There are a number of teams in the NFL that are clearly just playing for a higher draft pick at this point, such as the Bears, the Cardinals, and the Giants, to name a few. 

The Broncos, on the other hand, are a team that just can’t seem to pick a direction. Starting with a 1-5 record, mixed with allowing the Miami Dolphins to absolutely humiliate the franchise by routing the Broncos 70-20 in week 3, it seemed obvious this team was trending towards blowing the whole team up and tanking to get Caleb Williams with the first pick in next year’s draft. 

Lately, the Broncos have finally started to show signs of life, narrowing out a win against the Packers with a score of 19-17, and then the following week miraculously managing to steamroll the Kansas City Chiefs, beating them 24-9. The Bronco’s defense did not allow a touchdown against Patrick Mahomes, something that is not easily done. They also picked him off twice and turned the Chiefs over 5 times in total. 

This victory creates complications. This defense was so historically bad that at one point, fans were begging for defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to be fired 3 weeks into the season. Those cries have been quiet these past 3 weeks because, out of nowhere, the defense is revived and has played like a top 5 defense.

Then there is Russell Wilson, who looks very uncomfortable throwing the football from the pocket, seems to struggle reading Defenses, and holds onto the ball for 5-6 seconds on a common basis. Sean Payton tries to hold Wilson’s hand and draw people open for Russ, but once the first option is covered up on a route, you can tell Russ just panics and doesn’t know what to do with the football. On the bright side, He is smart and doesn’t turn the ball over a lot, and statistically has been impressive this year. Regardless, it really makes you wonder how long the Broncos will stick with him before moving to a younger QB, especially with how strikingly disappointing the team has been since signing him.

Now the Broncos are stuck with a 3-5 record and a tough schedule ahead, what direction will they take? If they lose out the rest of the season, they can draft their next franchise qb and start over with an actual rebuild, which is something the Broncos haven’t done since Peyton Manning retired back in 2016. 

Do the Broncos still sell out before the trade deadline and get as many picks as possible to start a rebuild, or do they ride out another season with this team to see if they can make it work?