Since the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl following the 2015 season, the team hasn’t been back to the playoffs largely because team boss John Elway hasn’t found a franchise quarterback. The Broncos will go with second-year Drew Lock in 2020. Here’s an overview of the Denver Broncos and their NFL Odds as it stands.

Denver Broncos Odds After Free Agency Week 1

2019 recap

Denver’s 2019 season was really in three parts. There was the Joe Flacco part for the first eight games, when the Broncos started 0-4 but could have won all of them. The would be 2-6 under Flacco until he suffered what would be a season-ending injury. Brandon Allen took over in Week 9 and was 1-2 as starter, not showing much.

The future arrived in Week 12 when rookie second-round pick Drew Lock took over and led the team to a 4-1 record that was capped by a 16-15 win over the Raiders to close the season at 7-9 for the Broncos. They Broncos finished 7-5 after that winless first month under first-year head coach Vic Fangio.

“Although 7-9 is a record that nobody’s proud of and it’s not the rich tradition that this franchise is used to, I do think it says something about the guys,” said Fangio.

The 42nd pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Lock is far from a finished product. He did show enough, however, to inspire team boss John Elway and Fangio to build around him.

“It’s a big jump from your first year to your second year, especially when you get to play as much as he got to play,” Elway said. “So I think he’ll come into this offseason knowing a lot more than he did last year.

Denver Broncos offseason moves

While Lock has shown promise, the Broncos don’t have a veteran backup behind him after they released Flacco in no surprise. He was horrendous prior to a neck injury, posting a 6-to-5 TD-to-INT ratio while averaging a pedestrian 6.6 adjusted yards per attempt. Could be that Denver still looks at someone like Cam Newton or Jameis Winston to be the No. 2.

Denver’s most noteworthy move was signing former Chargers Pro Bowl running back Melvin Gordon – interesting because the Broncos have two good young backs in Philip Lindsay, who has rushed for 1,000 yards each of the past two seasons, and Royce Clayton. In his final season in Los Angeles, Gordon’s season was cut short due to a contract dispute as he missed the first four games. He finished the season with 612 rushing yards and eight touchdowns and 42 catches for 296 yards and a touchdown as he split touches with Austin Ekeler.

By adding Gordon, the Broncos are one of just three NFL teams with multiple Pro Bowlers at the running back position – Lindsay made it in 2018 as a rookie. Denver needs all the offensive help it can get as last year the Broncos were the only team to finish the season in the bottom five in points per game, yards per game, red-zone efficiency and third-down percentage. Lindsay and Co. ranked 16th in rushing through the season’s first 11 games but fell to 29th during the final five games of the season.

Defensively, the Broncos made to big trades, landing cornerback AJ Bouye from Jacksonville and defensive tackle Jurrell Casey from Tennessee. In 93 career games, 62 of which he started, Bouye has 14 interceptions. He made the Pro Bowl after the 2017 season. Bouye has two years remaining on his contract and counts $13.437 million and $13.5 million against the salary cap, respectively, in 2020-21. Bouye helps make up for the loss of former Pro Bowl cornerback Chris Harris as he left in free agency.

As for Casey, it only cost Denver a seventh-round pick. Since entering the league in 2011, Casey’s 51 sacks are fourth-most among defensive tackles, behind the Bengals’ Geno Atkins (72 1/2), the Rams’ Aaron Donald (72) and the Cowboys’ Gerald McCoy (55 1/2). He has seven consecutive years of at least five sacks and had 2 1/2 in last year’s playoffs. Casey is still only 30 and has never had less than 14 starts in a season. He’ll be looked to bolster a Broncos defensive front that boasts Von Miller and the returning Bradley Chubb.

2020 opponents

• Home: Kansas City Chiefs, Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans.
• Away: Kansas City Chiefs, Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers.

Denver Broncos odds to win Super Bowl 55

Denver won Super Bowl 50 and then Peyton Manning retired. The Broncos haven’t been close to being back since and are +6600 to win it next February in Tampa.