Sean Keeler: Broncos star facing most pressure in 2025 isn't Bo Nix. It's Vance Joseph.

Sean Keeler, The Denver Post on Jun 2, 2025

Published in Football

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DENVER — All we are saying? Give pieces to Vance.

“We’re a team that wants to just fly downhill,” new Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga, a heat-seeking free agent from the San Francisco 49ers, told me after practice Thursday. “From my knowledge of just watching it on tape, guys are very confident in what they do. And (Joseph) instills that confidence to begin with.”

Bo Nix was the fix that gets the clicks. But 2025 will fly as far and as fast as Vance Joseph’s defense can flutter.

The Broncos gave up more than 21 points to the opposition just seven times over 18 games last season. They were 1-6 in those contests. Four of those defensive meltdowns transpired after Week 11.

The 2024 Broncos D was to VJ what “Ulysses” was to James Joyce, what “The Starry Night” was to Van Gogh. His moment. His masterpiece.

Joseph stacked the NFL’s best defensive player (Pat Surtain II) and a Jenga tower of pluggers into the league’s No. 3-ranked scoring defense. His unit put up the most sacks (63) in Broncos history, no small feat for a franchise that gave us Von Miller, Karl Mecklenburg, Simon Fletcher and Tombstone Jackson.

“I think Vance is amazing,” Hufanga, who’s awfully good himself, said of his new coordinator. “I think the way his passion (is), his energy (is), the way he wants to coach you — he’s going to coach you whether you’re good or bad. He’s going to make sure you know, ‘Hey, this is what we want, and this is what we’re going to get.’"

He’s also running low on excuses. Hufanga is here, in part, because the last chapter of VJ’s “Ulysses,” especially the paragraphs after Dec. 1, made for an awfully hard read.

VJ’s wrecking crew didn’t just run out of bodies late. At times, they looked out of gas.

Despite the pleas from Broncos Country to get Nix more help, three of Denver’s four biggest offseason additions came on the defensive side of the ball.

If Sean Payton’s offseason had a theme, it was this: He might not trust VJ any more than you do.

“Why was Jerry Jeudy,” you could picture Payton asking Joseph, “always open?”

VJ: “No Riley Moss.”

SP: “How did James Cook rack up so many yards in Buffalo?”

VJ: “No Alex Singleton.”

SP: “And Gus Edwards in L.A.?”

VJ: “Same answer.”

Joseph has more answers now. If healthy, linebacker Dre Greenlaw is a sideline-to-sideline enforcer who was clocked at 22 miles per hour as a collegian. Hufanga closes like Trevor Hoffman. First-round draft pick Jahdae Barron, a spry defensive back out of Texas, sports a 35-inch vertical and ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine.

“Expectations always can change things,” NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks said of the Broncos’ D. “However, every year is like a snowflake. You never know where it’s going to fall, whether it’s injuries or inconsistency.

“… That said, you have a lot of confidence. The players have a lot of confidence, because they’ve seen what they can do when everybody’s on the same page.”

Yet the NFL grind almost always demands re-writes on the fly, doesn’t it? With Moss either out or banged up at cornerback, the Broncos gave up 32, 13, 34, 30, 0 and 31 points over their final six games, including the playoffs.

And the goose egg was to a Chiefs offense that willingly laid down its swords and trotted out backups. Which added up to 28 points allowed per contest against teams that were actually trying.

The nitty gritty looked even grittier up close. Joe Burrow went wild. Josh Allen did what he wanted, when he wanted. Over those five games vs. “trying” foes, the Broncos gave up an average of 309 yards through the air and allowed another 134 on the ground. Opponents managed seven third-down conversions per contest — at a rate of 46%. (Denver’s season averages were 5.2 conversions allowed and 37%.) The Broncos went 3-3 after Dec. 1.

Which way will the snowflakes blow? Fortunately, precedent says last Christmas was more of a dip than a harbinger. Joseph’s third defense as coordinator with Arizona in 2021 was also his best in the desert. The Cardinals improved from 12th in the NFL in scoring defense (22.9 points per game) in 2020 to 11th (21.5) the next fall.

If VJ wants another shot to be a head coach, this season and this defense afford him the chance to keep stacking good vibes. If Payton wants to cut bait, Jim Leonhard is waiting in the wings. As sequels go, keep your popcorn handy.

“You want to see people have success, whether that’s (VJ) being a head coach somewhere or (not),” Hufanga said. “You want the best for people. I’m very excited to work with (Joseph). Hopefully, I get to work with him for the rest of my career.”

Hopefully. Payton might forgive, but he doesn’t forget. Moss and Singleton, knock on wood, are back in the fold. A lot of holes have been patched.

The NFL blame game can be as cyclical as it is cynical. Yet one universal truth never wavers: Once you run out of fingers to point, the only man left is the one at the end of the thumb.

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