The old adage states that things are always darkest before dawn, and that feels like it rings true for the Denver Broncos.

In the past 24 months, they’ve thrown their organization into the debates of ‘worst head coach hire ever,’ ‘worst trade ever’ and ‘worst contract ever,’ but they’re finally starting to remedy those woes, and it feels like hope is around the corner…maybe not in 2024, but 2025 feels very hopeful.

Chernobyl is now home to several different thriving populations of flora and fauna. In the 80s and 90s, boar populations in the region reached a critical mass, while the wolf population became so healthy that became a regular nuisance to the local farmers. It just took time.

The radioactive landscape left behind by the Nathaniel Hackett and the Russell Wilson trade and extension will also be remedied by time, and by the steps the new ownership group and football decision makers are making and are poised to continue to make.

The move they made last season was cleaning up the Hackett mess, by bringing in one of the best offensive minds of the past two decades. Sean Payton had an imperfect first season with the Denver and it’s certainly fair to demand more, but the good also shouldn’t be lost in that conversation, as the Broncos wound up a mediocre offense, despite subpar talent at every position group outside of the offensive line. They also won eight games, despite the aforementioned offensive woes, and having the worst September defense in NFL history.

Now, they start to clean up the Wilson mess by cutting him, saving the franchise nearly $40 million in the long run. Cutting Wilson is often framed as an expensive move but it is actually a cost-cutting move, which is being utilized to clean up Denver’s books. With that move, the Broncos’ cap situation is in very good shape moving forward, as they’re likely to have well over $50M in 2025 cap and $150M in 2026 cap, even after high-end extensions to Pat Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz are handed out.

Departures of Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy sting, but it has hard to imagine either being key pieces on the next playoff-caliber Broncos team, and it signals the adoption of a long-overdue rebuild.

Ownership is also enabled to further clean up this mess considering their exceptionally deep pockets and the value cash has in cap manipulation efforts. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on late-season field swaps and upgrading the Jumbotron of a likely soon-to-be demolished stadium. It seems unlikely they’ll drag their feet now that they can actually help the on-field product with their spending.

With those cleanup efforts underway, new uniforms coming out this season, and Sean Payton finally able to craft the offense without the restrictions brought on by Wilson, the franchise is primed to end this dark chapter.

Before the offseason and a new era of Broncos football launch though, let’s take a look back at some of the highlights from a relatively disappointing campaign, and hand out awards for the team’s Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year.

Offensive Player of the Year

Winner: Courtland Sutton, WR.

I think a decade from now, when the Broncos have found their quarterback and are annually battling with the Chiefs for AFC supremacy, the 2023 season will be remembered for the arrival of Sean Payton, the subsequent divorce of Russell Wilson, and Courtland Sutton’s absolutely ludicrous highlight reel.

While the jury might still be out on how they’ll feel about those first two down the line, Sutton’s season can be cherished for a long time.

For much of the season, particularly down the stretch, Sutton felt like the engine driving the offense. 

There’s a reason the Denver Broncos’ own social media team was playing off the idea of the passing game being “fuck it, Court’s down there somewhere.”

One shudders at the thought of this offense without Sutton this season.

Jerry Jeudy regressed after a terrific 2022 campaign, Javonte Williams understandably wasn’t fully back to being himself, Greg Dulcich was having hamstring experts analyze whether or not he had to change his gait, Brandon Johnson is a former UDFA who spent all of 2022 on the practice squad and had never played in a regular season game until this season, Marvin Mims was little more than a gadget player and deep threat on offense, and the rest of the wide receivers bounced between the practice squad and the active roster, without drawing much ‘poach’ interest from rival teams.

Hell, the Denver Broncos were the only team in the NFL whose top-three offensive weapons, in terms of usage, were running backs. Even worse? Their fourth most-used weapon was Russell Wilson’s legs. You don’t see a dedicated pass-catcher until offensive weapon No. 5, and again, the Denver Broncos are the only team where that’s the case.

All of those problems severely marred the offense, with Sutton having a career year. Imagine how much those problems would have been magnified without their presence.

Now, in terms of the numbers, there are some flies in the ointment here that need to be discussed, but we’ll save those critiques for the honorable mention section. 

This section should just focus on the positives, and that’s why we have to discuss Sutton’s red zone dominance this season.

In the most important area of the field, arguably no player was more magnificent than Sutton.

Sutton tied with Sam LaPorta and CeeDee Lamb – two All-Pros – for most red zone touchdown receptions. He was fifth in total red zone yardage, behind only Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Rashee Rice, and Michael Pittman, and was fifth in red zone completion percentage, among receivers with at least 10 red zone targets, demonstrating how heavily he was leaned on and how reliable he was.

He was the only playmaker on offense in 2023.

Honorable Mentions: Quinn Meinerz, G & Samaje Perine, RB.

They just missed the cut here, but Meinerz and Perine absolutely deserve some praise for their efforts this season.

Meinerz was one of the best guards in football this season and took a large step towards reaching the jaw-dropping potential his athletic prowess provides. As long as the Broncos can find a way to pay him, he appears set to be a linchpin for Denver’s offense for the next half-decade or more.

Meanwhile, despite it being a weird pick, few offensive players were better than Perine this year.

As a receiver, no one was more efficient on a per-snap basis than Perine, who averaged 2.03 yards per route run. That figure isn’t just impressive for Denver’s anemic passing game either, as he also managed to outperform Ja’Marr Chase, Stefon Diggs, and Davante Adams in that same category.

Defensive Player of the Year

Winner: Pat Surtain II.

When the Denver Broncos had Champ Bailey, he was practically a shoo-in for this honor. Then, Von Miller took up that mantle, and soon after that, it was Justin Simmons’ turn.

Ever since last year, if not sooner, that crown has belonged to Pat Surtain II.

This year did see him take a step back from the season before, but he also had far less help from his defensive front and wasn’t put in favorable situations too often. When Surtain was still allowed to lean on his man-coverage skills and lockdown the opponent’s best weapon, he still thrived.

When the nearest defender in man coverage, Surtain allowed just 39.1 percent of his targets to be completed and held quarterbacks to a passer rating of 32.2. Those figures rank second and first, respectively, among all NFL corners.

Surtain also allowed the fewest yards per target and yards per snap in those situations.

Honorable Mentions: Justin Simmons, S & Zach Allen, IDL

Zach Allen has a tremendous case for this award, which is why he received so many votes in our Consensus Broncos Awards article, but, considering how generally poor the front seven played this year, it’s too hard to give him the award.

The pass rush he was a part of couldn’t win without additional help, and Denver’s run defense was wildly porous. Yes, he was comfortably the best member of those units, but how much of that was a product of his units being extremely talent deficient?

Simmons is harder to argue against.

He made an All-Pro team this year – something PS2 failed to do – and his value to the defense was made deeply apparent as the D was a tire fire during Simmons’ injury absence.

Ultimately, Surtain being an elite cornerback is just more valuable than Simmons being an elite safety. Naming Surtain Defensive Player of the Year also spares us from rubbing salt into our tender wounds.

Most Valuable Player

Winner: Garett Bolles, OT.

Now, the season could very well be remembered for Coach Payton, Wilson, and the mind-melting highlight reel of Sutton, but in terms of, ‘which player created the most value,’ Garett Bolles takes the cake.

After a franchise quarterback, the most valuable player a team can have is a lockdown left tackle or a game-changing pass rusher.

Denver remains devoid of a franchise quarterback and, although Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper took some great leaps this year, they’re also without a game-changing pass rusher. 

That third priority, though? The Denver Broncos have that covered, thanks to Bolles.

In his first season under new offensive line coach Zach Strief, Bolles had the best season of his career.

The only left tackles responsible for a smaller percentage of their team’s pressures were All-Pros Tristan Wirfs and Trent Williams – arguably the two best tackles in the sport.

Bolles also ranked fifth in pass block win rate and earned PFF’s seventh-highest pass protection grade, among all tackles with at least 350 snaps on the season.

Now, awards aside, Broncos Country should closely monitor how this Bolles situation develops. 

Moving on from Bolles is one of the best ways for this team to spend money, this team already has a lot of money tied up in its line, and there is a hefty extension for Quinn Meinerz on the horizon, while Lloyd Cushenberry III departs for Tennessee in free agency.

It’s not hard to imagine a world where a rebuilding Broncos team, with a limited number of picks, decides to swap Bolles, rather than let him walk for nothing at the end of 2024. Doing so would make it much easier for Denver to retain the line’s young talent, but it would open a glaring hole on the Broncos’ line and roster.

Honorable Mentions: Pat Surtain II, CB; Courtland Sutton, WR; Quinn Meinerz, G; Justin Simmons, S. 

Surtain, Sutton, Meinerz and Simmons are all worthy of being named the Denver Broncos’ MVP for the 2023 season, even if they weren’t my personal first-place player. 

That said, I’ve already laid out the case in favor of each one of those players earning hardware, so I won’t take any more of your time here.

I’ve already ranted plenty.

With that said, sincerely, thank you for your time, your support and your interest. 

The rest of my team and I are very excited to welcome you to LetsTalkBroncos.com.