Englewood, Colorado – The first thing on the Defense De Denver Broncos list when the regular season opens next Sunday is, well, a first.
Faced with a closed-stop-shot empowerment field in Mile High Crowd which will probably be boiling, the defense of the Broncos will open the 2025 campaign fueling in front of the quarters of Tennessee Cam Ward, the overall choice n ° 1 of the April recovery. It will be the first time since the merger of the 1970 NFL-AFL that Broncos will start a season against a quarter recruit.
The meeting will not only be a test for Ward but also for a defense of Denver who thinks that it will be one of the best in the NFL.
“We want to have defense n ° 1, we talk about it 100%,” said Rusher Broncos Edge Nik Bonitto. “But we have to go out and do it, we have to do things, each of us, so that it happens. How do we do that? Let’s be better than last year and we manage well.
“No matter who is in front of us every week, we want to be this defense that starts quickly and continues.”
Starting fasting was an accent throughout the offseason. Broncos coach Sean Payton was categorical by saying that his team can win the Super Bowl this season. To do this, Denver will have to improve his September game since the previous two years to prepare for home qualifying series. The Broncos opened last season 0-2 and were 0-3 to start the 2023 season.
“This is the time you can’t wait to see what you have,” said Payton. “And look, we have to start quickly … we have a house opener … and we don’t have [started fast] The last two years and it’s difficult to be one of these upper echelon teams if you play Yo-Yo football. “”
Denver plans to rely on his defense to break the slow trend. Last season, the Broncos made the League (18.3 points per game) mark and set a deductible record for bags with an NFL 63 leader. They were also the leader of the League in the defensive EPA, which measures the ability of a defense to limit the scoring opportunities in each drop and distance situation.
When the Broncos made an extended debriefing of the 2024 season, which saw them go 10-7 and break an eight-year drought before losing against the invoices in Joker’s round, they decided to devote resources to make their strength even stronger. Denver added the second Dr. Greenlaw and the Talalaoa Hufanga security in a free agency and wrote the Jahdae Barron corner half in the first round.
All are on the right track to start against the Titans – Barron should be the nickel corner – so the welcome of Ward’s NFL will be against a pressure group, heavy of human cover with high expectations.
“I think we all said to each other, and I told everyone, just to meet at the ball,” Brandon Jones said in terms of broncos security.
This makes it a delicate beginning for Ward, that the trainer of the Titans, Brian Callahan, appointed the starter at the start of this offseason. The former quarter of Miami played 44 pre-season shots covering three games, in 10 out of 19 for 145 yards without touching or interception.
“”[Ward’s] The command is exceptional, “said Callahan.” He will be able to move more when I don’t have to govern it so as not to make success. “”
Ward has established a rapid relationship with the Large Véteran Calvin Ridley receiver, who caught three of the five Ward completion during the beginning of the quarter-arre. The recruit also piloted a touch of 13 games and 90 yards in the Titans’ pre-season final against Minnesota.
Ward will face a rigorous rush that was led by the 13.5 Bonitto bags, but also obtained the best production of Edge Jonathon Cooper (10.5 bags) and defensive plated Zach Allen (8.5) and John Franklin-Myers (seven) last year. Echoing the feelings of the scouts that evaluated Ward in the predraft process, the offensive coordinator of first -year Titans, Nick Holz, said that it would be important for Ward to use an appropriate leg set to maintain its precision in the face of Denver’s pressure.
“Part of the [throws] Where his feet are out of Kilter, “said Holz recently.” He falls a little, so he did not really enter the throw. You see that the front foot does not really drive, or its hips don’t really lead to the target. “”
In addition to the fierce passing race, Ward thinks of seeing the media coverage of a broncos secondary led by the Pat Frequent II locking corner, the defending player in the title of the year. The Broncos also feel good about Barron, Hufanga, Jones and the half -year -old half year Riley Moss, which gives them the possibility of being even more aggressive in the way they attack Ward.
Ward will be the first quarter recruit that the Broncos have been faced since they played Spencer Rattle of New Orleans in week 7 last season. Rattler was put in the bench after the broncos dismissed him six times. In 2023, the Broncos faced three -quarters Recruci – CJ Stroud (Texans), Aidan O’Connell (Raiders) and Dorian Thompson -Robinson (Browns). They lost two of these games, against Houston in the week 13 and the raiders of the final of the season.
Since the start of the 2000 season, the Broncos have faced 25 starters of quarter recruit, compiling a file of 15-10. The most notable was Patrick Mahomes’ first departure in the 2017 season, which the Chiefs won.
