3 most surprising Denver Broncos players in the 2024 NFL Season
The Denver Broncos have had a ton of success this year, and most did not see it coming. Let's dive into the most surprising players on the team thus far. There were some predictions out there that had the Broncos winning three or four games and earning the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Flat-out; some people were just incredibly low on the Broncos, going as far as to claim that they had the worst roster in the NFL. Well, 13 weeks into the season, the Broncos are 8-5 and in the seventh seed in the AFC Playoff Picture. They've been in this seventh seed for a while now and do have a chance to clinch a postseason berth in Week 15 if all goes well.
Right now, it is hard to imagine another team below the Broncos eclipsing them in the standings, but Denver hasn't been able to do this without their underrated roster. Which three players have been the most surprising?
3 most surprising Denver Broncos players in the 2024 NFL Season
Devaughn Vele, WR
I don't know about you, but I have heard people say that rookie WR Devaughn Vele reminds them of both Tim Patrick and Marques Colston. Sean Payton has actually mentioned that Vele reminds him of Colston. The seventh-round rookie has caught 33 passes for 377 yards and 1 touchdown. He's done this in just nine games.
His current 17-game average actually comes out to 62 receptions, 712 yards, and 2 touchdowns. The neat thing here is that Vele has caught 73.3% of his targets, so he is becoming as reliable as they come in the passing game.
Sure, he'll already be 27 years old this season, but Vele has been a huge, unexpected bright spot for the Denver Broncos and for the NFL. He's been excellent as a rookie.
Nik Bonitto, EDGE
Did anyone truly think that Nik Bonitto was going to breakout this much in 2024? Through 13 games, he's got 11 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and 19 QB hits. He's also got a pick-sick in the team's dramatic Week 13 win over the Cleveland Browns. Slowly progressing from year one and now into year three, Bonitto is right there in terms of production this year with the best in the business.
And he is among the best in the business now. The Broncos will probably extend Bonitto this coming offseason, as he does become eligible for a rookie contract extension after his third year in the NFL. The team's pass rush is the best in the NFL this year, and their best pass rusher has turned into an elite player at his position and has been better than a lot of us thought he would be.
Bo Nix, QB
Isn't this one obvious? I mean, where do we even begin with some of the talk that Bo Nix was getting before and after he got drafted? Gosh, we have seen people compare him to Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, and just flat-out disregard his potential as a player. Through 13 games, he's been very good for the Broncos and has shattered many expectations coming into this season.
Many of us here at Predominantly Orange did say that Nix and the Broncos could be the shock of the NFL this year, and not to toot my own horn, but I said continually in the offseason that this team could be the 2023 version of the Houston Texans without the division title.
Here the Broncos are at 8-5 and watching their rookie QB take strides each week. His most recent "wow" was a 93-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Mims Jr on a ball that was thrown on a frozen rope about 45 yards down the field.
Bo Nix could be the franchise QB that the Denver Broncos have missed.