Stability Has Broncos Poised For Another Super Bowl Push

Good morning, Broncos Country!

People want stability in life.

It brings a sense of calm, comfort, and confidence. When you don’t have the added stress of instability and uncertainty in your life, it’s freeing. The same is true for players and teams, namely the Denver Broncos.

The continuity on the Broncos defense could fuel a dominant unit this season. But it’s not just Denver’s defense; it’s the whole team and organization that could benefit from that stability.

Head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton both received five-year extensions this offseason. Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner have shown their commitment time and time again as the franchise owners. And you have the franchise quarterback in Bo Nix, with a roster that brings back all but one starter from last season while adding a genuine offensive weapon in Jaylen Waddle.

With where the Broncos were before this ownership group took control after Super Bowl 50, you realize the incredible situation this franchise is in right now.

Payton was asked after a minicamp practice recently if he could sense that the team is hungrier because of that roster stability:

“It’s a good question, and honestly, I don’t think there was ever that meeting where we went in and said, ‘All right, we’re going to keep a lot of the same guys.’ It’s hard to measure. There obviously was a lot more transition in ’23. Some of those decisions that were made prior to the offseason relative to players’ returning, it’s just, ‘What are we looking for in a player? What’s the skill set? Does he endear himself to his teammates?’ Those types of things.

“I think that the situational football, more and more, when you just look at the way these games are finishing, a record number of three-point games last year. A record number of lead changes in the postseason. The margins each year continue to just get a little bit closer, so paying attention to that I think is real important.”

Obviously, the players realize all of this, too.

They know how fortunate they are to have that stability, and they want to take advantage of it.

“For professionals, I think it’s kind of underrated because we sort of take it for granted that we can just sort of bring another guy in or change a team,” Nix said to the media after a minicamp practice. “We’re professionals, we’ll handle it right. But you look at the teams that stick together for a long time, they end up winning. That’s kind of how historically, that’s how it was. You didn’t go from team to team as much. You look at the Knicks, they played in college together, and then they play a few years in the pros and they win a championship at a place it hadn’t been done in a long time.

“I think the culture, and the connectivity and everything that goes into play, I think we’re just comfortable playing with each other. At the same time, we go through a season like last year, and we see all these tight games that we won and pulled off … I think it just tells us that we can go this year and do it again. We just have a lot of confidence, and I think that helps as a team.”