Broncos Roundtable: Who was Denver's MVP?

Much like the last four years, the Broncos’ 2019 season ended over a month before the Super Bowl. But while that, and a 7-9 record, seems devastating on the surface, there were plenty of subplots that give the organization momentum going into the offseason.

But before looking ahead, it’s time to hand out awards to the 2019 Denver Broncos and recap the season it was.

The DNVR Broncos Crew dives in.

WHO WAS THE BRONCOS’ 2019 MVP?

Ryan

Drew Lock — There’s no point in getting cute here. The Broncos got four of their seven wins  in the last five games of the season. What was the one thing that changed before that five-game stretch? Of course, it was the insertion of Lock into the starting lineup.

When one player is the catalyst for more 57 percent of your wins, they were the MVP. And when we dive deeper into that word “value” in “Most Valuable Player” this becomes even more obvious, because Lock has given the Broncos one of the most valuable things you can have in sports—hope.

The young core believes in the future, the veteran free agents are talking about Lock making an impact on their impending decision, and most of all, a starving fan base has something to believe in, as well.

Oh, and again, when talking about “value” we can’t ignore the fact that the Lock hype cut the “no-show” numbers in half over the last two weeks of the season, making the team what we estimate to be in the ballpark of a million dollars.

This is a no-brainer.

Zac

Drew Lock — This one easily goes to the kid for his impact both on and off the field. While Lock only played the last five games of the season, his month-long impact by far positively outweighed anyone else in the organization over the entire season.

Damning to the rest of the team? Potentially. But the other way to look at it is the rookie was just that meaningful at the most important position in all of sports.

Lock admittedly took a back seat when he was on injured reserve for the first half of the season, but when John Elway and Vic Fangio finally handed him the reins, he grabbed the organization and ran with it.

The second-round pick didn’t just go 4-1 down the stretch and give fans hope, he completely changed the culture and outlook inside the locker room, as Elway admitted. Oh, he showed he has what it takes to be Denver’s next franchise quarterback, too.

Despite having a true impact for only one month of the season, there’s no doubt Drew Lock was Denver’s MVP.

Mase

Justin Simmons — Lock is the most important player, because his success or failure will be the dominant storyline of the 2020 season, and his play in the final five weeks was the base on which the Broncos will build their offseason. But Denver’s defense would not have been as effective — especially in the red zone — without Simmons, whose range and intelligence helped Vic Fangio find success implementing his scheme.

Remarkably, Simmons was not even a Pro Bowl alternate, even though he was a second-team All-Pro selection and a first-teamer as chosen by Pro Football Focus. But even without a trip to Orlando, he’ll do just fine. Whether he plays the 2020 season on the franchise tag or signs a long-term deal, he is poised to cash in on his success.

WHO WAS THE BRONCOS’ SURPRISE PLAYER OF THE YEAR?

Ryan

Mike Purcell — Of course, Alexander Johnson is a great choice here, too, but Johnson did have some fanfare surrounding him as he left Tennessee as the SEC’s all-time leader in tackles. Mike Purcell came to Denver without even getting noticed.

Heck, it wasn’t until halfway through training camp, after he started to make a bunch of plays, that his homegrown status even got noticed.

Once he got into the lineup, the Broncos run defense improved exponentially, and the team was 7-5 in the 12 games that he played in prominently.

Purcell becoming a key cog in the defense was definitely the biggest surprise for me.

Zac

Alexander Johnson — Heck, Vic Fangio didn’t even think Johnson was good enough to play, let alone be a star. In the first four games of the season, Johnson played in a total of zero defensive snaps. It wasn’t until an injury forced him into the lineup where he got his opportunity to shine. And boy did he.

The former tackling machine at Tennessee combined for nearly 100 tackles in his 12 starts. While at times, No. 45 was out of place, he rarely made it cost the team due to his pure talent.

During the draft, many were screaming for John Elway to draft Devin Bush at No. 10 overall and then saying what a mistake it was he passed up on him. That noise completely went away when Johnson took over and showed he has the potential to be one of Denver’s inside linebackers of the future.

Mase

Johnson — The promise of players like Lock and Dalton Risner came as no surprise. Nor did the outstanding season from free-agent pickup Kareem Jackson and the emergence of Simmons, both of whom played the best football of their careers in Fangio’s scheme — something that safeties tend to do.

Johnson was a burst from the blue, a practice-squad player last year whose progress appeared to be moving in fits and starts through training camp. Although Todd Davis was injured and Johnson was listed on the second team in camp, Fangio rotated a slew of players into the No. 1 defense to replace Davis. Johnson got some work, but so did Josh Watson, Keishawn Bierria and Joseph Jones.

It took a while for Johnson to emerge, but once he did, he dominated, and he appears to be a starter going forward.

WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE THE BRONCOS SEASON?

Ryan

Dissaperfect — If I have to choose one word, I gotta invent my own word, because this is a tale of two different seasons.

The eight games under Joe Flacco ending with a 2-6 record was extremely disappointing. They really should have been 4-4, but Flacco’s lackluster play and lack of fire really put a damper on the whole thing that made the losses feel even worse.

But the five-game stretch at the end of the season in which Drew Lock won over the locker room and Broncos Country as a whole was perfect. If you’re going to go 7-9, that’s the way to do it, folks.

So the word here is dissaperfect.

 Zac

Hopeful — The end of season press conference felt more like an 11-5 team than a 7-9 team riding their third-straight losing season. That’s because of the hope that’s filled the building in 2019, specifically down the stretch.

Yes, Drew Lock was a major part of that, but it’s not just a one-man hope show. From Dalton Risner, Courtland Sutton, Phillip Lindsay, Alexander Johnson, Justin Simmons, the future is incredibly bright in Denver.

On top of the talented young core Elway has built, he has 12 draft picks and should have over $80 million to spend in free agency to continue to build the roster.

Sure, the Broncos just improved one game over their 6-10 finish in 2018, but the hope surrounding this team is through the roof compared to what it’s been since Peyton Manning retired.

Mase

Expected — In the offseason, I didn’t think this would be a playoff team unless the Broncos got every break possible. I also expected that the team would be fundamentally better than the previous two editions under then-coach Vance Joseph, and that the record would not reflect the degree of the improvement because of the difficulty of the schedule.

All of these turned out to be the case in the end.

The path wasn’t predictable. No one foresaw Brandon Allen starting three games, Bradley Chubb missing 75 percent of the season, Ja’Wuan James starting just three games and Bryce Callahan never playing a snap.

But ultimately, this was supposed to be a building year in which the Broncos learned more about their young core. The results should excite them. Not only did they find a young core group around which they can build, they discovered depth they weren’t sure they possessed going into the year.

Elway answered “yes” on Monday when asked whether he expected the team to be a postseason qualifier next year. After the progress of 2019, his expectation is a reasonable one.