Broncos Country is feeling more optimistic than it has in a long time after the team’s second preseason game, thanks to so many coinflips seeming to break their way.
Bo Nix looks like the quarterback fans have long waited for, key players are returning from injury well, and the rookie class seems to have some strong pieces.
Who’s standing out, and who’s raising concerns? Let’s look.
STOCK UP
Tim Patrick
Barely over a decade ago, tearing an ACL was a death sentence in the NFL, and even now, tearing an Achilles frequently ruins NFL careers.
So, when Tim Patrick suffered both of those injuries, one after the other, in consecutive seasons, it was only normal for fans to cast doubt and wonder if he would ever play meaningful football again. Even if he did return to the gridiron, the expectation was, understandably, that he would be a fundamentally different player now than he was three seasons ago.
Two weeks into the preseason, Patrick has told all the doubters to shove it, performing as the go-to target and an unquestioned starter in what should be the Broncos’ best passing attack since Peyton Manning was at the helm. Beyond that, Patrick is moving exceptionally well.
Had he returned and begun thriving in a new niche — one where his movement was dramatically different but he was still able to find success thanks to his high-end ball skills and powerful build — that would have been phenomenally impressive. Yet somehow, even more shockingly, he has managed to return looking like the exact same player he was pre-injury.
If this carries into the regular season, it is a game-changing development for Denver’s offense.
Zach Allen
Yes, Zach Allen was working against backup offensive linemen, but still, it is not often you see backup NFL linemen as thoroughly embarrassed as they were by Allen on Sunday night. Even when one controls for the level of opponent Allen was facing, it was a remarkable showing.
On just seven pass-rushing snaps, he generated three pressures, one of which resulted in a sack and another of which resulted in a hit on the quarterback.
Allen’s per-snap pass-rushing impact earned him a Pass-Rush Productivity (PRP) score of 28. To put that in perspective, Micah Parsons led the NFL in PRP last year, and he didn’t even notch a score of 14.
It was a preseason showing reminiscent of an adult going ‘too hard’ during the annual family Thanksgiving Day football game — wrangling children by the ankles and using them as blunt-force objects against one another.
Easily a stock up.
Bo Nix
Bo Nix had a tremendous preseason debut, but there were still plenty of areas of his game — namely his footwork and his general franticness — that Broncos Country needed to see improve before getting overly excited.
The fact we then saw that development, just one week later, in the next preseason game and in the preceding joint practice against Green Bay’s starters, is ridiculously promising.
It’s no surprise that Sean Payton announced him as the starting quarterback today.
Obviously, we still have to see him perform at this level in the regular season, but Denver has every reason to be giddy with excitement for now.
Jonah Elliss
The Denver Broncos might have fundamentally changed their franchise outlook with the first two picks in this year’s draft, as Jonah Elliss is already looking like a home-run selection, just two games into his NFL career.
So far, Elliss leads all edge rushers with at least 15 pass-rush attempts in PRP, with a score of 25.0. Again, that would nearly double the league leader’s production rate from a season ago (Micah Parsons, 12.6).
Now, obviously, Elliss isn’t going to maintain that pace into the regular season. It is laughable to project anyone to be twice as dominant as the NFL’s next-best pass rusher. Nonetheless, because of just how astronomic his play has been so far, Elliss has a lot of cushion to fall back to earth while still being a tremendous rookie addition.
On top of all this though, maybe the most important development with Elliss has been his surprising ability as a run defender.
Coming out of Utah, Elliss was viewed as a ‘pass-rush specialist’ who could cause havoc against opposing quarterbacks but would be a liability in the run game. So far, that hasn’t been the case, which is huge for the Broncos, considering their large need for early-down help at EDGE.
Devon Key
An underrated storyline this preseason has been Devon Key running with the first-team defense as the Brandon Jones fill-in, instead of the offseason favorite for that responsibility — JL Skinner.
Even after Jones comes back, Key should see a lot of work as the team’s third safety. The past three seasons have seen Denver’s No. 3 safety play 538, 274 and 311 snaps.
Beyond that, Key has been a consistently strong performer at training camp.
In a safety room decimated by injury, desperate for someone to step up, Key is doing precisely that.
STOCK DOWN
Audric Estime
With it being such a strong performance from the Denver Broncos and with us already touching on so many of the perceived losers of different camp battles these past two weeks, the downs this week are few in number and nit-picky in nature.
First up is Audric Estime, who had a limited workload, but still looked sluggish enough to raise some concerns.
The workload is small and he has clear positives to his game, like his ability to pass-protect and succeed in short-yardage situations, but the movement skills look limited for an NFL back.
Some will point to the 40-yard dash time of 4.71, and argue this is to be expected, but Kyren Williams ran a very similar time (4.65) and has looked markedly more explosive for the Rams.
No cause for panic yet, but definitely something to monitor
Riley Moss
One of the most pleasant surprises of the Denver Broncos’ first preseason game was Riley Moss, who held up well in coverage and added some much-needed physicality to the cornerback spot opposite Pat Surtain.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t as sticky in Week 2.
Now, as is the case with the Estime critique, we’re talking about a tiny sample size here, of just seven coverage snaps. Nonetheless, in those seven snaps, Moss gave up a 40-yard bomb that could’ve gone for six, had it not bounced off the wide-open receiver harmlessly.
It’s just one bad rep, but those are the kind of reps that risk nullifying the play of Pat Surtain, Zach Allen, and the rest of the Broncos’ defense defense.
