Fantasy Football Daily - 2021 Franchise Focus: Denver Broncos

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan), Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley), and Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) preview the Denver Broncos 2021 season in the companion podcast to the 2021 Franchise Focus piece on FantasyPoints.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast series here at FantasyPoint.com. Just a two-man booth today. I'm Joe Dolan and Tom Brawley is joining me as we are going to talk. Denver Broncos, Tom, as you know, we kind of push Denver towards the back end, even though we were doing these in alphabetical order of the franchise focus series because of the chance that maybe the Aaron Rogers situation would shake itself free. And he'd end up in Denver, as we know now, that will not be the case.

Aaron Rogers is sticking with Green Bay. Denver ostensibly, barring something very unforeseen, is having a quarterback competition between Drew Locke and Teddy Bridgewater. And Tom, I think you can make the argument that that quarterback position is the position that's kind of holding back what seems to be a pretty good roster here overall in the Mile High City. Yeah, I mean, it's been the position that's held them back ever since, you know, they got their guy, Peyton Manning there, you know, let them to the Super Bowl, two Super Bowls, and they won one of them. And it just hasn't been the same ever since. This will be, you know, as soon as Teddy makes a start here, it'll be the 10th different quarterback. that they've had starting since, you know, 2016. That's not, you know, you're basically going through two starters a year at that pace.

And I'm not even counting the quarterback debacle whenever they didn't have a, you know, with the COVID-19 protocols and they didn't even have a guy. You know, they had to start Kendall Hinton or Philip Lindsay or whoever it was at quarterback in that spot. So it's been the one one area that's held them back, you know, the last couple of years, it still looks like a roster to me that's, you know, ready to compete. They go out and get Teddy Bridgewater. I mean, the Panthers kind of gave them away, but they load it up in the secondary. That's really the one area where they got a lot better.

They know they have to compete with the Kansas City Chiefs. Even the Los Angeles Chargers are, you know, coming forward here with Justin Herbert. So they go out and draft Patrick Sertain in the first round, and then they sign Ronald Derby and Kyle Fuller. They already have one of the best safety tandums in the league. So all of a sudden, they could have one of the best secondaries in the league. So just, you know, there's strengths all around for this team, but quarterback is that one spot where there's just many question marks heading into the season.

Yeah, and I mean, you look at any position on this roster, Tom. You know, I think offensive line you can argue is kind of a weak spot, a weaker spot for them, but they got, you know, Garrett Bowles emerged as. as a legitimate player last year after struggling for a number of years. I mean, like Tom, I'm just looking around. How many positions on this team are actual weaknesses?

One? Not many. I mean, yeah, quarterback. I mean, offensive line they even have, you know,

they go out and, you know, they're hoping that he can be, you know, their answer at center. Bobby Massey has some starting experience. They signed him. Yeah,

they had the Joanne Johnson, uh, John's, uh, earlier this off season where he had the accident training away from the team there. But Bobby Massey was a pretty nice fallback plan to be able to sign him to play right tackle. So even their weaknesses on the offensive line, you know, I don't think they're glaring. There's a good handful of teams who would like to be in their situation at the offensive line.

Yeah, I mean, it might be at worst, a slightly below average unit. So, you know, just ask a Steelers fan here, I would take some of the pieces. that they have along their offensive lines. So, you know, I mean, other than that, I mean, we love the talent at receiver, but, you know, it is a little inexperienced. You know, still a pretty young group. And Cortland Sutton's coming back from an ACL injury. But still, we think there's, you know, a very high ceiling for that group if everything

comes together and they get the quarterback play. But let's just look at that quarterback position in what it's doing to the odds for the Denver Broncos. Now, I also think the fact that they're in the division with Kansas City has something to do with it, and neither the Chargers nor the Raiders are pushovers either. So you're in a tough division. Season win total, eight and a half, Tom, minus 130 to the under, plus 550 to win the AFC West, plus 110 to make the playoffs, plus 1,600 to win the AFC, plus 3,500 to win the Super Bowl. My question is, how much have these fallen or how much will these odds rise now that essentially, I thought there was a point here where the Aaron Rogers trade was kind of,

the chance of that happening was kind of baked into their season odds. Yeah, they were. You know, they had the, you know, just a little bit, especially like the Super Bowl odds and the, you know, the, the AFC odds. But, you know, those have kind of come back down here. They, you know, obviously aren't expecting them to make any big moves. Any, you know, going forward here, not really many quarterbacks out there. I mean, I guess maybe like a Jimmy Garoppolo later in the season, maybe they could slip.

a deal for that. Don't deal for him, but, you know, I think they're going to, you know, they don't really have many avenues left. So they're going to have to roll forward here with True Locke and Teddy Bridgewater. And, you know, of course, the camp reports have been pretty positive. But we'll see if it translates into the regular season with Drew Locke. I mean, the results have been very shaky to say to least through two seasons. But, you know, crazier things have happened. You know, we've seen these younger quarterbacks make big steps. But there's been not. really, no real evidence so far to suggest that it's going to happen here. Yeah, and like Tom, I think if you're looking at who's the more physically gifted

player in this quarterback competition, it's obviously Drew Locke. I am not a Teddy Bridgewater fan, but when I look at this from a fantasy perspective, Tom, he had three wide receivers placed in the top 30 in Carolina last year. If I'm a fantasy player, I kind of want Teddy Bridgewater take this job because I, I think the quarterback position, and it's the biggest question, it's the only thing really holding Jerry Judy back from a big time breakout. I still find him super affordable, but I really want Teddy Bridgewater to win this job based on that. Hell, even if Locke wins it, I'm still drafting Judy aggressively,

but I just feel like Bridgewater gives us kind of the safer option for fantasy. Yeah, and it's weird. I mean, if I was a Broncos fan, I'd be the opposite. it. I'd want Drew Locke to win the job and to... Because if he wins it, that means he took a step forward. Yeah, and I just think that this team's ceiling is higher with Drew Locke just because of his physical tolls. And he's able to unlock that. I mean, you know, Teddy's a nice player. You know, he's going to distribute the ball. He's going to do well for us for fantasy,

getting, you know, racking up the receptions for these receivers. But, you know, this team has probably capped at like a 10 and 7 or 116 race. record and maybe a wild card berth with Teddy Bridgewater. And I feel like the ceiling is a little bit higher with Drew Locke. But I'm with you. You know, I'm feeling, you know, we were talking off air a little bit. But Jerry Judy has been one of our favorite targets all summer long. His price has started to rise here.

He's starting to sneak into the back end of the sixth round. And early seventh round in drafts, he was routinely somebody I was getting at the end of seventh round and early eighth round at the beginning of the summer. But it just makes a lot of sense after watching, you know, what, you know, Teddy did for DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson last year. He kind of thrives with those intermediate underneath throws. And that's the area of the field where Jerry Judy is going to do most of his damage. So I think Teddy Bridgewater is the quarterback.

We're feeling a little bit better about Jerry Judy. And, you know, maybe the opposite is true. Drew Locke is the quarterback. I would expect more deeper targets to be in play here. And that would probably be a little bit more welcome from Cortland Sutton. Yeah, I'm just looking, Tom, right now Jerry Judy is on 25%. And this is just my underdog teams. He's on 25% of my underdog teams.

I know I've gotten them elsewhere. That's a pretty nice number that I'm glad to have at this point. I'm probably sitting right around the same mark because I looked at it a couple weeks ago on my best ball tens. and I was sitting around 30% I think with Jerry Judy. And I've started to get a little bit less of them just because, as I said, his prices started to rise. It's been a little harder to get him. But, yeah, I'm probably sitting in that 25% range.

Yeah, it's just a guy that I absolutely have no problem being overweight on at this stage. And now that brings me about Cortland Sutton. I have zero, Cortland Sutton. That's me as well. I'm just a little bit concerned with the ACL. You know, we did get the Vick, the NGO at the beginning of camp here saying, you know, he's not unleashing it, not letting it rip. So, you know, Tim Patrick played fairly well. I could see them, you know, maybe bringing him along slowly if, you know, there are any concerns.

And just the deeper, just the deeper receiving core there. So, yeah, I'm with you, Joe. I've been pretty much out on Cortland Sutton. Completely out on Cortland Sutton right now. It leads me to the backfield, by the way, Tom. Melvin Gordon, Javante Williams, I think we're all in agreement. I mean, I don't know if anybody in the industry at this point has Javante Williams below Melvin Gordon at this stage. He's apparently had a great camp. You have to pay up to get him, though. NFFC slash best ball 10 ADP over the last, over like the last 30 days, 53. You know, he's a fifth round pick.

And I think people understand in best ball, you know, that's probably a second half of the season investment. But I can certainly see a path to Giovante Williams producing from week one here. Absolutely. I mean, I've heard, you know, Melvin Gordon's been getting good reports coming out of camp as well. But, you know, Javonte Williams, he's a guy I'm really concerned about. I am going to be probably underweight on him just because his price has been a little bit too high for me. he's kind of, you know, in that early fifth round, even, you know, late fourth round sometimes. And I found myself drafting, you know, receivers and quarterbacks and tight ends more in that range. And, but, yeah, he has a little bit of that Nick Chub field to him, you know, a couple years ago,

whenever he came into the league and Carlos Hyde was the lead back there. And, you know, he even got comp to Nick Chub a bit coming out of North Carolina this spring. So, you know, a guy that probably could. really surge in the second half of the year and be a big fantasy difference maker. I mean, I might be a little bit more interested in drafted him. You know, if I'm able to get him in season along and, you know, if I'm pretty confident in my team and I can stash him for a bit and have him as that hammer in the second half of the year.

But, you know, all indications are that, you know, they traded up to draft them. You know, they seem to have some sort of plan for him. And he's lived up to expectations so far in camp. Yeah, I got to find ways to get him on more of my teams here the last couple of weeks in best ball drafts. Yeah, and one more thing, Tom, I did a podcast live stream with the boys over an underdog, Josh Norris and Hayden Winks. Underdog has like super sharp ADP right now, but Cortland Sutton's going ahead of Jerry Judy on Underdog. I don't understand it at all. I think that might change in the preseason, Tom, but I mean, if you want Jerry Judy on your teams and, you know,

I'm at above 20% on every major platform. Now's your time you're running out of that window where you might be able to get them at a price that's just quite frankly at this point. Tom's stupid. Yeah, I mean, it's been slowly flipping here the last couple of weeks. And yeah, the camp news, I'm sure,

is going to send Sutton not into a tailspin here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts slipping into the eighth round. And Judy's momentum has been building here the last couple of weeks and people are seeing the same things that we are. You know, just a probably a better fit. I don't know about you, Joe, but I mean, I would put it, you know, Teddy Bridgewater, you know, I put him at the favorite to start the most games in this offense. That's how I'm kind of viewing it, and that's how I'm attacking my draft picks.

Yeah, I think if this is a tie, they're going to go with Locke. And then, like, if Locke puts like two stupid games together, they're going to Teddy. Like, I feel like that's how teams view Teddy, right? Like, he's like, all right, we're going to go. go with the more talented guy, but at the very least, Teddy isn't going to kill us. And if that guy, if the guy's turning the ball over like crazy, we're going to go to Teddy and we at least think he's not going to do that. Yeah, he's like that classic like QB 25 to QB 35, you know, good enough to be a starter.

You prefer him to be a backup. But, you know, in this situation, you know, unless Drew Locke takes a significant step forward, I do think we're going to see some Bridgewater. I do think that might be the plan. We'll get more details on what they're thinking about here as camp goes along. But I could see them giving Drew Locke the starts at the beginning of the season, see how it goes. And then Teddy's the fallback plan if things get off to a slow start.

And Drew Locke is continuing to struggle as he did in this first two seasons. That'll wrap up our discussion of the Denver Broncos here on the Fantasy Points podcast and the franchise focus series. make sure you go to FantasyPoints.com. Check out the written accompaniment to these podcasts. They are massive. They have everything you could possibly want. Full player breakdowns, full strategy breakdowns,

the basis for all the content we're putting out in the month of August. Go to the website and sign up. I guarantee you you will not regret you did. We have so much coming for you in August and September. And then, of course, into the regular season. Tom, we're like five, six weeks away from the NFL season. I mean, this is the time to get signed up on the website. Oh, boy, yes, it is.

I mean, subscriptions are running out fast. You've got to get there before they run out. They're funny. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, get signed up. I think we still haven't, we haven't really advertised it much, but, you know, we're running a best ball contest that's given away a lot of free prizes. I think there's, you know, a few more days to sign up to get, get into that leg here before, you know, before that fills up.

And, you know, lots of fun stuff going on in the site. And, you know, we haven't even, you know, we're wrapping up these franchise. focus is we will start really getting into the draft plan stuff and you know we're even you know your auction plan came up and I know Graham's got a super flex plan. John's been updating the standard draft plan. I mean we we have you covered from every angle. So yeah. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. Yep. Just a just a few. Just over a month away here. We're, you know, when this airs, we're, uh, you know, basically five Thursdays away from opening night. So, uh, it's coming quick. So get signed up. you can and enjoy all the content over the next five weeks here.

All right, everybody. Thank you for joining us on this edition of the podcast at Tom Brawling on Twitter. I'm at FG underscore Dolan. Follow the site at FantasyPTS. Thanks, everybody. And we'll be back with more when, you know, when we decide to. But it'll be this week. We'll be back with more teams to cover.

Thanks, everybody. Talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and we'll be. view on your favorite platform and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.