The Broncos continued their tradition of fielding excellent defenses in the 2024 season, helping Denver to its first double-digit win season and first postseason berth since the 2015 campaign, when the club won Super Bowl 50.
With Denver looking to continue building on this most recent season's successes, linebacker Alex Singleton referenced the team's last Lombardi-winning defense as a goal for this year's group to strive for.
"It's one of those things where it's like, 'Let's be better than the 2015 defense.' Stuff where like that's what we need to chase," Singleton said in an interview with DNVR last week. "You have to chase it when we start practice. ... We have to be the best every single day to get where we want to go."
Strong defenses have long been a staple in the Mile High City, dating back to the years of the Orange Crush in the 1970s and early 1980s, and continuing with the back-to-back championship squads in the 1997-98 seasons.
The aforementioned 2015 Broncos team was another such notable unit, ranking No. 1 in total yards, passing yards, average yards per rush and sacks and featuring such players as future Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware and that year's Super Bowl MVP, Von Miller.
That season also marked the last time the Broncos won a playoff game, with Denver's only appearance since ending in a Wild Card Round defeat. In the years after Super Bowl 50, the Broncos struggled through a series of middling campaigns as the team searched for a long-term solution at quarterback following Peyton Manning's retirement.
But through it all the defense often held the team up, finishing in the top 10 in yards allowed in five of nine seasons, including last year.
"I would say the Broncos for the last -- almost the entire time this organization has been around has had a top five defense," Singleton said. "Even the last 10 years, people could be like, 'Oh the Broncos have been bad.' Their defenses have never been bad."
The 2024 defense, led by eventual AP Defensive Player of the Year cornerback Patrick Surtain II, ranked No. 3 in points allowed and against the run and led the league in sacks with 63, nine more than the next closest squad.
And the unit kept most of its starting pieces this offseason, as the Broncos re-signed players like D.J. Jones and Justin Strnad and lost only linebacker Cody Barton, leaving a starting spot that Singleton himself will likely fill upon his return from the torn ACL that kept him out of all but three games last year.
Nevertheless, the Broncos did not rest on their laurels and sit satisfied with the group they retained. General manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton notably signed linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga to three-year deals, adding two players with proven talent and Super Bowl experience with the 49ers to the Broncos defense. Then they used Denver's first-round pick on cornerback Jahdae Barron, hoping to further shore up the passing defense, which was the main relatively weak spot last year (19th in passing yards allowed).
Singleton praised the team for bringing in additional pieces to reinforce the defense, adding that that focus on continuing to get better was a welcome surprise after last season's success.
"I think this year -- a lot of guys, including in the building, didn't fully expect [to add so much to the defensive side this offseason] and when we got it it was like, 'Oh this is going to be fun,'" Singleton said. "We just went somewhere that a lot of teams don't ever go, we're really, really excited."
Fans have yet to get a real glimpse at the makeup of this fortified Broncos defense, with training camp and preseason still to come before games start to matter again. But Singleton and his teammates have set their lofty offseason intentions, as all players do. Whether they'll be able to match or get close to that objective will have to wait to be revealed until September.
"That's the fun part about this time of the year. You're saying it feels like Christmas and all of this stuff," Singleton said. "We have such a good opportunity. For us, it's to not mess that up. That's kind of the mindset we have to go in now. This has to be everything to everybody in this building.
"We don't want to settle for anything is kind of where my mindset is. It's going to be attack this and -- in May if you're not saying you want to be the best, I think it's crazy. Be realistic when December rolls around, but right now, we have every single workout in front of us, so we just attack them all to be the best, that's what you can be."
