Here's why it's 'put up or shut up' time for the Broncos' passing game

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If you think you’re frustrated with the state of the Broncos’ passing offense, imagine how those involved with it feel.

Of course, you don’t have to imagine. You just need to listen to tight end Noah Fant.

“I don’t have a bad attitude about it, but I’m definitely not happy with the results that we have right now. It’s unacceptable with where we’re at,” he said Tuesday on a Zoom media teleconference. “We want to be better at what we’re doing.”

Even though Fant is in only his second NFL season, he speaks from a position of authority. On a young offense, he ranks second on the Broncos in receptions, receiving yardage and total touchdowns, even though he missed one game due to an ankle injury and battled through the pain in his return to action Sunday. With per-game averages of 4.4 catches for 51.4 yards, he would be on pace to amass over 800 yards in a 16-game season, a tally no Broncos tight end has reached this century.

And despite Fant’s continued growth, the recent burst from rookie Albert Okwuegbunam and the emergence of wide receiver Tim Patrick, the Broncos’ passing game is — in the big picture, at least — snowed under.

Consider where the Broncos rank in key league-wide metrics:

• Completion percentage: 57.8, 31st
• Passer rating: 68.1, 30th
• Yards per pass play: 5.60, 27th
• First-down rate: One earned every 3.67 pass plays, 31st
• Touchdown rate: 1 every 34.3 pass attempts, 29th
• Interception rate: 1 every 20.6 attempts, 30th
• Sack rate: 1 every 12.4 pass plays, 26th
• Drop rate: 1 every 9.5 catchable passes (per Pro Football Focus), 32nd

“The quarterback, he’s the main focus as always, but I think we all need to keep in mind that it is an 11-man operation and us as coaches are involved too,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. “We have to make improvements there, there’s no two ways about that.”

The drop rate is a reminder that the pass-catching targets have let down Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel and Brett Rypien — particularly Driskel, who saw one out of every six catchable passes dropped, finishing his nearly two games of work with 35 completions, but seven dropped passes.

“You look at the numbers, and we’re not living up to our potential, right?” Fant said. “We have so much ability, so much talent on the offensive side of the ball, and we have to figure out how to make these things work, right?”

Right, indeed.

Sure, there’s a lot of youth in the room. But consider the fact that three of the Broncos’ last four first-round picks were to help the passing game above all: blindside protector Garett Bolles in 2017, Fant two years later and wide receiver Jerry Jeudy this season. Running back Melvin Gordon, who ranks fourth on the team in receptions but is averaging just 4.4 yards per catch, was an $8 million free-agent pickup.

And, of course, there is quarterback Drew Lock, a second-round choice last year, and second-round wide receiver K.J. Hamler, who returned to the lineup last Sunday.

The Broncos have too much invested in their passing game for it to be this inert.

“Again, not a bad attitude on my part — still positive about it — but at some point, it’s like, ‘Put up or shut up,'” Fant said. “It’s time to buckle down and get these things going. As for me, as for anybody on this team, right, we have to be on our Ps and Qs and get this thing turned around.”