There isn’t a sport more unpredictable than football. No matter how much time and effort we put into analyzing the every detail of a team’s offseason, the truth is that we have no idea what’s going to happen once that ball gets kicked off.
Sure, we’ve got a pretty good hunch that the New England Patriots are going to be dominant, but that’s more of the exception and not the rule. For example, who thought the Baltimore Ravens were going to start the season 1-6? Or what about Andy Dalton suddenly transforming into an MVP-caliber quarterback, while Andrew Luck plays like a rookie Blake Borltes?
And if you say you called those, you’re lying. Flat out.
Nearly everybody had the Ravens as an easy playoff contender, if not a Super Bowl contender, and all of Cincinnati was ready to kick Dalton to the curb six months ago. There were even reports that the Bengals was interested in testing out A.J. McCarron at quarterback. A.J. McCarron!
And every week, there are about five or six individual games, plays or performances that leave us asking, “What was that?”
And that’s what I love about football! That’s what makes the game so exciting.
And while the Broncos quick start to the season was probably expected by most, I’m not sure we expected the 6-0 start to come in this fashion.
So with that said, here are the Denver Broncos three most surprising players of 2015:
3. Sylvester Williams
I’m not afraid to admit that I was completely out on Sylvester Williams coming into the season. I thought he was a total bust, and more importantly, I thought John Elway had made a colossal mistake in letting Terrance Knighton walk in favor of handing the reigns over to Sly.
Now, I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong.
Williams hasn’t been a superstar, but he’s been really good, and he’s helped lead the Broncos to the fourth best rush defense in the NFL. And honestly, this top-five ranking may be more impressive than any of the other ones the Broncos have had in the last five years.
The Broncos have been a top-five run defense in two of the last three years, but there’s always been the question of whether that ranking was thanks to a top-of-the-line defense or a top-of-the-line offense, which forced opponents to switch to the passing game early and often.
This year, though, Denver hasn’t been running away with games. In fact, they’ve been trailing on many occasions where their opponents could have made it a point to run the ball; they just aren’t getting anywhere, and a lot of that credit has to go to Williams.
Williams has been on the field for 53.9 percent of the Broncos snaps, which leads all defensive tackles on the team and is more time than Knighton ever saw on the field.
The run defense was one of the Broncos’ biggest question marks heading into the season, but now it’s one of the team’s unquestioned strengths. Safe to say, for whatever Sly Williams is, he’s no longer a bust.
2. Shaquil Barrett
Even the most die-hard CSU Rams fans couldn’t have predicted the type of player Shaquil Barrett has transformed into over the last year. And if you did call it from day one, you might want to start looking for a front office gig, because you obviously spot talent better than the rest of these guys.
Let’s all remember, Barrett went undrafted. Not a single team saw fit to even award him a seventh-round selection. Hell, even the Broncos didn’t see a place for him on the roster last season, stashing him on the practice squad.
A year later, he’s one of the brightest young pass rushers in the league.
For most, Barrett’s coming out party was against the Browns, but fans of the Broncos know he’s been doing the same thing in limited duty all season.
Really, the credit has to go to John Elway. How many times has he selected a guy late or after the draft and seen them grow into not just a starter, but a Pro-Bowl caliber player?
This piece brought to you in part by …
[adrotate banner=”9″]1. C.J. Anderson
C.J. Anderson was awesome last year. He checked every box you’d want in a running back: heart, toughness, elusiveness, speed. And when he avoided half of the Colts defense to convert on a fourth-and-one in the playoffs, he had me in the palm of my hand.
He was the future of the Broncos backfield.
And now, I hope he doesn’t get another snap this season.
I’m not sure what happened. Maybe it’s the offensive line; maybe he got a little too confident and coasted through the offseason. All I know is that he has been entirely ineffective, and I’d much rather see Ronnie Hillman, Juwan Thompson or even Kapri Bibbs get carries over him.
If this truly is the end of C.J. Anderson as the Broncos’ No. 1 tailback, he’ll end up going down in Broncos history as one of the biggest what-ever-happened-to-that-guy players.