ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Despite the comeback in Chicago on Sunday, the Denver Broncos are on unsteady ground.
The Broncos seem to be moving swiftly to try and address some of their defensive issues, releasing linebacker Randy Gregory on Tuesday. Gregory, 30, signed a five-year, $70 million contract in March 2022. He was pulled from the starting lineup this past week vs. the Chicago Bears and replaced by second-year outside linebacker Nik Bonitto. Gregory played 33 snaps Sunday and finished with three tackles and one quarterback hit. He has just nine tackles in four games this season and one sack.
Through four games, the Broncos defense is last or near-last in every major statistical category. In Football Outsiders’ primary defensive metric DVOA, it’s the worst four-game start since 1981. The Broncos have surrendered 150 points and 1,846 yards in four games.
In 2022, the team didn’t surrender its 150th point until Las Vegas scored its first touchdown in the Raiders’ Nov. 20 win over the Broncos and their opponents didn’t top 1,800 yards until a Week 7 loss to the Jets.
It’s natural to pile it on defensive coordinator Vance Joseph since he was hired by Sean Payton to replace Ejiro Evero, but two of the team’s veteran defensive players — safety Kareem Jackson and defensive tackle Zach Allen — have said there is far more to the struggles and enough blame to around.
“Everybody wants to point the finger at somebody, but you watch that Dolphins tape and you watch the first half (in the win over the Bears), it was guys not tackling or not doing the right assignment, it’s wasn’t a question of the scheme or anything like that,’’ Allen said. “Everybody can say whatever the hell they want to say … I love (Joseph).’’
After the 70-20 meltdown against the Dolphins two weeks ago Jackson said: “We didn’t execute nothing we put in place.’’
So, what happened to the group that held 10 opponents to 20 or fewer points last season? Here are five of the biggest reasons for the change:
Jackson gathered the defense on the…
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