The Denver Broncos have been one of the most talked-about teams of the 2026 offseason. Heading into the regular season, it seems there are two sides of the fence: the Broncos are either going to seriously contend for the Super Bowl, or they're going to take a major step back.
Long-time NFL analyst Steve Wyche, who currently works for NFL Network, is someone who is on the positive side of that fence, going against the odds currently set by DraftKings Sportsbook and naming the Broncos as the "team to beat" in the AFC.
Speaking recently to Jim Rome, Wyche discussed his belief in Bo Nix as the team's quarterback, along with the addition of Jaylen Waddle and the decision to make Davis Webb the new playcaller as reasons to believe in this team.
"Denver's
the team to beat in the AFC," Wyche told Rome. "We can talk about everybody else; this is the team to beat. They should have represented the AFC last year, had Bo Nix not gotten hurt, and this is somebody now, if they can get more consistency with their run game with J.K. Dobbins being back to start the season healthy, and to just be better in the first half of games, they won't need so many heroics to win games cause that defense is going to keep them in every game they play week to week".
"Denver is the team to beat in the AFC."@wyche89 explains why he's a believer in Bo Nix and the Broncos this season. pic.twitter.com/FzK4TcNPOc
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) August 25, 2026
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots and Houston Texans as having better odds in the AFC of reaching the Super Bowl than the Broncos. While the AFC is quite competitive, that seems a little disrespectful to a team that won 14 games last season and returned a large portion of that team.
Soon, the talk will stop and the action will start. The Broncos will be tested right out of the gate by one of those seven teams when they open the season on the road at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football on Sept. 14.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Steve Wyche says Broncos are ‘the team to beat’ in AFC
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