2024 Denver Broncos Preview

Offensive Line

The Broncos climbed to 18th in rushing yards (1,810) with eight touchdowns. Their ball carriers gained 4.0 yards per carry with nine runs over 20 yards. They averaged 26.5 carries per game.

Denver fell to 24th in passing yards (3,566) with 28 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Their offensive line allowed 52 sacks (63 in 2022) while gaining 7.0 yards per pass attempt. The Broncos had three most completions (13) of 40 yards or more.

The only offensive line help in this year’s draft came in the seventh round with the addition of C Nick Gargiulo. He has experience at multiple positions and a better feel for run blocking than pass protection. His vision and understanding of play development grade well.

The Broncos lost C Lloyd Cushenberry to the Titans in the offseason. His best value will come in run blocking. He comes off his best overall season thanks to making strides in pass protection (one sack allowed).

Offense

Denver struggled to extend drives, as the offensive line collapsed too many times on third downs when trying to pass. They ran 51 fewer plays (1,015) than in 2022. The Broncos ran the ball 46.8% of the time, with solid game-manager play from Russell Wilson (96.7 QB rating – 6th).

Quarterback

Bo Nix, DEN

Nix is another five-year starter in college, with his three first three coming at Auburn (7,251 passing yards with 39 touchdowns and 16 interceptions plus 262 rushes for 869 yards and 18 touchdowns). The switch to Oregon led to him taking his game to the next level. Over his 27 games for the Ducks, Nix went 22-5 with an elite completion rate (74.9), leading to 8,845 combined yards with 94 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His rushing value was more relevant in 2022 (89/510/14) than last season (54/234/6). He passed for 4,508 yards in 2023 with 45 touchdowns and only three interceptions.

Over the past two seasons, Oregon’s quarterbacks were only sacked 10 times in 946 pass attempts. Running backs caught 88 of their 397 completions (22.2%). The Ducks' offensive attack featured many short passes, helping Nix complete a higher percentage of his passes. Some of his highlight completions came via a quick release with almost a rainbow changeup path to his receivers.

He checks the winning box in experience, success, arm strength, and pocket presence, with the legs to do the dirty work in the run game. Nix had time on his hands to read defenses and an elite passing window at Oregon. His challenge at the next level will be handling increased pressure and tighter coverage downfield.

Denver drafted Nix 12th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Fantasy Outlook: The keys to the starting job for him are well within reach this season, and Sean Payton bet his future coaching job on Nix. The Broncos want to feature their running backs in the passing game to move the chains, and their rookie quarterback has shown an attraction to that thought process at Oregon. Denver doesn’t have a star-studded wide receiver corps, so Nix falls into the wild card class in his rookie season at quarterback. After my first run of Denver's projections, I went with 4,010 combined yards and seven touchdowns. Based on the results (31st ranked QB) from the early drafts in the high-stakes market, they are waiting to see him named as the Broncos starting QB in Week 1 before fighting for Nix in drafts.

Other Options: Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson

Running Backs

The switch to Sean Payton as head coach led to the Broncos’ running backs leading the NFL in catches (131), receiving yards (851), and targets (153). On the downside, they gained only 6.5 yards per catch. In the run game, Denver had regression in all stats for the second consecutive season. Their combined yards (2,312) were a three-year low.