The Denver Broncos could become one of the best teams in the NFL in the 2025 season. What are their three biggest x-factors heading into the new year?
An x-factor is someone or something that could make or break a given situation - almost an unknown wild card to a degree. Denver has been stacking up their roster over the past few offseason and do have one of the top rosters in the AFC.
I would even argue that their roster is the best in the AFC West, but that's just me. But that also does not mean the team is going to progress and succeed more than they did in 2024. If they do, they'll need these x-factors to truly show up.
3 biggest Denver Broncos X-factors for the 2025 NFL Season
RJ Harvey and (maybe) JK Dobbins
The Denver Broncos are going to be hosting JK Dobbins on a free agency visit on Thursday, so I added him in here just in case. If Denver is serious about signing Dobbins, that may give us an early indication that the RB room wasn't showing as much as the coaches hoped during the OTA period.
Or, the Broncos simply want to add another talented player to the mix. One of the only things missing from this offense is a competent run game, so the projected top two RBSs of RJ Harvey and possibly JK Dobbins may have to really carry a significant role in this offense.
Talanoa Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw
There weren't many ways for this offense to get better, but the Broncos seemed to have figure out how to get better with the additions of Talanoa Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw. Both players can be top-10 at their respective positions when healthy, but that's the big thing here - can they put their injury history behind them with the Broncos?
If so, it might not be a question - the Broncos could truly have the best defense in the NFL, but if both are again struggling to stay on the field, the defense won't take that next step.
Bo Nix
An obvious player to include on this list - it's quite simple with Bo Nix. If the second-year player makes a jump in year two, the Broncos could become one of the favorites to win the AFC. However, if he regresses, the team would struggle to get into the postseason.
But if he maintains the level of play he sustained during the back-half of the 2024 NFL Season, the Broncos may fall in between. In today's NFL, no position on the field has a bigger impact on a game than QB, so Bo Nix is a huge x-factor for the 2025 Denver Broncos.