Denver Broncos 2023 Review – Defense & Special Teams
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Overview
I have had a fun time reviewing this Broncos season, because it was simultaneously one of the most frustrating seasons I’ve ever watched, combined with a mid-season turnaround that gave us playoff hopes, an end of season collapse, and Russell Wilson drama.
The Denver Broncos finished their 2023-24 campaign at 8-9, one game under .500, for the seventh straight season under the winning record mark. This also marked the eighth straight year of not making the playoffs. These were obviously the two worst streaks the team has working against them, but significant steps were taken this season to give faith that 2024-25 we could buck the trends.
Now, let’s get two things out of the way, we lost nine games, and five of those games the Broncos beat themselves (or had an opportunity to win), in my opinion. Missed field goal against the Raiders and defense giving up a 5-minute drive to end the game week one, missed two-point conversion for OT against the Commanders, fumble on the last drive to lose the game against the Jets in a rivalry game, interception in the end zone against the Texans with 16 seconds to play, and the entire New England game… get the ball at the 25-yard line on the first play of the game just to have a turnover on downs. Miss a field goal. Fumble recovery for a touchdown. Fight back to tie the game. Defense gives up 43-yards in 53 seconds to lose on a 56-yard field goal to the worst offense and worst kicker in the NFL.
These frustrating losses, seem to mount up and end up defining the season. Year over year, I look back on a season and it is always a handful of games we were right there… but good teams win those games and bad teams lose those games. That is why coaches talk about winning culture and learning how to not lose games. Bad/middling teams can’t overcome mistakes, generally, and as Sean called out in his post season presser, we were 8-1 when we won the turnover battle, and we were 0-8 when we lost the turnover battle or were even.
I am going to review the Defense and Special Teams in this piece, I tackled offense and head coaching last week.
Interior Defensive Line
Listen, Defensive linemen are not always the sexiest position on the field, lots of times they simply serve as the wall and their job is to soak up double teams and not get pushed back too far. Usually, defensive tackles and defensive ends get their productivity by busted plays, stunts, or by beating their man with a good move to make a play in the backfield. Defensive linemen are also responsible for helping our edge rushers be successful. Our starting defensive line this year consisted of the newcomer Zach Allen, who will always be compared to Dre’Mont Jones by the nature of not paying one and opting to bring in the other, DJ Jones, and Jonathan Harris. This starting unit combined for 149 tackles, 8 sacks, and 17 tackles for loss. Without being overly critical, some of the issues this team had as a defense was stopping the run and getting consistent pressure on the quarterbacks on passing downs.
Let’s get this out of the way too, Zach Allen over Dre’mont Jones was the right choice. The Broncos saved $2-mil a year, and they got a more productive player. We loved Jones in Denver, but he was a good player asking for elite player money, we got a better player for cheaper going the Zach Allen Route. Allen was the saving grace holding up this position group grade to average.
The Broncos were ranked as the team with the 12th fewest sacks in the league, they gave up the 3rd most rushing yards in the NFL, while facing the 13th most rushing attempts in the NFL. Those numbers are not great, and unfortunately, I think a lot of that production falls on the defensive line. Zach Allen had a very productive season, he was an impact player in both the pass and the run game, but I think DJ and Jonathan Harris both had underwhelming years when put under a microscope. Between our three starting defensive linemen, they deflected one single pass at the line of scrimmage all season, which is another impact play they should be making somewhat regularly.
DJ has been a great pickup by the Broncos for the last few years, but I think this year he took a step back. He is a leader in the locker room, but he was not nearly as dominant or productive this year, especially for the 4th highest paid player in the locker room. There should a lower bar for Jonathan Harris, considering he is the 30th highest paid player on the Broncos this last season, but he was a starter and therefor gets the same criticism. The linebackers were cleaning up a lot of leakage through the running lanes this season, which is partly why Alex Singleton set the franchise record with 171 total tackles this year.
Grade – C
Edge Rushers
Your edge rushers job is to create pressure on the passers to make them rush reads and either get sacks or force bad decisions by quarterbacks. The Broncos had the 12th fewest sacks in the NFL, after making a big youth movement at the position group. To start the season, many believed Randy Gregory and Frank Clark would be our starting edge rushers, but poor productivity and being distractions for the team, both players were moved on from by the trade deadline. Randy was traded to the 49ers where he hasn’t been productive, and Frank Clark is an unsigned free agent still.
Moving away from both of those players opened the door for youngsters Jonathan Cooper and Nik Bonito to lead the team in sacks, and for Baron Browning to have an extremely productive season despite playing in only 10/17 games. Now, when Nik Bonito gets a good jump on an offensive lineman, he is in the backfield as fast as Von Miller in his prime. His sacks were usually so immediate the quarterbacks had nothing they could do, something amazing to watch. That being said, the Broncos just didn’t have a great pass rush win percentage as a team. We didn’t win our pass rushing downs often enough to make it a strength of the team. Jonathan Cooper got a lot of his sacks due to his relentless motor and never quitting on a play, circling around the QB until he got home, something you love to see, but again not fast enough pressure or frequent enough pressure to make this group elite. Baron Browning appeared to be an elite player for stretches, but again he battled injury issues missing seven games as a result.
When Baron is on the field, the defense is a better unit. He wins his pass rushes more consistently than both Bonito and Cooper, applying pressures at a higher clip. But if this unit takes another leap forward next season, and they are all healthy, this could be one of the best bargain units in the NFL. You have a unique combination of speed, youth, motor, skill diversity and skill ceiling that this unit has a big opportunity to evolved into a home-grown unit of dominance. To take that step forward we need Bonito winning at a higher rate, Cooper developing a better speed to power rush to win more frequently and Baron to be healthy to show his dominance.
I would love to see this unit develop instead of spending money on a free agent, and I think this was a decision of the front office, especially with the Russell Wilson dead cap hit about to be a major factor. We are going to be cheering for these edge rushers to improve dramatically without an injection of money or draft capital into the position group. The skill ceiling is high, but the current production is that of a bottom half of the league unit.
Grade – C+
Middle Linebackers
Another tricky position group to grade… Alex Singleton had the most tackles in a single season in Bronco’s history, you’d think that means he had a great year right… But number of tackles does not always indicate a great season because you must factor in things like number of missed tackles, where on the field the tackles were made, how many tackles for loss? Because of Singleton’s 177 tackles, he only had six behind the line of scrimmage. The defensive line, as called out above, was not great at clogging the lanes and forcing runs to bounce out, so our linebackers were making tackles downfield all season. According to this PFF article the Broncos had the 6th lowest missed tackles per snap rate, and only missed 107 total tackles. Surprisingly, they didn’t miss a huge number of tackles relative to the other teams in the league or the percentage relative to the total number of plays they faced, which is a good statistic for the tackling efficiency as a team.
How did the Linebackers hold up in coverage against tight ends and in the middle of the field? Hard to get stats for tight end receiving yards, hard to get stats for Bronco’s zone coverage success, and I think the consensus this year was that our passing defense, outside of the pass rush, was solid after week six. The Broncos had the top third down defense in the league, which is usually indicative of a defense that holds up in zone coverage and protects the first down marker. Strangely, we also had one of the worst 4th down defenses which to me indicates that we didn’t give up 3rd down conversions, but we let teams get close enough that they frequently thought they should go for it.
I don’t think the linebackers were the problem in our pass defense, I think they did as well as we could have expected. As a spectator it didn’t feel like previous years where tight ends and speedy backs on swing passes were our kryptonite. Based on the eye test and viewing through a critical lens, my only gripe about our Linebacker unit, was just the lack of big plays. They felt like a unit that made tackles when they came to them but didn’t really do much else. Not a lot of passes defensed (seven total combined), zero interceptions, eight total tackles for loss between Alex and Josey. They did force two and recover five fumbles on the year and were responsible for a combined five sacks, but I just want them to be big play makers more often than they are.
Grade – B
Cornerbacks
I think we had a Cornerback problem at the start of the season, Demarri Mathis was simply not good enough as the CB2 across from Pat Surtain and as a result our defense was atrocious. Not saying Demarri was the only issue, but a combination of injuries and Demarri Mathis culminated in the 70-20 drubbing we received from the Miami Dolphins week 3Need to remember this game we had Delarrin Turner-Yell starting at safety because Justin Simmons wasn’t playing, and PJ Locke wasn’t back from IR yet. Demarri Mathis was the worst graded CB by PFF through three weeks, and we didn’t have Baron Browning and hadn’t unlocked Jaquan McMillian yet. K’Waun Williams was on IR all season too, which also exacerbated the units lack of depth and top end talent.
After week six, when the team was 1-5, there were some big changes made to the unit including starting Foster Moreau instead of Mathis, Jaquan McMillian became a starter and a turnover machine in the slot, our safeties got healthy, we moved on from Randy Gregory and Frank Clark, we got Baron Browning back from IR. And from that point on, the team seemed to resemble the defense of the last decade that was talented and the strength of our team. Pat Surtain remains one of, if not the best, cornerbacks in the league. He was voted as the Players Association All Pro team, voted by his peers, he was a pro bowler, but missed the AP All Pro team. He had a few games I’m sure he wished he could have back and didn’t make as many game changing plays as he would have hoped this season, but he still was elite.
The Broncos had the 14th fewest interceptions in the league, which I think you could ask anyone on the team, and they would say they have to get that number up next season. The Broncos did have the 8th highest yards per attempt against them, they gave up the 6th highest completion percentage as a defense, and the 5th most passing touchdown in the NFL last season. These are all stats that need to be better, especially if you’re boasting the best corner in the league on this unit. I believe the Broncos will invest a draft pick in the cornerback position group this year, and we need a huge leap from Riley Moss next season to be confident in the CB2 spot across from Pat.
Grade – B-
Safeties
This one is difficult only because we had Caden Sterns and PJ Locke on IR, we had Kareem Jackson getting suspended or fined every game until eventually being cut, and we started Delarrin Turner-Yell, a special teams ace one game this season due to injuries. The Broncos were battling some demons in this position group this season, and as a result we saw some challenges with these guys. Kareem Jackson was eventually released after his suspensions. PJ Locke came back from IR and was playing good football next to Justin Simmons. Simmons had another all-pro / pro bowl season leading the Broncos in interceptions again. All that considered, the same negative passing stats that afflicted the Cornerbacks above, those stats are equally negative for the safeties.
With an All-Pro cornerback and an All-Pro Safety, you’d think this secondary was elite, but that just wasn’t the case. There was a talent gap between our best players and the guys across the field from them for a significant part of the season. Once PJ Locke was back from injury and we moved on from Kareem Jackson, we seemed to find a winning combination that stabilized the group. But that took six weeks, and I don’t think anyone is saying PJ Locke played at an elite level, he just helped make sure the unit wasn’t a weak spot of the team. Draft pick JL Skinner didn’t play a lot, and was a healthy scratch most games, which indicates he isn’t yet ready to make an impact on the field outside of maybe special teams. Delarrin Turner-Yell should never have been put in as a starting safety, that just wasn’t fair to the second-year player out of Oklahoma and drafted in the 5th round, who plays mainly Special Teams so far in his career.
This coming off-season, PJ Locke is a free agent, and there is a chance we don’t bring him back. With that looming, you could see a free agent brought in, draft capital spent, or fingers crossing that Delarrin or Skinner take massive leaps this off-season to be starter quality developed draft picks. Let’s not forget how dominant Caden Sterns’ last season was, but it is really challenging for me to have a starting spot pegged for a guy coming off two seasons of injury issues. I love Caden, and when healthy him and Justin should be elite, but just need to see him healthy for 17 games.
Grade – C+
Special Teams
Okay, so leading into this season, we endured 4 seasons of Tom McMahon and a bad season with Dwayne Stukes, to be one of the worst special teams’ units in the NFL over the last 7-8 seasons. Many pundits in the NFL would say that a good barometer for team success, typically sits on the shoulders of your special teams’ units. So often something like a missed field goal, a blocked punt or a punt return for a touchdown is a game changing or game winning play. If your special teams are consistent and towards the top of the league, there is a good chance the team is celebrating success. I think for these Denver Broncos, this rang true. We were rated inside the top 10 for special teams by most talent evaluators, and an argument could be made that the success of our special team’s units helps explain why we were playing meaningful football in December and why we were in the playoff conversation three of the last four weeks of the year.
Will Lutz replaced Brandon McManus, which angered many fans, but Lutz was a Sean Payton guy in New Orleans and had an amazing season as the Denver Broncos kicker. Lutz missed four field goals all season and only two extra points. He was a big leg on kickoffs and as consistent as we could have expected. Riley Dixon replaced Sam Martin, who both had good years, but Dixon was a cool player to bring back to Denver, as someone we originally drafted out of college. Dixon didn’t have a single punt blocked and had a massive leg especially with the support of the thin Denver air.
Marvin Mims was a pro bowl return man, with a 26.5 yards per return on kickoffs and a 16.4 yards per return on Punts, both of which were tops in the NFL. It was overshadowed, but Mims returned a kickoff for a 99-yard touchdown against the Dolphins in week three. I think over the last few drafts, we have had more draft capital later in the drafts, which believe it or not, is usually where special teams players are drafted. We have consistently had bad special teams over the last 7-years, partly because of late round draft misses, and players just not being guys who had the skill/effort required to be a special team’s impact player. I think back to drafts like the 2017-2021 drafts guys like Brandon Langley, Keishawn Bierria, Justin Hollins, Derrek Tuszka, and Kary Vincent Jr were all late round draft picks that we wanted on special teams, that are no longer on the squad. We spent good draft capital on guys like Montrell Washington, Isaiah McKenzie, and KJ Hamler for their speed and possible return abilities just for none of them to pan out.
Well, we finally have it, be it our coaching or the players willingness to be special teams’ players, we have a good special teams’ unit for field goals, punts, kicks and returns that aren’t the reason we are losing most games. I’m thankful for the special team’s unit and hope this trend continues! I am not going to give a flat A, because we did still miss a few field goals that would have served game winners in retrospect like Week 1 vs the Raiders, and I think there was room to improve for the punt team to down more kicks inside the 10 and the 5-yard lines. Mike Westhoff and Ben Kotwica have these units playing inspired and great football, I am not worried about these units heading into 2024.
Grade – A-
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