With the league still set to start on July 28th as of now it seems fitting to take a look at the faces of each franchise. These are the players that the success or failure of a team tend to be chalked up to their individual performance. On most teams this tends to be a veteran, but for the 2020 Denver Broncos there has been a huge youth movement. Today, we will take a look at three players who are on their way to being the face of the franchise.
Faces of the Franchise: 2020 Denver Broncos
Von Miller
From the onset of his career, Von Miller has been the face of the franchise after being selected with the 2nd overall pick in 2011. Coming off of a down season by his standards, Miller looks primed to make a comeback in year two of Fangio’s system. In 2019, the Denver Broncos still put together a top 10 defense with Bradley Chubb missing the season and Miller in a slump. With Chubb ready to comeback for the 2020 season, Denver should once again have a dominating pass rush.
Of course there are some pundits out there that believe that Miller is coming to the end of his illustrious career. This will be his 10th year with the Denver Broncos and Miller hasn’t shown signs of slowing down. Miller should bounce back to double digit sack totals and see himself back in the playoffs. Being one of the last players left from Super Bowl 50, Miller knows what it takes to be great and will demand that effort from those around him.
Phillip Lindsay
The Colorado kid himself, Phillip Lindsay, has quickly become one of the faces of this Broncos team. Originally undrafted out of Colorado, Lindsay made it clear that 32 teams made a major mistake not drafting him. He took over the starting role for the Broncos after rushing for 71 yards and one receiving touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks. Lindsay took that opportunity and ran with it rushing for 1,037 yards and becoming the first rookie UDFA to make the Pro Bowl.
Going into his third season Lindsay is coming off back to back 1,000 yard rushing season. This didn’t stop the Broncos from bringing in fellow running back Melvin Gordon in the off-season. Many saw this as a slight to Lindsay from the Broncos brass but it seemed to only motivate him. Lindsay made it very clear that he isn’t going to roll over and let someone take his starting gig. Expect Lindsay to come out on fire and show John Elway he is a true number one running back.
Drew Lock
Ever since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50 Denver has been searching for the next guy. During the 2019 off-season the Broncos signed Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco and then drafted Drew Lock as the heir apparent. Flacco was to be the veteran at the end of his career trying to make a last playoff push and develop the future. Once training camp started though Flacco made it clear that it was not his responsibility to coach up the young quarterback and he was brought here “to win football games.”
Long story short, Flacco did not come and win football games for the Broncos. He went down with a neck injury that ended his season eight games in with a 2-6 record. Enter rookie quarterback Drew Lock after spending the first half of the season on injured reserve. He started his first game against the Los Angeles Chargers and ended up coming out victorious throwing two touchdowns. During his five game stretch as the starting quarterback he finished 4-1 and solidified himself as Denver’s face of the franchise. Denver made sure to give the young signal caller all the weapons he could ask for after adding Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler in the draft. This season should be Drew Lock’s coming out party as most recent second year quarterbacks have made huge strides in year two.
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