History of Denver Broncos 

The Denver Broncos are one of the original eight AFL franchises, first taking the field in the inaugural season of the league in 1960. 

It was Major League Baseball expansion that actually led to the Broncos landing in Denver. Minor league owner Bob Howsam had recently expanded his home season in the hopes of landing a new Continental League team, which was supposed to compete with the American and National Leagues. 

Instead the Mets and Astros were created by MLB, the Washington Senators relocated to Minnesota, and the Continental League was no more.

Howsam still had a big stadium, and he needed a tenant. So he reached out to Lamar Hunt and the rest of new owners of the AFL about having his own franchise, and they happily said yes. Grabbing the untapped sports market between Kansas City and California was an AFL coup.

The Broncos were not great in the early years, as they went from owner to owner and losing season to losing season. But when John Elway came to the team in 1983, things changed. Since then the Broncos have played in seven Super Bowls (eight total) and won three Super Bowl titles.

Along with John Elway, Denver has turned out six other Hall of Famers who played primarily in Denver. Steve Atwater was one of the hardest hitting safeties in history. Champ Bailey was a great cover corner who played in 12 Pro Bowls. Tight end Shannon Sharpe won three Super Bowls and retired with more than 10,000 receiving yards. 

Running backs Floyd Little and Terrell Davis each won rushing titles, with Davis going over 2,000 yards in 1998. Tackle Gary Zimmerman was a five-time First-team All-Pro.

NFL Big Changes from Last Season – Denver Broncos

A number of teams have changed quarterbacks this season – 10 to be precise. But no team is more excited about their change than the Denver Broncos. That’s because no other team added a Super Bowl winning quarterback to a team that is already blessed with a large number of quality players at skill positions.

No question that Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf are talented players on their own. But because they had Russell Wilson throwing them the football, they played that much better. And that is what the Broncos are hoping happens with their pair of top wide receivers, Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy.

Wilson had a down year in 2021 in which he was injured for a month. But just one year earlier he threw for a career-high 40 touchdowns and his second-highest yardage total. So the talk that his skills are diminishing seems to be premature.

Wilson will be the most impactful new addition to the Broncos, and certainly he’s leading the level of excitement. But the new coaching staff in Denver is also going to make a difference, and especially on offense.

The new head coach with the Broncos is Nathaniel Hackett, the former offensive coordinator in Green Bay. He was the OC in each of Aaron Rodgers last two MVP-winning seasons. In 2020 Hackett led the NFL’s top scoring offense with 31.8 points per game.

Hackett will obviously be intimately involved in the offense, but he brought over one of his offensive assistants in Green Bay to be his new offensive coordinator. That is Justin Outten, who began as an offensive assistant with the Falcons, and has spent the last three seasons as the tight ends coach with the Packers.

The Broncos had an excellent defense last year, and this year they’ve added pass rusher Randy Gregory to help make up for the loss of Von Miller. They also used their second round pick in the draft to get linebacker Nik Bonitto of Oklahoma.

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* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.