Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.

Hey Parker, now that we’re through seven games, what are your thoughts on the Broncos? Are we contenders? Pretenders? Somewhere in between? I feel like we have a world-class defense with a middle-of-the-pack offense. Is that enough to get us to the playoffs? Maybe the Super Bowl?

— Ronnie G., Denver

Hey Ronnie, thanks for writing in and getting us going this week.

I’ve heard a lot of versions of this question over the past week or so, including whether the Broncos are a good 5-2 team, a bad one, somewhere in between, etc.

Especially given the quality of opponents, there’s no way around the fact that Denver is in a strong spot. Most NFL games are competitive, but it would be hard to get through the first six games the Broncos played with that record if they weren’t good.

They’re contenders. They should be contenders two months from now. They’ve got a big challenge on their hands this weekend against Kansas City and that will be a guidepost for what the AFC West race looks like. If Denver wins, the teams are tied at 6-2 with a split in their two games this year. Wide open. If Kansas City wins, the Chiefs will effectively have a three-game lead because they’ll be up two in the standings and will own the tiebreaker after sweeping the Broncos. So, Sunday isn’t fully determinative, but it seems like the single game so far on the slate that will define what the coming weeks feel like for the Broncos.

In the broader view, Denver looks like a contender, but its true ceiling will depend on whether it can make substantial offensive progress.

After Kansas City, the Broncos travel to Carolina, have their bye week and then return to a stretch that goes vs. Las Vegas, at Pittsburgh (Black Friday), vs. Miami, at New York Jets, at Las Vegas.

The Steelers are 5-2. The rest of those teams are 9-18 combined. That’s a manageable stretch. They don’t necessarily need an offense hitting on all cylinders to arrive at Christmas and a closing stretch of vs. Buffalo, at New England, and vs. the Los Angeles Chargers squarely in the playoff picture. But they do need an improved offense in order to really, truly feel like Super Bowl contenders and certainly if they end up a wild-card team facing the prospect of having to string together playoff wins on the road.

Over the last seven games, including the season’s toughest stretch, Sean Payton’s team ranks No. 30 in total offense and No. 23 in scoring offense. It is No. 23 in total defense and No. 7 in scoring defense.

And yet this group is tied for the most wins in the AFC and only Kansas City and Buffalo currently have fewer losses (one apiece).

The Broncos have done an admirable job of winning games and buying time for the offense to come around (and the defense to get back to full strength). Perhaps Sunday’s convincing win over Arizona was a start.

Sunday afternoon at Empower Field will be another major data point.

Jonah Coleman looked awesome out there on Sunday. He was explosive with the ball, he picked up blocks, he looked everything like we’ve been wanting for an RB1. Do you think he moves up the depth chart this week against the Chiefs?

— Matt P., Littleton

Hey Matt, thanks for writing in. We wrote about this quite a bit after the game, so I won’t spend a ton of time on it here, but the bottom line is yes, Coleman seems to be taking over as Denver’s lead back. Perhaps J.K. Dobbins will continue to start and he’ll almost certainly continue to be involved, but on Sunday against the Cardinals, Dobbins got three carries for 15 yards on the opening drive and then just three for 8 yards on Denver’s remaining nine drives total.

One thing Sam Jane and I talked about on our podcast is what Coleman’s role will functionally look like going forward. Right now he’s Denver’s third down/two-minute back and he’s also been called upon to close the past two games he’s played in. That alone represents a floor for involvement. Then factor in more standard early-down work, and he has plenty of opportunities to be on the field.

It won’t be a total takeover, though, even if he does rise to the top of the depth chart. Last year, when Dobbins was one of the most efficient backs in football, he played 66.7% of Denver’s offensive snaps in one game (Week 3 vs. the Chargers). Other than that, he never topped 53%. Some of that was probably because of his injury history, but this is not likely to turn into 80% Coleman and scraps for everybody else. Dobbins will have at least a role and RJ Harvey will continue to be involved and likely touch the ball quite a bit in both the passing and running games, too.

Any ideas as to why ankle injuries are the injury to have this year?

— Mark Johnson, Boulder

Hey Mark, thanks for writing in. No good reason, it seems. Sometimes injuries just happen that way. They seem to group to one position or sometimes one part of the body. In camp it was a run of hamstrings. Now it’s a run of ankles.

Over seven weeks overall, though, Denver has been fortunate to mostly avoid a run of serious injuries.

Can we give some praise to Adam Trautman? It was amazing how he kept his defender on him on Bo Nix’s 62-yard touchdown run. And Troy Franklin blocking two defensive backs to give Nix room to get into the end zone was great. What was it like from your point of view in the stadium? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarterback run that unabated.

— Mark, Arvada

Hey Mark, no doubt. Adam Trautman pulled the oldest trick in the book. It was incredible that it worked, too, considering how far Nix already was up the field when he threw his hands up as if the ball was coming toward him. Heady play by the tight end and objectively hilarious to watch on the replay.

BO NIX 62-YARD TOUCHDOWN RUN

DENvsAZ on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/sxC4uWF33r

— NFL (@NFL) October 25, 2026

It’s fair to wonder what several of the Arizona defenders were doing even though they got caught exposed in a man coverage where, naturally, they’re going to have their backs turned to Nix. First of all, the Cardinals only rushed four, meaning seven were in coverage. The Broncos had heavy personnel in the game so really only four receivers were out in the pattern and jumbo “tight end” Alex Palczewski was blocking. Arizona basically had double teams on tight end Evan Engram and receiver Troy Franklin and left nobody to account for Nix. By the time he hit the line of scrimmage, the only defender on Nix’s left half of the field was Jack Gibbens and his response was to… push Jonah Coleman out of bounds and not look for the ball.

Perhaps Denzel Burke could have gotten an angle on Nix, but Trautman threw his hands up like he was getting the ball when Nix was already 15 yards downfield.

Franklin did good work down the field as you said. He cut off Dadrion Taylor-Demerson’s pursuit and then at least got a shove in on Kei’Trel Clark, too.

Props well warranted for both Trautman and Franklin.

How much of an issue for both the run and passing attack has our O-line’s inconsistent play, especially at center, left guard and right tackle? I saw an article recently where it said that Luke Wattenberg has one of lowest rankings of any center in the league. Is Bo Nix getting too much heat that should be spread around?

— LA Koenck, Aurora

Hey LA, thanks for writing in and good question. It definitely has been an issue at times and you’re right that those three positions have been the ones where Denver has struggled up front at times. Each of them — LG Ben Powers, C Luke Wattenberg and RT Mike McGlinchey — have done some good things this year, too, and they’re all veterans capable of getting it going. But there have been some rough stretches, too. No Broncos offensive lineman is in the top 20 of ESPN’s win rates for tackles or interior offensive linemen in either pass blocking or run blocking. As a team, Denver has been in the top 10 in those metrics for both pass and run blocking the past two seasons, but currently shows No. 24 pass blocking and No. 17 run blocking.

One part of Wattenberg’s struggles has been about getting shotgun snaps to Nix accurately. Before the game at Arizona, I talked to him about it and he acknowledged the issue, saying, “I mean, I’ve got to get it fixed. It’s been something that’s been kind of troubling me and it’s not fair to Bo keep having to deal with that. I’ve got to get fixed.”

Wattenberg said the issue is mechanical. The key is to have the shoulder do the work and then everything else happens in order. When there’s too much elbow or wrist, that’s when snaps get off line.

The veteran center wasn’t interested in excuses, though he did deal with a left shoulder injury throughout camp (he snaps right-handed). There’s a lot going on up front, too, between checks, calls, Mike ID and then, naturally, actually blocking very large men.

“It’s just got to be a point of focus for me. I can’t let other stuff get in the way of that. The snap has to be good first,” he said. “(Having a lot going on) is part of the game and it’s part of what I have to deal with. I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better for Bo.”

Against the Cardinals, Wattenberg snapped 32 times in either shotgun or pistol. By my count, three of them were wide of the frame of Nix’s body, all to Nix’s left. Only one was errant enough to noticeably affect Nix’s operation, but all the same, Wattenberg would likely say three is too many.

Hi, Parker. I have two offense-related questions. First, I know the Broncos have a lot of problems on offense right now, but I’ve thought for a while (going back seasons) that one of their biggest problems is second down. If they get an incomplete or very short pass gain on first down, it’s a virtual guarantee they’ll run it on second. That’s a plague across football in general, with the theory being they’ll try to make it third and manageable. First, the odds against most teams getting more than 3 yards on that run, and way against getting 5 or more. You’re way more likely to get 7 yards or more passing than running. Coaches conquered their fourth-down phobia. Will they start getting more aggressive on second down? It feels like the best offenses are already there. The second thing is the overemphasis on avoiding interceptions. I don’t like Bo Nix playing like Alex Smith. It doesn’t feel like he was quite this conservative the first two years. What’s changed? Payton himself seems more conservative this year. Playing not to lose is not a championship formula.

— Dave G., Charlotte, N.C.

Hey Dave, thanks for writing in and good questions. Payton’s talked a number of times about how they study and self-scout their play sequencing on first and second down. If you play those two downs, there are only four possible combinations, right? Run/run, pass/pass, run/pass and pass/run. Sometimes you’ve got your combo pre-set and, if first down goes the way you want, you roll to the next call.

There’s obviously a ton of analytics at play and teams analyze the most micro elements, but it does feel as though the second-down issue you’re getting at so often comes down to confidence.

If your offense is rolling, you’re not so worried about second-and-7 and the need to get to third-and-manageable. Play aggressive. Don’t be afraid of third-and-7. We’re humming. We’re getting a chunk play somewhere in there and third-and-7 doesn’t have to be a pre-celebration for the punt unit.

When you’re grinding, though, you’re more likely to try to get to third and manageable just to try to put yourself in a better position to maybe move the chains. Then, of course, score and game situation matter, too.

Whatever the Broncos’ exact approach in different spots over the past three weeks, the bottom line is it’s not working well enough. Denver is just 7 of 37 on third downs since Week 5 and its average yards to go per third down in that stretch is 8.2 yards.

As for interceptions, most quarterbacks are, generally speaking, either toeing the line between smart and aggressive or between smart and too cautious. Nix has been the latter this year. Payton is adamant about not turning the football over and with good reason, but I do think, given all the conversations about quarterback play in recent weeks, everybody will be happy if Nix is able to continue to dial up the aggressiveness by some without tipping the scale toward recklessness.

When did professional football stop being a game people watched and become a gambling machine that trains fans — especially young men — to spend rent money chasing a bet? And why are leagues, broadcasters, and betting companies allowed to flood every game with ads while treating the debt, addiction, and family damage as someone else’s problem?

— Honu, Golden

It is pretty wild, isn’t it, Honu? It’s not just professional football, either. Every sport is inundated with advertising for gambling companies, sponsorship deals, live odds, talk of betting, so on and so forth. Now add in “prediction markets” and it’s become impossible to avoid. Fox’s World Series broadcasts show live odds movements on Polymarket at various points during the games.

I don’t have a ton of good answers, but I’ll refer you to Noelle Phillips’ excellent sports gambling series that ran in the Denver Post earlier this year. There’s a ton of really good reporting that attempts to tackle the questions you’re asking.

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.