The Athletic Football Show is previewing all 32 teams leading up to the start of the 2026 NFL season. Below are select quotes from the show’s preview of the Denver Broncos. The quotes are edited for clarity. You can watch the whole preview on YouTube and in the embedded video below, or listen to the full AFC West preview wherever you get your podcasts.
Dave Helman on what about the Broncos most excites him: “The AFC runner-up just added a top-15 wide receiver, which I genuinely think Jaylen Waddle is. I don’t think a lot of people recognize that. Over the last four years, he’s fourth in EPA per target in the league. He’s seventh in explosive receptions. He’s 11th in first downs per route run. He’s 12th in yards per route run. He’s 13th in the league in YAC over expectation, which I think is interesting. The Denver Broncos, they have no problem generating YAC because they throw a million short balls. They do not generate a ton of YAC over expectation. And that is why Jaylen Waddle is so fun. He’s the type of guy who can catch a 12-yard in and be in the end zone and from 50, 60 yards out.”
Derrik Klassen on what he’ll be watching the first month of the season: “What does the rotation at running back look like? They brought in R.J. Harvey last year and I think wanted him to be a huge part of the offense. He scored a bunch of touchdowns, but I think they probably want to get him a little bit more work in the passing game. But can he really hold up in pass protection? And then Jonah Coleman, who they drafted this year, has been pretty good for them. But they also still have J.K. Dobbins, who started and played fairly well last year. He’s a little bit banged up this camp, as he often is, unfortunately, but I think they still expect him to be a pretty big part of this rotation, too.
Can Harvey be a little bit more consistent? I think part of why the Broncos run game feels a little bit lacking is that for as efficient as Dobbins can be, he’s not maybe as explosive or as elusive as you want. And Harvey’s the opposite, where he is pretty explosive, but he’s just going to get you three yards when seven is blocked sometimes, just because he’s a little bit blind [as a runner]. So I think just figuring out how this rotation works out is pretty interesting to me, because it could go a number of different ways.”
Robert Mays on what’s keeping him up at night: “We alluded to this a little bit earlier when we were talking about teams where the passing game consistency is an area of concern for me, and that’s where I land with the Broncos.
According to Next Gen Stats, Bo Nix had a 44.5 percent passing success rate last season. It was 19th in the NFL. It was behind Michael Penix and Tua [Tagovailoa]. The EPA numbers look better because he’s giving you some explosive plays and he’s giving you a lot as a scrambler. The only player in the NFL last season who had a better mark when you combine the sack EPA and scramble EPA was Patrick Mahomes. And so the expected points part of the Broncos offense, you understand why they get there.
The lack of consistency down to down is what leads to some of the frustration. And so the fact that, again, 19th in passing success rate last year, you can square that with the really good efficiency numbers in part because they’re not taking a lot of negative plays, and there are valuable plays they’re creating with some of the scrambles. But down to down, can I rely on this passing game in the biggest games of the year when teams are throwing junk at them that they’re likely going to?”
Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show on YouTube
