The Denver Broncos kept their season alive with a huge upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8. That victory gave them two in a row after they defeated the Green Bay Packers in Week 7, pushing the Broncos’ record to 3-5 on the year.
While there is still plenty of work to do for Denver to get back into the playoff picture in the AFC, they have at least kept those hopes alive with their performance over the last two weeks heading into their bye.
That could lead to the landscape of the league ahead of the trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon changing. If teams thought they could plug a hole on their roster with a player from the Broncos, that just became more difficult.
Denver head coach Sean Payton has been adamant that the team wouldn’t be selling ahead of the October 31st deadline. He reiterated that on Monday, saying the Broncos will listen to teams calling, but they aren’t shopping any of their players.
“We’re not openly, or even remotely, shopping anyone,” Payton said Monday. “Have people called? Sure they have, and typically the buyer wants the media to know they called, not the seller. We’re preparing … we’re looking at the next opponent.”
It was easy to see why many people expected the Broncos to be sellers at this point. They started the season 0-3 and already moved on from veterans Randy Gregory and Frank Clark.
Wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton have been popular names in the rumor mill going back to the summer months. But, unless the Denver brain trust is blown away by an offer, it doesn’t sound like they will be too active ahead of the deadline.
Snapping a 16-game losing streak to the recent kings of the AFC West in the Chiefs will change the outlook of a season. Things won’t get any easier for the Broncos after their bye week schedule-wise, but they are certainly playing at a higher level than they were to start the season.
A full-scaled firesale never seemed likely based on what Payton has said all season. While recouping draft capital after spending so much to acquire Payton and quarterback Russell Wilson the last few offseasons would be an appropriate route to take, the Broncos seem content to let things ride out.
