Why are the Denver Broncos predicted by some to be terrible in 2024?

With bottom-7 QB play and a historically bad defense for half the 2023 season, the Denver Broncos managed to win eight games, so why are they being predicted to be bad in 2024? I just do not get it. Denver started 1-5 on the year in 2023, and somehow found themselves 7-6 and wrapped up in the AFC playoff race weeks later.

The team was getting bottom-7 QB play from Russell Wilson and had to deal with a historically bad, yes, historically bad, defense for about half the season. And yet, this team won eight games and truly turned their season around. After that 1-5 start, Denver finished 7-4. So for more than half the 2023 NFL Season, they were a pretty gosh darn good football team.

Yet, wherever you look, people are predicting the Denver Broncos to be quite poor in 2024.

Mike Clay of ESPN is projecting the Denver Broncos to win just 5.1 games in 2024.

Cynthia Frelund's model is projecting the Denver Broncos to win 5.7 games in 2024.

Bleacher Report projects Denver to go 5-12 in 2024.

Heck, even some people in Broncos Country are low on the team for 2024, but why? Where did this team get worse? I mean, the defense added legitimate talent to the defensive line, the roster's weakest spot in 2024. John Franklin-Myers, Angelo Blackson, and Malcolm Roach might not be elite players, but they all help shore up the team's defensive front.

The Broncos added legitimate talent to their secondary, signing Brandon Jones, Levi Wallace, and drafting Kris Abrams-Draine in 2024. Two new wide receivers came on board in Josh Reynolds and Troy Franklin. Denver added new faces at RB in Audric Estime and Blake Watson, and the QB in Bo Nix is a much better fit within the offense than Russell Wilson ever was.

Where did this team get worse to say that they'll win substantially less in 2024? I mean, my goodness, this Nathaniel Hackett-coached team won five games in 2022. How are people seriously saying that this improved Sean Payton-coached team will win that much in 2024? To me, these predictions are not at all based in any form of logic.

Sure, the Denver Broncos might stink it up in 2024, but the roster is better. There is more talent on the roster now than in 2023, and the QB is a better fit, which is the biggest impact that the Broncos have made.