Broncos' Key to 2025 Success Boils Down to One Thing

In the wake of the Denver Broncos' first playoff appearance since Super Bowl 50, the team wants to repeat that success and take the next step forward. A playoff appearance isn’t enough for head coach Sean Payton and GM George Paton. And the Walter-Penner group, which has emerged as the gold standard in ownership, a playoff berth alone certainly wouldn't be enough.

The Broncos are focused on a playoff win, or wins, and bringing home another Lombardi Trophy to Denver. 

We know how the Broncos brass defines success. But what are the components of the team actually achieving it?

There's a lot that goes into that equation, but it's all for not if one player fails to answer the bell. The quarterback position will be the key to the Broncos' 2025 season. The steps Bo Nix takes in his development and what he does to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump will be the impetus to team success.

That's been the case for all NFL teams, with rare exceptions, in the 21st century. Quarterback productivity and stability.

Teams have shown they can win with subpar quarterback play, but have struggled to win it all. The Broncos' Super Bowl 50 run didn’t have the best quarterback play, but Peyton Manning is still among the best to ever do it, so it doesn't really count.

The way Manning's brain worked on the field was still a difference-maker, despite his diminished abilities due to Father Time. The 2017 Philadelphia Eagles were one example, two years after the Broncos last hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. In Super Bowl LII, the Eagles got the best play of Nick Foles’ career, but he was the team's backup behind the injured Carson Wentz. 

The Broncos winning a playoff game is doable even if Nix doesn’t take the needed steps, but the AFC is tough. If Nix somehow fails to launch in 2025, the Broncos could realistically be sitting at home in January 2026, instead of competing in the playoffs. This team goes only as far as Nix can take it. 

The Broncos have a talented defense, but it can only do so much. Time and time again, great defenses still need a capable offense to complement them, at the very least, to help reach the playoffs.

That capable offense could emerge via the running game or passing game, but the Broncos have to be a threat offensively to help take the pressure off the defense. When an offense can't help carry the load, we see the defense crack and fall apart, which was a common occurrence during Denver's eight-year playoff drought. 

The good news is that Payton is the head coach. He has brought the best out of his players throughout his coaching career and has extracted some excellent play out of guys who went elsewhere and struggled or even flat-out failed.

Payton revitalized Drew Brees’ career in New Orleans and turned him into one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Payton elevated a handful of other quarterbacks the NFL was ready to give up on near the end of Brees’ career, when he began to miss games due to injuries and after he had retired. 

Even if Nix isn’t able to take significant steps forward, Payton should be able to ensure that Denver gets what it got out of the young quarterback last year, at the very least. That would equate to avoiding the sophomore slump, giving Nix another year to grow and develop.

Again, that's at the very least, as with Payton helping guide Nix and calling the plays, it would be shocking to see the Broncos fail to get back to the playoffs and for the quarterback to fail to make improvements to his game in Year 2.

Nix is the key to the Broncos' success in 2025, and Payton is the lynchpin to Nix taking the necessary steps forward. Optimism reigns in the Mile High City for a reason. This team has a realistic chance at the AFC West title for the first time in a decade.