With their playoff loss in the Wild Card Round, the Denver Broncos will get their start on a very crucial 2025 NFL Offseason. My personal prediction for this game was that Denver would either win close or get blown out, and well, the latter happened.
Now yes, a blowout loss hurts, but this team is in a great spot for the long-term. Their cap situation gets a lot better this offseason, and they will have every reason to add as much talented as possible. The Broncos have a strong roster foundation, especially in the trenches, but they will need to do some serious work at other positions.
In fact, the Broncos need to fix these three things to avoid another early playoff exit in 2025.
3 things Broncos must fix in offseason to avoid another early playoff exit in 2025
Lack of playmakers on offense
I counted four drops from the Denver Broncos wide receivers against the Buffalo Bills. It felt like the team was able to get nothing going through the air on offense after the electric touchdown pass to Troy Franklin to open up the scoring.
Multiple drops at the worst possible time was a huge reason why Denver failed to put anymore points on the board, an even throwing this game out, the regular season showed a massive weakness at each playmaking position on offense.
The Broncos legitimately do not have a WR1, RB1, or TE1 on the roster. Just imagine how good this offense could be if they could find just two of these positions in the offseason. It's a huge area of need for the team, and they weren't really in a position to add anyone of note last offseason. Now that they've hit on a rookie QB and have something to build toward, this could be some of the first roster moves they do.
No real enforcer at ILB
It feels like the Broncos have always had 'eh' ILB play for years now. And no offense to Cody Barton or Justin Strnad, but the team does not have a true enforcer at the ILB spot. They need someone in the mold of Roquan Smith or Fred Warner if you ask me - sure, that is a tall ask, but it's true. Denver could pursue a top free agent like Ernest Jones IV if he hits the open market. He's currently on the Seattle Seahawks and is one of the best ILBs in the NFL.
Frankly, I could see a total reset at ILB in 2025. Both Strnad and Barton could come back, but perhaps not as starters. Denver has missed someone like this at the position. Who was the last one of note, Danny Trevathan?
Sheesh. Has it been that long? However they go about it, the Broncos have to find a substantive solution at ILB this coming offseason.
Perhaps a weakness at safety...
According to Pro Football Reference, PJ Locke III allowed an opposing passer rating of 125.8 in 15 regular season games, and I think we saw some of that in this Wild Card loss. Locke is an average player signed a two-year deal with the team this past offseason.
The Broncos have one of the top safeties in the NFL in Brandon Jones, but PJ Locke is a liability out there at times. With the free agent safety market again projected to be deep and a deep safety class in the 2025 NFL Draft, getting a new player alongside Jones could be a sneaky area of improvement for the Denver Broncos in 2025.
When a team hits on a rookie QB, they have a massive window that opens for a few years, and it gives them every single reason to load up as much as possible. Sure, you may not think of safety as being nearly as important as Denver being better at WR, but it's an obvious need.