called up from their practice squad, and he was presented with the chance to come to Denver for a more full-time role.

He took it, and he ran with it. Literally. Murray’s 2022 campaign for Denver was very much out of the blue, but it turned out to be a stabilizer for the offense in a variety of ways. He helped the team improve in short-yardage situations, red zone efficiency, and limiting turnovers offensively.

4. Damarri Mathis, cornerback

When the Denver Broncos drafted Damarri Mathis in the fourth round out of Pittsburgh last year, it felt like they had gotten a steal. As we saw him get opportunities on the field, it became apparent those sentiments were anything but misplaced.

Mathis showed out during the pre-draft process as a workout warrior, but he really emerged in the last couple of seasons at Pitt in his coverage abilities. When he got to the Denver Broncos, it was expected that he might get the chance to play if injuries occurred, and that certainly proved to be the case.

Ronald Darby went down with a torn ACL, and Mathis became the full-time starter opposite Pat Surtain II. Now, it appears as though he will be in that role going forward.

Mathis was outstanding as a rookie despite getting called for a whopping four pass interference penalties in the game early on in the year against the Chargers. He rebounded nicely, and finished the year with 65 total tackles and seven passes broken up.

5. Courtland Sutton, wide receiver

Just like Russell Wilson, Courtland Sutton finished better than he started. We didn’t see any dominant performances from Sutton pretty much all year, but he almost took over the most recent game against the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, if it weren’t for the officiating…

Although Sutton was wrongfully called for offensive pass interference on this play, he finished the year with a surprising and disappointing 64 receptions for 829 yards and two touchdowns. Sutton will be entering his age 28 season in 2023 and the Broncos have expected him to be a true alpha at the position, a WR1 who can take over games.

Seeing him stay healthy the last two seasons has been very nice, but we haven’t seen progression from the guy we all saw in 2019 who made the Pro Bowl and was dominating at the catch point. That clip against Kansas City is something we want to see more of from Sutton, obviosuly without the laundry from the officials.

Broncos reportedly interviewing surprise candidate for head coach

The Denver Broncos are reportedly interviewing a surprise candidate for their head coaching vacancy on Wednesday with Jim Caldwell getting a look.

Sutton has the ability to be a go-to guy in the passing game but our expectations for him in 2022 versus the reality of what we saw were surprising for the wrong reasons.