The Lead
After an offseason in which Denver added a ton of talent on offense, the Broncos are becoming one of the hottest teams in the NFL. And even if it takes a year for the team to stack wins and become a playoff contender, this is a team football fans should flock to, NFL.com's Adam Schein said as he ranked the top NFL bandwagons for 2020.
"I don't have the Broncos making the playoffs, but if they do, I won't be shocked," Schein wrote. "This is a longer-term play. Get a premium seat on the bandwagon now and thank me later.
"I love how John Elway has surrounded Drew Lock with an influx of talent this offseason," Schein wrote. "When you finally get a young quarterback you believe in, give him every chance to be successful. The Broncos have certainly done that. In free agency, Elway and Co. signed Melvin Gordon to partner with Phillip Lindsay in the backfield. And they spent big bucks on versatile O-lineman Graham Glasgow. In the draft, Denver used their first two picks on explosive receivers (Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler), selected a plug-and-play center (Lloyd Cushenberry) and then grabbed Lock's old college tight end (Albert Okwuegbunam)."
Now, I know "bandwagon" is largely considered a dirty word by diehard fans. They largely jump on just in time for the fun times and can depart when things get tough, right?
But it feels like nearly as often these kinds of fleeting connections between fans and teams beyond their normal geographical bounds can become real and long-lasting. So if someone is wooed by Lock's inimitable swagger and the winning ways he could help foster, let's not push them away — let's help them become a Broncos fan for life.
After all, there's plenty of room in Broncos Country.
Below the Fold
As a player recovering from an injury, Bradley Chubb has been one of the very few people allowed in UCHealth Training Center amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with Jeff Legwold of ESPN, he recounted the experience and updated his recovery status. "It's progressing like I want to, finding all the different type of things I can do on my own to make sure I'm the best the next day," Chubb told Legwold.
ESPN's Tristan H. Cockcroft says the Broncos' signing of Melvin Gordon III is one of the 10 biggest moves for fantasy football. "Despite the presence of Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman on the roster, the Broncos are still likely to grant Gordon a similar role to the one he had with the Los Angeles Chargers -- probably around 15 carries per game."
The 1991 Broncos earned some recognition as the No. 22 team on the NFL's countdown of the top 25 single-season team turnarounds. That team went from last in the division to first, rebounding from a 5-11 record in 1990 to go 12-4.
