The Denver Broncos made a ton of changes organizationally in the 2023 NFL offseason, and these three moves stick out as proof of why the Broncos won the offseason. Winning the offseason is totally subjective and does not mean a team is going to win a ton of games in the coming season.
However, it's hard to ignore the changes Denver made and not get excited about how promising this team looks. Between investing a ton into the free agent market and coming away with a solid draft class, Denver looks set up for now and in the future. The biggest X-factor is Russell Wilson. He will make or break this team.
The hope is that Sean Payton can work his magic with Wilson. He was able to get a ton of production out of a late-career Drew Brees, who was significantly less talented than Wilson as a QB, so I have faith that he can do wonders with Russell Wilson, an efficient passer and Hall of Famer.
Was bringing in Sean Payton the best move of the offseason? There's a strong argument for it. Let's cover the three reasons why the Broncos won the 2023 NFL offseason.
3 ways the Denver Broncos won the 2023 NFL offseason
1. Shoring up the offensive line
No matter how a team wins a Super Bowl, they don't win it without having a strong offensive line. This has been true for some time now. Games in the NFL are won in the trenches, and not having a strong offensive line makes the offense weak and inefficient. Fortunately, the Broncos invested a good bit of money into the offensive line this offseason.
Signing Ben Powers and Mike McGlinchey to deals exceeding $100 million was certainly expensive, but it was a needed investment for the team that gave up the most sacks in the NFL last year. With Garett Bolles returning to the lineup and Quinn Meinerz turning into one of the NFL's best guards, this OL unit can be elite in 2023.
The Broncos look like a team that can win the line of scrimmage most weeks, which bodes well for their success in 2023.
3 ways the Denver Broncos won the 2023 NFL offseason
2. Establishing an identity on offense
This kind of goes hand in hand with the first reason, but the Broncos didn't just sign two random offensive linemen. The Broncos signed two of the best run-blocking OL in the NFL. According to ESPN, Ben Powers ranked second in the NFL in run-block win rate as a guard, and Mike McGlinchey ranked fifth in run-block win rate in 2022.
At other positions on offense, the Broncos showed an offensive identity. They signed Chris Manhertz, a very good blocking tight end who will essentially be a sixth offensive lineman. They also brought in Samaje Perine, a tough runner who can catch passes out of the backfield and is a strong blocker as well.
Denver is clearly going to run the ball in 2023, and I think we know that further because of Russell Wilson's success in Seattle from 2012-2021. The Seahawks were a run-first team and used that to expand the passing game with play-action and bootlegs, two things Wilson excels at.
Last year, the Broncos had no offensive identity at all. They threw stuff at the wall and hoped it stuck. That won't be the case in 2023. The biggest issue for the team since 2015 has been their offensive performance. They've cycled through a ton of veteran quarterbacks who were over the hump or just weren't good enough.
Not only do they have a QB that has the highest ceiling of any QB they've had post-Manning, but they also have a head coach who has overseen a roster overhaul on offense and has established an identity in the process.
This is going to be a huge boost for the Broncos in 2023. I don't think we care how they score points; we just want to see them do it.
3 ways the Denver Broncos won the 2023 NFL offseason
3. Making the best coaching hire of the cycle
I'm glad the Denver Broncos didn't make a hire like DeMeco Ryans, Shane Steichen, or Jonathan Gannon. They seemed to focus their head coaching search on two candidates: Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton. And, obviously, those were the two best names of the cycle.
Frank Reich was also someone I wouldn't have minded the team hiring, but he's not close to Harbaugh or Payton. I was worried that Denver would get sucked into another first-time head coach, and it seems like Ryans had their interest as well. I know it might be silly to say that the team should not have hired another first-time head coach after what they went through, but I'm glad they didn't.
Their biggest successes as a franchise came with head coaches who had already been head coaches before at the NFL level. I don't think that's a coincidence. When the search seemed lost, they struck a deal with the New Orleans Saints and kept Sean Payton from returning to FOX for another year, likely when there'd be more attractive openings.
CEO Greg Penner seemed to take this search very seriously and I'm glad that he pursued enough at Sean Payton to get a deal done. Payton brings his own successes, but he also built a strong staff filled with younger and older coaches, former players turned coaches, and everything in between. Payton knows how to run a football program, and the risk with another first-time head coach is them experiencing everything that comes with being a HC in the NFL for the first time.
We saw the struggles of Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, and Nathaniel Hackett. The fanbase doesn't need to be lectured on why a first-time head coach typically fails. Sean Payton brought none of those questions with him. Sure, he turns 60 this year and may not be a head coach for more than another seven years, but he gives the Denver Broncos the best chance to win among the candidates in this past cycle.
He was already a Hall of Fame head coach before taking a one-year break in 2022. Now, he'll get to add the finishing touches to a first-ballot HOF resume.