The Broncos’ season may be over, but this team is just getting started.

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Denver’s first playoff game since their Super Bowl 50 playoff victory in 2016 ended in a Wildcard round demolition at the hands of Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills, 31-7. 

Bo Nix lead a 70-yard touchdown drive on the opening drive of the game, to give the Broncos a 7-0 lead thanks to a 43-yard throw to rookie Troy Franklin, resulting in the first-ever rookie-to-rookie touchdown in NFL playoff history as well as giving Nix the first of his young career. 

However, it was all downhill from then on as the Bills mercilessly ground down the clock and the Broncos in all three phases of the game, scoring the next 31 points unanswered.

Nix expertly crafted a nine-play, 55-yard drive from the Broncos’ eight-yard line with under two minutes to go on the clock to end the first half. But Will Lutz’s 50-yard field goal thundered back off the left upright, preluding a second half that never got going for this inexperienced Broncos team. 

Yet, as the curtains draw on the first season of the Sean Payton/Bo Nix era in the mile-high city there is plenty of cause for optimism as Broncos country now looks to the future.

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When the Broncos ate one of the largest-ever dead cap hits in NFL history, cutting Russell Wilson, this offseason their prospects heading into the 2024 season were very bleak. 

This team always believed they were better than the national media gave them credit for. 

While the prediction mill was talking about the Broncos as a contender for the first overall pick in the draft and Vegas placed their win total at +/- 5.5, the team was working hard to build on a promising preseason. 

Nix struggled in the first two games of the regular season, coming up against two of the league’s best defences early on, but since a breakout game in Tampa in week three, the former Oregon rookie hasn’t looked back. 

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Nix threw for 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, with four of those interceptions coming in the first two weeks of the season, whilst also rushing for an additional four touchdowns. 

As Nix progressed, the production from rookies around him largely stagnated, and at times even regressed. 

The Broncos’ inability to establish a rushing attack forced the offence to become one-dimensional early in games heaping more pressure on Nix to break down defences in the passing game. 

The last Denver rusher to top 100 yards in a game was Latavius Murray in early January 2023 and they never looked like getting close with their run-by-committee approach in 2024. 

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As Denver’s cap restraints relieve themselves slightly, heading into 2025, general manager George Paton will be looking to add talent around Bo Nix, giving him the best chance to improve on his impressive rookie season. 

Cortland Sutton and Marvin Mims Jr. showed their respective abilities to rack up highlight plays as the Broncos made their run for the postseason, while seventh-round pick Devaughn Vele showed flashes of useful quality. 

Outside of those three receivers, the passing game was light on quality pass catchers and out of the backfield, the results were even more abysmal. 

Javonte Williams is expected to hit the open market this offseason as he hasn’t returned to his best bruising rushing abilities since returning from his season-ending knee injury in 2022.

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Jaleel McGlaughlin has shown brief flashes of elusiveness out of the backfield but has never laid down a substantial claim to lead the Broncos backfield, similar can be said for Tyler Badie and power-running rookie Audric Estime. 

Paton’s wishlist ahead of the draft and free agency couldn’t be simpler, just improve the supporting cast around Nix, and add more quality depth to the defensive side of the ball. 

As the money frees up and Denver regains its draft capital, it’s difficult not to get excited about the prospects of a brighter future for this Broncos team, building on a hugely encouraging rookie season by Bo Nix.