By: Jake Rajala

The Denver Broncos may be the new favorite in the AFC West this off-season, but they aren’t a flawless team. I’m going to simply untwine a few underachieving faces on the Broncos that need to bounce back in 2022.

Jerry Jeudy

The Denver Broncos need their Bama product at WR to oust a career-season in 2022. The former Broncos WR has put his off-field incident behind him and he needs to have a strong summer. Per Mile High Report, he left practice yesterday via a groin tweak. He should be grinding and healthy soon (as shown below). Hopefully, he can put it all together in his third season — as the Broncos may not keep being patient for him with Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick at WR.

Bradley Chubb

The Broncos weren’t able to bring back Von Miller, but they did ink the speed-rusher Randy Gregory. The former Boys pass rusher will seek to help Bradley Chubb wreak havoc against opposing QBs. With that said, the Broncos simply need their top edge rusher in Chubb to return to being a menace. He unleashed 12 sacks as a rookie, 1 sack as a sophomore, 7.5 sacks and 19 QB hits in a 2020 Pro Bowl-season, and then he fell off a cliff in 2021: 0 sacks, 4 QB hits, in 7 games. It’s crucial that Chubb shows up against the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr, and Justin Herbert next season.

Kareem Jackson

Kareem Jackson might be the Marques Colston of the safety/defensive back position in the grand scheme of things, but he is sadly 34 years old right now. He had a career-low two pass deflections last season and PFF awarded him a 52 coverage grade in 2021. The versatile Jackson can be an excellent veteran presence and even physical DB, but the long-time star can’t be a mediocre link in pass coverage across from the stud Justin Simmons.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Denver Broncos selected an explosive edge rusher in Nik Bonitto with their first pick (64th overall) in the 2022 NFL draft. The Broncos may not have brought back Von Miller, but they were still able to sign Randy Gregory in free agency and land Bonitto in the NFL draft.

Bonitto was a force in his senior campaign: 15 TFLs, seven sacks, 52 pressures, and 28 stops in 2021. Due to his efforts in 2021, PFF named him Big-12 player of the year. It’s clear that he has a strong work ethic combined with gifted athleticism. He reminds me a lot of former sack artists: Chris Clemons and Junior Galette with his quick-twitch ability.

The former Oklahoma LB will help a Broncos pass-rushing unit that ranked 19th in sacks a season ago. He is projected to be back up WLB behind Bradley Chubb (7.5 sacks in 2020) at the moment. It’s obvious that the Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell will get ultra creative with his LB designs next season. The New Orleans Saints were lethal with three pass rushers in Cameron Jordan, Marcus Davenport, and Trey Hendrickson in 2021. Expect DEN to really strive to unveil a pass-rushing unit similar to their OLB group on their Super Bowl 50 squad.

I love the Broncos focus on the OLB/pass rusher spot in the 2022 NFL draft. It’s clear that the wild AFC West has a better group of quarterbacks than any other NFL division. There are bound to be many “down to the wire” contests in the AFC West after many new faces were introduced this offseason. It’s important that the Broncos can add more ammunition to their defense and they certainly added a special chess piece in Bonitto with their golden ticket.

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By: Jordan Anders

The Denver Broncos open up their regular season at MetLife Stadium to face Daniel Jones and the New York Giants. The last time these two teams faced off was in 2017. At that time, Trevor Siemian was the Broncos starting quarterback and Eli Manning was the face of the Giants franchise. A lot has changed since then, for instance, the Broncos have had nine different starting quarterbacks, not including Teddy Bridgewater who will start this Sunday. As for the Giants, Daniel Jones took over the quarterback job after Eli Manning retired two seasons ago.

One thing that is certain in this game is the Broncos’ secondary won’t come to mess around. Both team’s defenses improved over the off-season. However, with Von Miller back in the lineup for the Broncos, the Giants’ offense will have to put in serious work. The Broncos were the only team this pre-season to not allow a touchdown in any of their three games and that was with most of the starters sidelined.

Von Miller & Bradley Chubb vs Daniel Jones

With the dynamic duo back in action, it could very well be a stressful day for Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Last season Bradley Chubb had 7.5 sacks and 42 tackles, while eight-time pro-bowler Von Miller is hungry to get back on the field after being injured last season.

With the combination of these two and the Giants O-line who was ranked 31st last year, the majority of them are back this season, it’s not looking good for Danny Dimes. Giants LT Andrew Thomas didn’t only struggle in the regular season last year, but he played poorly against average talent in the pre-season, as well. Expect Miller to show up on the stat sheet.

Saquon Barkley vs Broncos defense

Last year Broncos struggled to shut down ball carriers, as they were ranked 29th. The Broncos gave up a lousy 4.8 yards per carry. With no big changes made to the Broncos’ front seven, the Giants running back Saquon Barkley could have a big comeback game after missing nearly all of last season due to an ACL injury. Barkley in the 2019 season rushed for over 1000 yards, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt. Although, they will have Von Miller and Chubb back (mentioned above).

The Broncos will not only have two star edge players back, but they will be able to load the box more. The Broncos secondary is arguably the best unit in the league. Pro Football Focus ranked the Broncos secondary number one overall.

Teddy Bridgewater vs Giants defense

After being named Broncos starting quarterback roughly two weeks ago in a close competition with Drew Lock, there will be a lot of eyes on Teddy Bridgewater this game. Last year, the Giants pass defense was rated 17th in the league, their rush defense rated 8th only allowing 4.1 yards per carry. On the flip side, Bridgewater has many young offensive weapons on his side including wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy who can very well get around defenders and make a play. Teddy can also be efficient in not turning it over against a stingy defense.

Both defenses are brute and both QBs should show modest play, so this game will be a match of who has the better defense, to say the least. Outside of the defense, It will be who has the better WR room. Kenny Golladay to the Giants was a huge bonus to them this off-season. Then Jerry Jeudy will be a healthy improved player for the Broncos. The battle of defenses and splash plays, likely by the two WRs mentioned, will be the ultimate deciding factor in the outcome of this game. Odds are in favor of the Broncos to take this one home as a -2.5 spread favorite.

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