The Touchback is launching a preview series for fantasy football this season. Today, we’re providing you with the Denver Broncos 2020 Fantasy Football Overview. Click here to read our other previews.
The Denver Broncos are a team with a wide range of possible outcomes. Earlier in the summer, we were betting on them to make the playoffs. Now, let’s just say we aren’t as optimistic. Firstly, Denver is dealing with one of the highest profile COVID-19 opt outs in Ja’Wuan James. That weakens the offensive line considerably.
A lot of the buzz surrounding John Elway’s team was based on the fact they closed the season 4-1 with Drew Lock leading the turnaround. The offense was good, but not great with the former Mizzou quarterback under center, but more on him in a bit.
From both a real life and fantasy football perspective, Denver has a lot of questions that won’t be answered until games are played. Will Lock and Noah Fant take a step forward in year two? Is Jerry Jeudy someone who can come in and contribute from day one? What the hell do you do with the running back situation?
Denver’s third down conversion rate of 31.7 percent was third worst in the league last year. Unsurprisingly, they ranked 28th in points for and yards gained. It’s possible that everything goes well, and multiple players have strong fantasy seasons. It is also possible that Lock isn’t good, the lack of an offseason hurt Jeudy’s progress, the offensive line can’t block for the running backs and 2020 is just a dreadful repeat of 2019.
Related: Fantasy football players you should avoid in 2020
Denver Broncos 2020 Fantasy Football Overview: Players to watch
Stud – Courtland Sutton
The Broncos recorded 3,115 passing yards last season and Courtland Sutton was responsible for 1,112 of those. That’s right, more than 35 percent of the team’s passing yardage went to Sutton. It didn’t matter who was throwing him the ball, he still delivered. Sutton was WR19 despite Denver’s woes in 2019 and that is the floor for him this year. And if Lock develops, he could break into the top ten.
Dud – Running backs
Phillip Lindsay has consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons under his belt while looking like a capable pass catcher. Royce Freeman was solid enough as the 1B in this situation. However, the Broncos decided to muddy the whole thing up by signing Melvin Gordon, a horribly inefficient running back who has only averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry once in his career.
This whole situation is a mess. Lindsay is clearly the best back in Denver, but who knows what kind of workload he will get. Gordon is getting the 130 carries Freeman had during the past two seasons at the very least. Oh, and Freeman is still around too. Unless injuries or trades clear out this backfield, everyone will likely disappoint.
Sleeper – Noah Fant
Noah Fant did as well as you would expect from a rookie tight end. He’s an intriguing player if you are going with the TE0 draft strategy in 2020. The big thing for Fant is going to be getting on the field more. His snap count actually decreased as the season progressed, never surpassing the 60 percent mark during the last four games.
Wildcard – Drew Lock
Drew Lock will determine if Denver is a viable fantasy football team in 2020. Despite his 4-1 record as a starter, he wasn’t all that good. Really, if you took out Lock’s 309-yard, three touchdown game against an awful Texans pass defense, he was actually just a low-end game manager. The second-round draft pick didn’t surpass 210 yards in any other game last season and had only four touchdowns in those four contests.
It is impossible to know if Lock is actually going to take a step forward in 2020 or if he just isn’t very good. Whatever is the case, it will determine the fate of the Broncos this year.
Denver Broncos 2020 Fantasy Football Overview final thoughts
There is too much mystery surrounding the Denver Broncos this fantasy football season. Sutton remains a stud and will thrive regardless of what else is going on around him. You would have said the same thing about Lindsay until Melvin Gordon rode into town. Jeudy and Fant are interesting sleepers given their current ADP. But ultimately, it’s hard to get a read on the Broncos.
