Denver Broncos

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BRONCOS

Denver Broncos 

Coach: Vic Fangio
OC: Rich Scangarello

Depth Chart:

QBs: Joe Flacco, Kevin Hogan, Drew Lock, Brett Rypien
RBs: Phillip Lindsay, Royce Freeman, Devontae Booker, Khalfani Muhammad, Devontae Jackson
FB: Andy Janovich, George Aston
WRs: Courtland Sutton, Emmanuel Sanders, DaeSean Hamilton, River Cracraft, Tim Patrick, Aaron Burbidge, Fred Brown, Juwann Winfree, Trinity Benson, Romell Guerrier, Kelvin McKnight
TEs: Noah Fant, Jeff Heuerman, Troy Fumagalli, Jake Butt, Bug Howard, Austin Fort

2019 Draft (offense only):

Round 1, Pick 20 – TE – Noah Fant – Iowa
Round 2, Pick 41 – G/C – Dalton Risner – Kansas State
Round 2,Pick 42 – QB – Drew Lock – Missouri
Round 6, Pick 187 – WR – Juwann Winfree – Colorado

2019 Undrafted Free Agents (fantasy offense only):

QB – Brett Rypien – Washington State
RB – Devontae Jackson – West Georgia
WR – Trinity Benson – East Central
WR – Romell Guerrier – Florida Tech
WR – Kelvin McKnight – Samford
TE – Austin Fort – Wyoming

Key Offseason Additions (fantasy offense):

QB – Joe Flacco

Training Camp Preview: Rookies 7/17, Veterans 7/17

The Broncos brought in new head coach Vic Fangio and OC Rich Scangarello.  Fangio was the Bears defensive coordinator the last few years and held that position in San Francisco for a few more before that.  Scangarello served as the 49ers QB coach the last two years and has loads of experience at multiple colleges as offensive coordinators, assistants and QB/WR coaches.  He has roots in Kyle Shanahan’s zone running system and will use the running game as the foundation for his offense.  Fangio is a defensive minded coach and will fit nicely with Scangarello’s run oriented offense.
The Broncos addressed the QB position heavily this offseason, trading away Case Keenum and landing former Raven Joe Flacco.  Flacco will bring veteran leadership to this young offense and will be an improvement right away.  The Broncos have suffered from below average QB play the last two years with guys like Keenum, Trevor Simien, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch.  Securing a steady veteran in Flacco, the Broncos decided to draft Drew Lock in the second round of the draft.  The Broncos went one step further and also added UDFA Brett Rypien out of Washington State.  Both rookie QBs will be behind Kevin Hogan on the depth chart but expect the two rookies to get ample playing time this preseason.  While adding Flacco is not a very splashy play, he should give the Broncos time to develop one of these young passers while he holds down the fort for at least this year.  I’m actually somewhat optimistic he can be the starter here for at least two years and should provide QB2 numbers this year.
We mentioned new OC Rich Scangarello above so we should be excited about the Bronco RBs this year and going forward.  Phillip Lindsay lit it up last year as a UDFA but broke his wrist in week 16.  He has not participated in any offseason activities besides light work on the side but should be ready to participate in camp, although to what extent remains unknown.  He suffered a very severe break so it makes sense ease him in and to not let him take many hits early on.  Behind Lindsay is second year Royce Freeman.  Scangarello’s offense is a zone running scheme, which Freeman excelled with at Oregon.  Freeman also suffered a high ankle sprain last season so this can help explain his underwhelming rookie year.  Freeman has been taking the majority of reps with the 1s all offseason and will continue to mix in with Lindsay.  With Lindsay being a smaller speedy back, it might make sense for Freeman to take on more work to keep Lindsay fresh and healthy.  I’m open to Lindsay being an RB2 with Freeman having RB2 upside in this run heavy offense.  Behind these guys we still have Devontae Booker who is primarily used as a pass catcher. He caught 38 balls on 51 targets last year so he could limit the upside of Lindsay and Freeman again in PPR leagues, although Lindsay has already said that he expects more work as a receiver in year 2.  There’s not much behind Booker on the depth chart but we’ll monitor UDFA Devontae Jackson from West Georgia.  He’ll try to make the team and beat out Khalfani Muhammad.  The Broncos could possess two startable fantasy assets at RB this season so feel good about both Lindsay and Freeman at ADP.
With being led by Joe Flacco and getting excited about the Denver running game, what can we expect for fantasy from the WR group?  Second year WR Courtland Sutton is expected to take a step forward.  He produced 42rec, 704yds and 4TDs on 84 targets last year.  A very high yards per catch rate is nice to see, but Sutton was not very efficient with his targets, something to watch for this preseason.  Early reports are that Flacco has had success finding Sutton deep and is developing into one of his favorite targets.  Emmanuel Sanders appears to be doing well with his rehab from his Achilles injury and has been seen running routes at full speed.  We will need to monitor his training camp activity to see if he’ll be ready to go full speed to start the year.  If he keeps falling in drafts, I might be willing to snag Sanders at the end of my bench in PPR leagues.  Behind Sanders and Sutton, the clear number 3 will be DaeSean Hamilton.  Hamilton is basically a young Sanders and had a strong end to his rookie season.  He was a target hog in the last four games of the year, catching 25rec, 182yds and 2TDs on 38 targets.  He’s not a bigt yards per catch player but has the ability to get open quickly and rack up PPR points from the slot.  We shouldn’t really look to any WRs past the top three here, but the guys to monitor would be Tim Patrick, River Cracraft and 6th round pick JuWann Winfree.
Joe Flacco has always been fond of his TEs in the past, so Denver made a move in the draft to trade down and land Noah Fant from Iowa.  Fant will immediately step into the starting pass catching role for them and has probably the brightest outlook for rookie TEs in redraft leagues.  It would not surprise me to see Fant reach 50 receptions and compete for the team lead in TDs with Sutton.  Behind Fant, we have Jeff Heuerman, Jake Butt and Troy Fumagalli.  I’d be most excited about Jake Butt here, but Heuerman will be the #2 for now.

2017-2018 Stats Below:

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