3 changes the Broncos must make before their Week 3 game against Buccaneers
The Denver Broncos are an extremely flawed team through two weeks and must make these three changes before their Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was another unsurprising performance from the Broncos offense in Week 2. Nothing will change here unless the team makes some changes with their personnel on offense.
The defense has actually played quite good through two weeks, but with the offense not being able to sustain drives, the other side of the ball is going to start to break down. It's still early on in the season for this team, but it's not looking great at all.
Let's dive into three changes this team must make before Week 3.
3 changes the Broncos must make before their Week 3 game against Buccaneers
Give RB Tyler Badie way more touches
Tyler Badie had just two total touches in the Broncos Week 2 loss, and across his short NFL career, he has touched the ball on offense a total of four times, but he's managed to gain 42 yards on those touches and score one touchdown. He's averaging 10.5 yards per touch. Please, someone talk to me like I am five years old and tell me why Badie is not getting more touches.
At this point, RB Javonte Williams is almost unplayable, and it's a shame that RB Audric Estime on injured reserve, as it would be cool to see a RB rotation of Badie/Estime, and Jaleel McLaughlin. Even with Estime on IR for a few more weeks at least, the Broncos should greatly lessen Javonte Williams' workload and give way more carries to Tyler Badie.
Manufacture touches for Marvin Mims Jr and Troy Franklin
What are we even doing here? Marvin Mims Jr played even less in Week 2 than he did in Week 1, and this was after head coach Sean Payton told us that they needed to get the ball to Mims more. I am not sure what it's going to take to get Mims more touches, but he and Franklin are the two most explosive players on the Broncos offense at the moment.
Just get the ball into their hands and let them make some plays. How is it that hard? Lil'Jordan Humphrey again out-snapped Marvin Mims and obviously out-snapped Troy Franklin. At some point, the Broncos have to make some play-maker changes if they want to spark this offense, but as a whole, the Broncos have no explosiveness on that front at all.
Much of the blame does fall on GM George Paton for some of his previous moves before Payton got here, and the Russell Wilson dead cap is definitely complicating things. Denver may have to just deal with this grueling year and hope that next offseason, they can make some bigger moves. In the meantime, giving Mims and Franklin more touches is the way to go going forward.
Make Donald Parham the TE1 on gamedays
Greg Dulcich is not getting it done, and Adam Trautman might be the most underwhelming player to ever play in the NFL. At this point, the Broncos have nothing to close by making Donald Parham the TE1 on gamedays going forward. Parham is 6'8" and has caught 67 receptions for 764 yards and 11 touchdowns across his career, which has spanned from 2020-2023 with the LA Chargers. He has not been made active just yet, and I have a feeling that may change.
Again, what do the Broncos have to lose by making Parham active on gamedays? He is surely a better player than both Trautman and Dulcich. Denver needs to start making some changes offensively if they want to try and push this thing in the right direction. It's not working through two weeks, and while it is early on in the 2024 NFL Season, the issues that are plaguing Denver at the moment will continue to hurt them. These are deep personnel issues.
Bo Nix is probably going to improve as the season goes on, but his growth is going to be limited with the current setup, so the Broncos must make these changes before Week 3.