The Denver Broncos have fallen to 1-4 in yet another season that was filled with promise only to get the opposite results. If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it is.
Broncos Country can be among the most optimistic fanbases in all of professional sports, but this team is not coming back from this hole. They are 1-4, they are not going to make the playoffs for an eighth-straight season and any thought of the team being a player or two away from being a contender is just nonsense.
It's a bad football team and it's going to continue to be a bad football team until drastic changes are made. Now is the time for those.
Since winning Super Bowl 50, the word "rebuild" seems to be a forbidden term at Dove Valley, but a full rebuild is what this team needs to learn to embrace. The team won't be a contender until that happens and as you read on, you will see the steps that this team needs to take to begin this rebuilding process.
Start collecting some draft capital
The trade deadline this season is set for October 31 at 2:00 pm MT. So between now and Halloween evening, the Broncos need to be willing to deal any player that can bring even a decent return.
Teams around the league are absolutely going to be calling the Broncos as they will be seen as perhaps the biggest "seller" of any team in the league. These players have been around for some time and the team hasn't won with them, so there is no reason to be attached to them.
Every player on this list needs to be considered as a potential bargaining chip:
WR Courtland Sutton
WR Jerry Jeudy
LB Josey Jewell
OT Garett Bolles
RB Javonte Williams
In addition to those players, the Broncos also need to consider offers that could come in for the two best players on the team, Justin Simmons and Patrick Surtain II. Yes, it would be tough to part with them, but this is exactly what a fire sale is.
The 2024 NFL Draft class is a very good one, and the Broncos could re-tool their roster with a whole bunch of new players with picks that they could get for giving up the players listed above. Any good deal for these players must be considered.
Give Vance Joseph his walking papers
This is a given and it's not even completely Vance Joseph's fault. After all, he should have never been brought back to Denver and it's largely the fault of Sean Payton that he was.
Joseph is just a poor football coach and how he has hung around the league as long as he has, doing a below-average job with pretty much every position he has ever had, is a big mystery. But the team needs to bring this current stint to an end.
There is always the argument that firing a coach during the season won't be to a team's benefit, but in this case it would accomplish sending a message that this kind of mediocrity can't be tolerated and there's just no way that anyone would be worse.
Joseph's run defense is getting absolutely gashed. This is how the last three games have looked for the Broncos:
10/8 vs. Jets: 234 yards rushing allowed (177 by Breece Hall)
10/1 vs. Bears: 171 yards rushing allowed
9/24 vs. Dolphins: 350 yards rushing allowed
That is just absolutely ridiculous and it's a trend that will almost certainly continue if you have been watching the games. Teams are not getting creative. They are just lining up and running the ball right down the Broncos' collective throat. Running backs are eight or nine yards down the field before they even get touched.
Tackling is another issue, as the effort is just not there. Broncos defenders are just trying to arm tackle a guy or get in his way enough to slow him down. Players look like they aren't even trying on many of the plays and that is a direct sign of a lack of effort, inspiration and quite frankly, a lack of care.
That falls on the coaching staff and VJ is going to have to get the axe in Denver for a second time.
If the team is to make an in-season move, look for that to potentially come after the game against the Kansas City Chiefs this Thursday night. The Broncos will get a 10-day rest period before their next game and that could be enough time to appoint a replacement and get them ready for the next game.
George Paton absolutely can't be back in 2024
General manager George Paton is the guy you should start with if you are pointing the finger of blame as to this current Broncos team. He is the man who has put this current roster together and frankly, it's just been a bad job.
His trades for Russell Wilson and Sean Payton looked good and they brought excitement, but both have so far been absolute duds in terms of results in the win-loss column.
Paton has drafted the players and signed the free agents that comprise most of the current roster and his eye for picking talent has certainly been full of errors.
The new ownership group led by Greg Penner is going to need to make the kind of moves that send a message that these losing ways won't be acceptable — the same way the legendary Pat Bowlen would have — and that starts with the elimination of Paton.
At that point, if this plan is followed, the team can officially start fresh. Wilson will still be there (but the team needs to draft a QB in the first round) and Sean Payton will still be the coach, but with a general manager selected by the new ownership group and a bushel of draft picks at his disposal, the team can begin to fix this colossal mess.