The Denver Broncos are entering the 2025 season with the most hope they have had in almost a decade. Fresh off easily their most important season of the 2020s, Denver enters the 2025 campaign as a media darling and a sleeper conference championship winner selection.
The Broncos had one of the most successful offseasons of any team in the NFL, adding impactful talent up and down the roster and bringing in what figures to be one of the more interesting and promising draft classes in the league.
Despite this, questions remain regarding whether or not the Broncos are going to be able to put it all together during the regular season. Denver finds itself banking on a few key injury issues to break their way, continued improvement from players who no-showed in 2024 but showed up big in 2025, and whether or not a second-year quarterback can avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.
Denver's playoff hopes rest in the hands of Troy Franklin, Alex Singleton, and Bo Nix
The trio of Franklin, Singleton, and Nix will all decide whether or not Denver can return to the playoffs for consecutive years for the first time since 2014 and 2015. Nix, to be obvious, is a massive piece to this puzzle. While Denver's quarterback depth is elite, Nix needs to avoid a sophomore slump and remain the clear franchise quarterback. He draws many comparisons so far to Mac Jones, a pair of mid-first-round quarterbacks who took once storied franchises to the playoffs as rookies, but can shut down all of those horrible comparisons with another strong season.
Troy Franklin could be the piece that unlocks the Broncos' offense. Denver hit their stride last year when Marvin Mims Jr. broke out as a receiver, but his value as an all-pro returner calls into question whether Denver wants to use him as a primary receiving target. With Devaughn Vele now in New Orleans, the third receiver gig in Denver is wide open, but Franklin's massive preseason could have awarded him the early claim to that spot. If he can connect with Nix like they did at Oregon, things could get scary in Denver for opposing defenses.
If Alex Singleton is healthy and can perform to the level he did before his knee injury last year, the Broncos could be the NFL's best defense, especially if their defensive line and secondary fare as well as expected. Denver made a splash at inside linebacker this spring with Dre Greenlaw, but the fate of Denver's season remains with Singleton.
When healthy, he should finish top 10 in the NFL in tackles and be the catalyst of the Denver defense. If he is who Broncos fans know he can be, he is either a strong starter up the middle or the best second inside backer in football, depending on whether Dre Greenlaw is healthy.