ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The drought is nearly over. The light at the end of the tunnel is quickly approaching. Football is back.

And it’s almost time to proclaim THE BRONCOS ARE BACK.

On Monday night, after every other team has kicked off their season, the Vic Fangio era will begin in the team’s last ever game in Oakland.

With a nearly unrecognizable team from just nine months ago, here’s how the 2019 season will unfold for the Broncos.

BREAKOUT PLAYER

Ryan

DaeSean Hamilton — A fourth-round pick from one year ago, Hamilton does his work quietly.

To little or no fanfare, in the final four games of last season, he put up 25 receptions for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Pro-rated for a 16-game season, those numbers come out to 100 receptions for 728 yards and eight touchdowns.

As you can see, the yards won’t blow you away, but Hamilton has a knack for getting open in convenient spots for the quarterback.

Look out for the former Penn State man to become a reliable option this year.

Zac

Justin Simmons — The fourth-year safety was a popular pick for this exact category one year ago. But that didn’t happen after he was asked to do too much under the old regime.

While Vic Fangio’s roots go back to linebackers, not safeties, Simmons will see a sizeable boost from the new head coach’s presence and take the giant step that many believed he was going to take last year.

Simmons has already flashed this potential as he led the defense in interceptions during training camp.

The name Justin Simmons is well-known to Broncos fans. His breakout could be letting the entire country hear his name often.

Mase

Justin Simmons — In Fangio’s scheme, he’ll handle the same responsibilities that Eddie Jackson did for the Bears. A 6-interception season is a possibility for him if the Broncos can play from ahead, crank up the pass rush and force opposing quarterbacks into some reckless throws that he can track down. He has the chance to earn a massive payday either in the form of a contract extension for the Broncos or a free-agent deal next year. If he flourishes early, the Broncos would be wise to begin working on a new contract sooner rather than later.

BOLD PREDICTION

Ryan

Broncos have the No. 1 defense in the NFL — Between the elite talent on the defensive side of the ball, and a defensive mastermind calling the plays, I think this defense is one of the most slept on things about the Broncos from a national perspective.

Sure, Denver’s offense is going to be slow and boring, but this ‘D’ will give them a chance every single time they set foot on the field.

If they can create turnovers in the way that Fangio’s defense is designed to do, the Broncos are going to be a surprise in the league.

Zac

Von Miller and Bradley Chubb become Denver’s single-season all-time sack duo — Von Miller is currently part of the recording setting duo sitting atop Denver’s record book as he and Elvis Dumervil combined for 29.5 sacks in 2012.

And Von will be part of the pair that breaks that record set seven years ago.

The former No. 2 overall pick and the No. 5 overall pick from just a year ago, Bradley Chubb, will eclipse 30 combined sacks and set the single-season record for the Mile High City in 2019.

This won’t come as a surprise to Vic Fangio and the Broncos as they have all the confidence in the world in Chubb.

Mase

One Broncos offensive lineman makes the Pro Bowl — This would give the team its first Pro Bowler from that group since Ryan Clady played in the game following the 2014 season. The best bets are Dalton Risner and Ja’Wuan James.

SEASON RECORD

Ryan

9-7 — With the strength of the defense and the weakness of the offense, this season is going to be a series of coinflip games. If the offense can make a couple big plays and the defense can create turnovers, the coin will land on W.

The problem is, you simply cant count on those things on a week-in-week-out basis.

With that in mind, I can see the path to a playoff berth, and I can also see the path to a top-ten pick.

We’ll setttle somewhere in the middle here, with a nod towards the positive things based on just how good the defense is going to be.

In the end, how the Broncos come out of the gates, and how they fare in a four-game stretch against KC, Indy, Cleveland and Minnesota will determine their destiny.

Zac

8-8 — It’s as boring of a prediction as possible, but after running through the schedule countless times, this is where the Broncos land time and time again.

The five games after the Broncos’ bye week—at Vikings, at Bills, vs Chargers, at Texans and at Kansas City—will determine if Denver is over .500, and making a playoff push, or if they’re looking at a similar record as 2018.

Mase

8-8 — This team appears set for a season in which it dances on the line that divides blissful from botched, playing a series of close games with scores such as 23-20, 17-16 and 14-10. Get a series of breaks, and 8-8 can become 11-5. But with a bad bounce and bad injury luck, it can also be 5-11.

The Broncos have already received some breaks for games in the first half of the season.

• In Week 1, they see the Antonio Brown-less Raiders setting new standards for dysfunction — which is saying a lot, since they’re the Raiders.
• Four weeks later, they will face the Chargers without safety Derwin James, who opens the season on injured reserve, and Melvin Gordon’s contract impasse shows no sign of fading.
• Three weeks after the trip to Los Angeles, the Broncos will face the Andrew Luck-less Colts, whose retirement turned a likely loss into a potential coin-flip game.

However, you can poke holes in all of those perceived boosts to the Broncos’ cause.

• The Raiders beat the Broncos last Dec. 24 when Brown wasn’t on their radar, and sometimes teams come together in the wake of losing a key player — look at how Carolina started 2-0 in 2008 despite the suspension of star wide receiver Steve Smith, who punched Ken Lucas in a training-camp practice.
• The Chargers get Hunter Henry back after missing him for the entire 2018 season because of a torn ACL and have won three of their last four against the Broncos.
• The Colts appear to finally have a roster that can withstand the loss of an elite quarterback and remain competitive with Jacoby Brissett in his second year. (For the record, I still have the Colts winning the AFC South at 10-6.)

So, 8-8. Some players emerge as core building blocks for the future. But if they have this sort of season that ends without a playoff spot, it will be a failure if they don’t get Drew Lock out there to start at least two games.