Thread: Highlights and intrigues of the 2017 Broncos schedule

This thought happened: do I get to see Joe Mixon run against the Broncos? I thought--yeah--think so.

Sure enough, that's late November, week 11. Also get to see Mr. 4.22 John Ross.

More than anything I can't wait to see our squad back in action, but some of these sidebar stories are compelling on their own.

Week 8 at Kansas City will be the first milestone of the season, if the last few years are any indication. Jamaal Charles back to KC!

Week one will be a great test for our offensive line. We face Bosa and Ingram from the clippers. How will our new bookends hold up?

The schedule is full of compelling stories--what are yours?

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

This thought happened: do I get to see Joe Mixon run against the Broncos? I thought--yeah--think so.

Sure enough, that's late November, week 11. Also get to see Mr. 4.22 John Ross.

More than anything I can't wait to see our squad back in action, but some of these sidebar stories are compelling on their own.

Week 8 at Kansas City will be the first milestone of the season, if the last few years are any indication. Jamaal Charles back to KC!

Week one will be a great test for our offensive line. We face Bosa and Ingram from the clippers. How will our new bookends hold up?

The schedule is full of compelling stories--what are yours?

Quite simply, what kind of play are we going to get from the QB position and will it be enough to augment our defense.

I fully expect Siemian to be our starting QB - but if Paxton gets the nod week 2 against Dallas will be full of Dak vs Paxton storylines.

Vance Joseph playing both Cincy and Miami, hopefully that gives us some sort of edge.

Just noticed our Arrowhead game is a MNF Halloween-eve game. That place is going to be jumping. I don't love our odds as I look at it 6 months out.

I guess we can get ready for like 10 consecutive trips to New England after this year since the NFL seems to do those in chunks.

Week one will be a great test for our offensive line. We face Bosa and Ingram from the clippers. How will our new bookends hold up?

The Chargers are nowhere near as popular as the Clippers.

We'll get to see the Bengals have another shitty year and continue to phase back into the 90's.

I think we'll see our offense turn into a solid unit with more brilliant plays than boneheaded ones.

The narrative that I want to see play out is how well the Broncos stop the run. Last year when teams ran on us it mitigated our pass rush and secondary. Do we stop the run and continue to make offenses weep at the prospect of playing against us? Or, do we die a slow death on defense drive after drive?

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

We'll get to see the Bengals have another shitty year and continue to phase back into the 90's.

I think we'll see our offense turn into a solid unit with more brilliant plays than boneheaded ones.

The narrative that I want to see play out is how well the Broncos stop the run. Last year when teams ran on us it mitigated our pass rush and secondary. Do we stop the run and continue to make offenses weep at the prospect of playing against us? Or, do we die a slow death on defense drive after drive?

I expect our run defense to be vastly improved

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

I expect our run defense to be vastly improved

Man, I hope so. Peko and Kerr were decent additions to get bigger up front, but I still would've liked to see us bring in some competition at ILB. We can do better than Todd Davis and Marshall tends to get nicked up for a few games every year. I wish we could get our receivers (outside of DT and Hemanuel) sorted out. I liked the addition of Carlos Henderson, but I feel McKenzie was another wasted pick clutching at straws trying desperately to get a returner worth a shit. He's completely undersized and is another "speed" guy that projects as a Norwood/Raymond type.

An ILB would've been a more prudent pick than another JAG WR who might someday help in STs but will never be a factor on offense. I wish we could stop drafting and/or signing a bunch of worthless receivers and eating valuable roster space for almost zero return on our investment. I think our WR situation is hurting the rest of the roster. How shitty will it be if we have to cut Jamal Charles or Deangelo Henderson to get under the 53 man cap to keep McKenzie or Raymond just to be a worthless, sub par return guy?

Originally Posted by HORSEPOWER 56

Man, I hope so. Peko and Kerr were decent additions to get bigger up front, but I still would've liked to see us bring in some competition at ILB. We can do better than Todd Davis and Marshall tends to get nicked up for a few games every year. I wish we could get our receivers (outside of DT and Hemanuel) sorted out. I liked the addition of Carlos Henderson, but I feel McKenzie was another wasted pick clutching at straws trying desperately to get a returner worth a shit. He's completely undersized and is another "speed" guy that projects as a Norwood/Raymond type.

An ILB would've been a more prudent pick than another JAG WR who might someday help in STs but will never be a factor on offense. I wish we could stop drafting and/or signing a bunch of worthless receivers and eating valuable roster space for almost zero return on our investment. I think our WR situation is hurting the rest of the roster. How shitty will it be if we have to cut Jamal Charles or Deangelo Henderson to get under the 53 man cap to keep McKenzie or Raymond just to be a worthless, sub par return guy?

I'm hoping Vance is right in that not being predictable with our fronts will be helpful

Originally Posted by HORSEPOWER 56

Man, I hope so. Peko and Kerr were decent additions to get bigger up front, but I still would've liked to see us bring in some competition at ILB. We can do better than Todd Davis and Marshall tends to get nicked up for a few games every year. I wish we could get our receivers (outside of DT and Hemanuel) sorted out. I liked the addition of Carlos Henderson, but I feel McKenzie was another wasted pick clutching at straws trying desperately to get a returner worth a shit. He's completely undersized and is another "speed" guy that projects as a Norwood/Raymond type.

An ILB would've been a more prudent pick than another JAG WR who might someday help in STs but will never be a factor on offense. I wish we could stop drafting and/or signing a bunch of worthless receivers and eating valuable roster space for almost zero return on our investment. I think our WR situation is hurting the rest of the roster. How shitty will it be if we have to cut Jamal Charles or Deangelo Henderson to get under the 53 man cap to keep McKenzie or Raymond just to be a worthless, sub par return guy?

My takeaway from that is that they feel comfortable with what they have and felt that the NT wasn't able to hold blocks to let the ILB do their job. Or at least felt the DL was the bigger problem and ILB was lower end of the positions that had to be fixed this offseason.

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

We'll get to see the Bengals have another shitty year and continue to phase back into the 90's.

I think we'll see our offense turn into a solid unit with more brilliant plays than boneheaded ones.

The narrative that I want to see play out is how well the Broncos stop the run. Last year when teams ran on us it mitigated our pass rush and secondary. Do we stop the run and continue to make offenses weep at the prospect of playing against us? Or, do we die a slow death on defense drive after drive?

A lot of that depends on whether Pecko stays healthy. They got rid of Sylvester Williams because they didn't think he panned out at NT. Well, some scouts thought he was a DE to begin with but Denver pressed him into service as a NT because they didn't have anybody better and he didn't really pan out. SO, they decided not to exercise the 5th year option on him and let him walk.

They tried to sign Calais Campbell, but he got $15M a year from Jacksonville where players go to get big contracts. I think they even gave Zane Beadles $6M a year for a couple of years.

So, is the DL improved with the addition of Demarcus Walker and Pecko? Well, it looks good on PAPER. Wolfe, Pecko, Walker, Von & Shane on the outside. It looks OK.

Good on the field? We'll see.

Originally Posted by HORSEPOWER 56

Man, I hope so. Peko and Kerr were decent additions to get bigger up front, but I still would've liked to see us bring in some competition at ILB. We can do better than Todd Davis and Marshall tends to get nicked up for a few games every year. I wish we could get our receivers (outside of DT and Hemanuel) sorted out. I liked the addition of Carlos Henderson, but I feel McKenzie was another wasted pick clutching at straws trying desperately to get a returner worth a shit. He's completely undersized and is another "speed" guy that projects as a Norwood/Raymond type.

An ILB would've been a more prudent pick than another JAG WR who might someday help in STs but will never be a factor on offense. I wish we could stop drafting and/or signing a bunch of worthless receivers and eating valuable roster space for almost zero return on our investment. I think our WR situation is hurting the rest of the roster. How shitty will it be if we have to cut Jamal Charles or Deangelo Henderson to get under the 53 man cap to keep McKenzie or Raymond just to be a worthless, sub par return guy?

There is no way they are cutting Jamaal Charles in order to keep a special teams WR who also returns punts. They can put one of those WRs on the practice squad. Charles is an instant upgrade as a 3rd down receiving threat coming out of the backfield. He should catch over 40 passes if healthy. Probably he can't just pound it between the tackles all day like he did in KC, but to suggest that they would cut him for some marginal WR is just silly. There's no way.

He's a HUGE weapon if used right. Unless his knees give out or he just looks washed up out there he's not only on the 53 man roster, but is the #2 RB and the change of pace 3rd down threat.

Really, the weakest link on the team right now, outside of a veteran LT, is TE. When Butt is 100% healthy and ready to start in the NFL they should have a serious TE threat. But, that might not happen this season. He's recovering from surgery, and it takes rookies a while to learn the NFL game.

I thought Elway's comments on day 2 of the draft were revealing where he was saying that it's going to be difficult for some of the rookies to make the team - there just aren't that many slots to compete for on this veteran-laden team that has pretty good depth.

So while we could probably use improved ILB play, I believe his logic was that the return specialists in later rounds have a better chance of cracking the 53 man roster than does a 3rd string ILB. Even though maybe in a vacuum some of those 3rd string ILBs were better players than the specialists who we're taking a chance on.

Originally Posted by Cugel

There is no way they are cutting Jamaal Charles in order to keep a special teams WR who also returns punts. They can put one of those WRs on the practice squad. Charles is an instant upgrade as a 3rd down receiving threat coming out of the backfield. He should catch over 40 passes if healthy. Probably he can't just pound it between the tackles all day like he did in KC, but to suggest that they would cut him for some marginal WR is just silly. There's no way.

He's a HUGE weapon if used right. Unless his knees give out or he just looks washed up out there he's not only on the 53 man roster, but is the #2 RB and the change of pace 3rd down threat.

Really, the weakest link on the team right now, outside of a veteran LT, is TE. When Butt is 100% healthy and ready to start in the NFL they should have a serious TE threat. But, that might not happen this season. He's recovering from surgery, and it takes rookies a while to learn the NFL game.

I'm excited about Butt like everyone else and Derby showed flashes of being a decent receiver last year so I'm not as worried about TE anymore. I'm just tired of carrying 7 receivers when only 2 catch any balls because the others are garbage hoping one of the remaining 5 will actually do something for the team. I doubt we carry 4 RBs which leaves either Henderson (who might make the PS), or Charles (who is only a 1 mil cap hit if released - especially if he can't go to start the season) as the odd man out in favor of guys like Taylor, Raymond, Lattimer, Mckenzie, or Fowler who bring pretty much nothing to the table but wasted roster space.

Originally Posted by HORSEPOWER 56

I'm excited about Butt like everyone else and Derby showed flashes of being a decent receiver last year so I'm not as worried about TE anymore. I'm just tired of carrying 7 receivers when only 2 catch any balls because the others are garbage hoping one of the remaining 5 will actually do something for the team. I doubt we carry 4 RBs which leaves either Henderson (who might make the PS), or Charles (who is only a 1 mil cap hit if released - especially if he can't go to start the season) as the odd man out in favor of guys like Taylor, Raymond, Lattimer, Mckenzie, or Fowler who bring pretty much nothing to the table but wasted roster space.

I like Butt too.

I am most excited about Charles this season.

I figure QB play will be improved as long as our main offensive ingredients stay healthy (CJ, Charles, O-line, DT, Sanders).

Our fortunes this season will be closely tied to RB performance, and I can't wait to see it. Don't sleep on CJ, especially now there is another stud in the stable.