2023 Denver Broncos

Freethinker

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2023 Broncos Preview

The Broncos might win the award for CF's Most Improved Team. Let's deep dive into the roster to see why.

Total White Athletes on Roster (Starters in bold)
21* Whites total, with 9 starters. Grade: C-

QB - Jarrett Stidham
FB - Michael Burton
TE - Adam Trautman, Greg Dulcich, Nate Adkins
T - Garett Bolles, Mike McGlinchey
G - Quinn Meinerz, Ben Powers, Quinn Bailey, Luke Wattenberg
C - Alex Forsyth
DL - Zach Allen, Matt Henningsen
LB - Josey Jewell, Alex Singleton, Drew Sanders
CB - Riley Moss

K - Will Lutz
P - Riley Dixon
LS - Mitchell Fraboni *(looks a bit "off")

IR - Alex Palczewski (T)
PS - Michael Bandy (WR), David Sills (WR), Ben DiNucci (QB), Lucas Krull (TE), Tyler Lancaster (NT), Ben Niemann (LB)

Gone is Caste Clown Nathaniel Hackett and in steps the highly successful Sean Payton as Head Coach. Payton returns from a short hiatus, after many years with the Saints in which he fielded fairly standard Caste Teams. Maybe he had a bit of an "awakening" as 21 Whites with 9 starters has to be a high water mark for him.

The quarterback position is still held by the quickly declining and overpaid Russell Wilson. Payton's job is to revive his career, however he's not tethered to him so there could be a quick hook if Wilson struggles again. Jarrett Stidham was brought in as a highly paid backup and could step in and thrive after showing some flashes with New England and Las Vegas. Blocking for him is a 4/5th White offensive line, which helps the big bump in starters. McGlinchey was the top free agent tackle coming over from the 49ers. Bolles starts at the other tackle spot and is returning from a lost season of injury. Meinerz and Powers are the starting guards with good depth behind them. Michael Burton is one of the last of a dying breed, a fullback. He'll start and occasionally get a carry or 2 and a couple passes thrown his way but he's mostly a human battering ram. Trautman follows Payton over from the Saints and surprisingly (to me at least) is starting already. Hopefully he finally breaks out. Behind him is Dulcich, who I assumed would start. The 2nd year man is a dynamic pass catcher and also a Weird Al Yankovic lookalike.

Last season the main interest of this team was the inside linebacking duo of Alex Singleton and Josey Jewell. After an absurd competition with mediocre black Jonas Griffith, Singleton was finally allowed to start. As expected, and as he's performed throughout his whole career, he excelled as a tackling machine. Jewell is a beast and another tackling machine. This duo is IMO the finest in the NFL. Joining them is another stud, Drew Sanders. Sanders starred at Arkansas after transferring from Alabama who screwed him over. I was a bit disappointed that Denver drafted him as I thought he could start right away if he went to a team without great inside linebackers already. I'm sure he'll get his chance to be a star eventually. Zach Allen is a top 3-4 defensive end and comes over from Arizona. 3 defensive starters is a rare occurrence in the Caste NFL but having a White CB is like finding a 4-leaf clover. Enter Iowa standout Riley Moss, who's the first White corner drafted since I believe Dustin Fox. Moss is battling a minor injury and is listed as a 2nd team backup. As our astute posters have noted, the starter in front of him had an epically bad week 1. Perhaps Moss can break the mold and become an established starting corner, the 1st since Jason Sehorn over 20 years ago.

Looking over the practice squad, there is potential for this team to get even better. Bandy and Sills are both receivers who have spent some time on a 53 before and hopefully one of them gets a chance sooner than later. Lancaster spent a number of years on the Packers active roster and is a capable player. Same can be said for Niemann.

I can't believe I'd say this about a Russell Wilson lead team but go Broncos (I guess)....
 
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Don Wassall

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I didn't think any team would have as many as 20 Whites on the roster this season so this is a nice surprise.
 

SneakyQuick

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40% white is the whitest in the league. I dunno how you guys can stomach this, but go broncos I guess?
 

FootballDad

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It's a tough one to be sure. Hard to root for a team starting Russ Wilson at QB. So we need to root for him to suck but the team to do good? If Stidham gets to start, then well, it's a different ballgame.
 

Don Wassall

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Josey Jewell will miss Week 4 with a groin issue, so hopefully rookie Drew Sanders will take his place and play next to ultra-tackling machine Alex Singleton. Sanders has somewhat unexpectedly been forced into a racial apprenticeship as he hardly saw the field the first three games until Jewell was hurt in last week's blowout loss to the Dolphins, so he has an opportunity now if Payton will play him tomorrow.
 
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