Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.
A few weeks ago the Broncos played with their new alternate helmets. While other teams just play on nostalgia with throwback gears, Denver mixed it up with something new (color white) and really made a gimmick out of it. … More so than just rocking alternates, it truly felt like a test. Can you tell me how it was received and do you hear anything about where they’re at with the new uniforms?
— Yoann, Beine-Nauroy (France)
Hey Yoann, thanks for writing in and getting us going this week. Back from the bye week and back into action.
Astute point that the helmet seemed like more than just a one-time thing. A test is a good way to put it. I’m not an expert on this stuff, but the reaction I saw to the helmet was pretty solidly positive in nature. And that’s before you grade on the scale of how flat so many attempts at this kind of thing go for teams across sports – think about the NBA’s In-Season Tournament uniforms in general or the City Connect jerseys in baseball. There’s a lot of negativity around a lot, though not all, of those attempts.
No updates recently from the Broncos on their alternate uniform pursuits, but we heard from president Damani Leech before the season and they’re clearly working through the process. Last year in London, he talked about a roughly two-year timeline. At present, Denver’s been working on the project for about 18 months. I’m not a math major, but that lines up for a potential offseason announcement regarding something for 2024.
Given that: 1) Russell Wilson is unlikely to return next year; 2) the Broncos will likely win themselves out of contention for Caleb Williams; 3) Sean Payton has had more success rehabbing QBs than drafting them… What do you think about the possibility of re-signing Drew Lock, who is playing out a 1-year deal with Seattle, then drafting a highly rated QB? I would give 2024 to Lock, as he’s had enough of rigged QB competitions. If he performs, keep the rookie QB in reserve.
— Dan Murphy, Kansas City, Mo.
Hey Dan, good questions and interesting line of thought.
We’ve established over the past few weeks why, even if Wilson continues to play well overall through the second half of the season, there’s an action point coming with him sooner rather than later. His 2024 salary is already guaranteed but on March 17, $37 million for 2025 locks in, too, meaning the club owes him that cash and also it counts against their cap in the event they want to cut him at some point in the future.
For a moment, then, let’s consider the situation where Wilson is not back with Denver in 2024 while acknowledging that it’s far too early to know exactly where the Broncos will be come free agency or the draft. It’s shaping up to be an intriguing draft year even beyond the No. 1 pick or top couple in Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. Will Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders declare for the draft? You’ll also have Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, Washington’s Michael Penix, Jr., Oregon’s Bo Nix, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Georgia’s Carson Beck all in the mix. They’re not all likely to go in the first round, mind you, but for the most part we’re talking about Day 1 or Day 2 guys depending on how they finish this year, the pre-draft process, testing, the Combine, health, etc. Our columnist, Mark Kiszla, wrote last week he thinks Denver needs to draft one regardless of if they pick No. 1 or much later in the first round. That deep group means the Broncos will have options.
Payton made an interesting comment ahead of Denver’s win against Green Bay about how the Packers were ahead of the curve back in the 1990s in the way they drafted quarterbacks “as a commodity” regardless of whether they ended up playing or getting traded.
“They were ahead of the curve all the way back to Ron Wolf and … the late Ted Thompson,” he said, nodding to two former top executives for the Packers. “That was pretty smart business with how important that position is.”
That stuck out to me, for obvious reasons, but also because he didn’t really operate that way in New Orleans. The Saints drafted just four quarterbacks in his time there: Seventh-rounder Sean Canfield (2010), third-rounder Garrett Grayson (2015), seventh-rounder Tommy Stevens (2020) and fourth-rounder Ian Book (2021). Book played in one game and is the only of the four to throw a pass in an NFL game.
Let’s not dismiss the free agency question out of hand, but Denver gave Jarrett Stidham $5 million guaranteed and up to $10 million on a two-year deal in March. If 2024 is indeed post-Wilson, what’s the reason (besides a top draft pick) to believe he wouldn’t get the first crack?
My question is with Russell Wilson. I have never been a huge fan of his and it is getting harder to be a fan. Yes, he threw for three touchdowns against the Chiefs, but he also held onto the ball WAY TOO LONG! It seems most great QBs have that clock in their head of when to throw it away or just scramble. It seems that Wilson’s clock is missing a gear or two. Is he thinking too hard in this new offensive scheme? Is he afraid of making mistakes? If he is just a game manager now? Why not just put Jarrett Stidham in there?
— Del, Lamar
Yo Del, thanks for writing in.
Yeah, it’s a fascinating conversation around Wilson because the counting stats look pretty good. He’s on pace for 34 touchdowns and nine interceptions with a quarterback rating of 101.7, which would be slightly above his career average in Seattle. Completion percentage? Up. But his yards per attempt and completion percentage are both down and his sack rate is currently at 10%. Last year was 10.7%, only the second time in his career he’s finished in double digits. That’s bad, even for a guy whose athleticism and ability to make plays outside the pocket has always led to elevated sack rates.
Payton did point out Monday that Wilson’s playing in his third offensive system in three years, but the ”thinking too much” reason gets less acceptable the further the season goes along. It becomes kind of a week-to-week tolerance quotient for fans and observers, which isn’t a good way to live. Wilson extended a play beautifully to throw the put-away touchdown to Courtland Sutton against Kansas City and he’s done similar several other times this year. Does that offset a six-sack game against Kansas City, seven against Washington in Week 2 and two other four-sack performances? Does his stellar 4-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio cancel out five fumbles (three lost)?
All of the “game manager” stuff and even the future beyond 2023 addressed above is almost immaterial at this moment (though the contract situation will loom until action is taken). Maybe some things Stidham would do as well or better than Wilson, but others almost certainly not. If the Broncos can get hot with Wilson playing fine, smart, efficient, spectacularly or average, all that will matter in the moment is that they got hot. If they can’t, then the questions only get louder late in the season.
According to Adam Schefter, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis paid roughly $85 million to fire his head coach (Josh McDaniels) and general manager (Dave Ziegler) last week. Given that the Broncos ownership group has way more money than Davis, does that open up the possibility they would consider paying Sean Payton’s massive contract buyout were things to go south over next two months? Or is that just a case of the Raiders being the Raiders?
— Matt, Lincoln Park
The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group can do whatever it wants financially. Point blank. Period. They could pay the buyout for Payton or remaining guarantee to Wilson or drop another $100 million in stadium renovations or announce a $175 million headquarters rebuild without thinking twice about it. They could decide to build a palatial stadium and not have to wonder about where the financing’s going to come from. It’s their single-biggest advantage over other clubs and how they attempt to leverage it is going to be fascinating to watch in the coming years.
But one franchise biting the bullet to buy out coaches and front office executives and start over (again) doesn’t open the door or change anything regarding another’s. Almost every arrow points to Payton getting a pretty good amount of runway here and the list of reasons is so long it’s almost silly to go through them all. This ownership group hired him. This franchise has only known instability for several years now. He’s won a Super Bowl (albeit quite a while ago). And do you really think the next move would be to go back to the head coaching well? All of that and more before even pointing out that it’s been eight games and Denver’s come around in recent weeks. Haven’t you heard? They’re getting molten hot in the second half of the season and making the playoffs! OK, even if that doesn’t actually happen, at the moment it looks more likely than a one-and-fired for Payton.
Bottom line is this: Denver’s ownership group will never get to use money as an excuse for making or not making a move. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to throw it around without purpose.
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