MILE HIGH MONDAY

Mile High Monday: The top-three things the Broncos have to change

Nov 28, 2022, 5:32 AM

The Denver Broncos suck. I don’t say that lightly, and as odd as it may sound, I do say it with some modicum of respect. Listen, I love this team and I love their fans. I love people who work for the team, but right now, there’s no other way to put it – the Broncos suck.

I like it when the Broncos don’t suck. This season has been so bad, I’ve given up hope that they’ll turn it around. Instead, I’m looking forward to my favorite time of year – draft season – as this team will need all the help it can get in the offseason.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Three Things to Change

It’s about time to clean house with the Broncos. Nathaniel Hackett is not a good head coach, and he’s clearly in over his head. Firing Hackett is a start, but it’s not the only thing the Broncos need to do in order to move forward with structure and a proper plan. Hackett is not going to be here much longer, but quarterback Russell Wilson will be. If things become Hackett versus Wilson (more on that later), the Walton-Penner group will clearly pick the quarterback.

Since Wilson is older and can’t move around like he used to, the Broncos need to build a better offensive line in front of him. That means the next biggest move is drafting the best right tackle they can find in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. I have yet to dive into the next draft class, but I feel with the San Francisco 49ers pick near the end of the first they should be able to find a good player who can start from day one. A new right tackle won’t fix everything wrong up front, but it needs to be done this offseason.

Finally, the next/biggest move for the Broncos is to keep defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones. The team wasn’t able to work out a deal with him over the bye week, so Jones is not taking any sort of hometown discount. Jones is set to be one of the highest-paid players in the league at his position, so the Broncos had better be ready to pay. To give themselves more time to get a deal done, the Broncos will probably franchise tag Jones in the offseason. That guarantees him a top-5 salary for one year, but most importantly it gives the Broncos until mid-July to get something done. Jones is an ascending player, and the Broncos should not let him go.

Those three moves are just the beginning for the Broncos. The necessary transactions seem endless for this team to be playoff contenders. Things are so bad, it’s unlikely the Broncos are playoff bound in 2023. Instead, they just need to get back to respectability and show building blocks for 2024 and beyond.

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Bad Coaching Prohibits Evaluation

The Broncos coaching is so bad, it’s difficult to truly evaluate the players – mostly the offensive players because that is the side that needs the most help and has the worst coaching. Hackett has no idea how to craft his offense for the players the Broncos have. I don’t think the Broncos have the best players, but I know NFL talent and I believe there is plenty of talent here to win.

Wilson is better than he’s performing. He’s certainly not the player he used to be, but Wilson does not fit Hackett’s system. A better coach with a better plan could get better play from a guy like Wilson. He really cares, and this season must be hurting him because he’s never been through tough times (on the football field) like this.

Jerry Jeudy has flashed just a bit in his pro career. He’s injured now, but hopefully Jeudy will get back out there and build on some of the momentum he built earlier this year. For weeks, Hackett’s system did not get much out of Jeudy. Then, when Courtland Sutton was struggling, Jeudy was able to come through more as a primary receiver. The Broncos may not pick up his fifth-year option this offseason, but Jeudy has one more year left (at least) with the team. With better coaching, Jeudy might finally be able to consistently perform.

I feel bad for the players. The level of talent on this team is there to be much more competitive than they are. Yes, the injuries have wrecked their chances to fully compete this year – but they’re not this bad. The line between the “haves” and the “have nots” is not that large in the NFL. In my opinion, if the Broncos had better coaches, they’d have a better record.

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So Much Tea

I’ve never seen this Broncos team be such a disaster. I’ve been a credentialed media member since the 2004 season, and I’ve always seen this team fight through adversity – mostly together. Sure, there have been times when things were rough but nothing like this.

The team is disheveled, and there are signs of plenty of finger-pointing on the way. Sure, on sports talk radio that is what we do, but this is not speculation – this is something I see coming when the dam breaks (which could be soon). I feel you’re going to hear some side with Hackett, and others will side with Wilson. There’s already been some things come out – mainly about Wilson’s inability to connect with his teammates. Guys want to like him, but the relatability problem he had earlier this season seems to still be there.

This is one of the many reasons I feel Hackett needs to be fired. The sooner the better, and the sooner it would clear up any sort of finger pointing that could arise. I’m going to side with Wilson in this instance – not because he’s without blame. I side with Wilson because the paycheck is already there. The Broncos decided to pay him, and he’s under contract for the foreseeable future. Hackett does not mesh with Wilson, so he’s got to go.

I’m not the one who is going to spill the beans on everything. There are some in the media who will claim to have inside information only to be shills for the team or be fed information from agents or Broncos PR. I don’t run with any of that sort of information. Instead, I’ll keep my sources close and won’t disclose everything my “little birdies” tell me about this team. Just know that we could see a wild offseason with varying reports from inside the building in the aftermath of this crummy 2022 season.

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Marvel Looking for “Evil Superman”

I’m always on the lookout for news abouit upcoming comic book movies, especially when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For their upcoming movie “The Thunderbolts” we’ll see the MCU give us their version of DC’s Suicide Squad. The Thunderbolts will be anti-heros and villains who team up to fight for the good guys – sometimes at their chagrin. It’s been done before, but it was done by DC – so it wasn’t done very well.

For this movie, Marvel is looking to cast an actor as an “evil Superman” to play the main villain of the film. It’s a trope that has been done quite a bit recently, see Homelander from Amazon’s “The Boys” for perfection. Marvel is going to have a tough time beating that character, but knowing the MCU they will do their best to outdo the small screen fan favorite.

The rumor mill has the “evil Superman” character as Hyperion, and that would be interesting. However, I think it would be cooler to see The Sentry in the MCU for the first time. He’s a much more interesting and powerful character in my opinion.

Are you excited for “The Thunderbolts”? Hit me up on social networking and let me know!

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