Broncos Pegged Among NFL's Most Improved Teams by Veteran Analyst

The Russell Wilson effect is real.

It finally seems like the rest of the professional football world is drinking the orange Kool-Aid pouring out of Denver for the 2022 season. Multiple analysts have projected the Broncos to win the AFC West and have ranked first-year head man Nathaniel Hackett’s staff near the top of the list for rookie coaches.

The Russell Wilson effect is real, and the nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl-winning quarterback has transformed the Broncos relatively overnight in the eyes of the NFL.

“All we heard last season was that the Broncos were a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl contender,” NFL.com columnist Jim Trotter wrote in an article examining which five teams will make the biggest leap in victories from 2021. “Well, they have one in Wilson, the former Seahawks star who is regarded as one of the game's top talents at the position. Wilson wants to be mentioned among the greats of the game, and he knows that will require more Super Bowls.”

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“If you know Wilson, you know it doesn't sit well with him that his Super Bowl appearances with Seattle are associated with the Legion of Boom and the running of Marshawn Lynch more than they are with his play,” Trotter continued.

Although one doesn't think of Wilson as an egocentric player obsessed with his legacy, it's worth subscribing to the philosophy that ‘Mr. Unlimited’s’ biggest priority is winning games — specifically a championship in Denver.

Look no further than the hard work implemented by the 33-year-old at his private residence, hosting teammates in Southern California during the Broncos' offseason workout schedule which concluded earlier this month.

Wilson and former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning have bonded through what they hope to be a mutual Super Bowl-capturing experience in Denver. Manning lost to Wilson’s Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, but he ultimately found redemption in 2015 and rode off into the sunset of retirement.

No longer will the Chiefs go unchallenged in the AFC West as the reigning division champs. Trotter explains, “Last season the Broncos had four defeats by five points or fewer. Wilson is expected to be the human eraser who makes such defeats disappear.

“If he does, anything is possible, even in the league's toughest division.”

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