0-2 Broncos with eight other teams, but not near top of draft order

The Denver Broncos and eight other NFL teams sit at 0-2 after two weeks, but Denver isn’t near the top of the draft order.

Yes, it’s depressing to be thinking about the 2025 NFL Draft this early in the season, but considering the Broncos have scored just one touchdown in two games, it could be another year of monitoring their position.

“Tankathon” is the site you might want to bookmark, as they track where each team stands after every game. The Broncos join the Bengals, Colts, Titans, Jaguars, Giants, Panthers, Ravens and Rams as squads without a victory.

Some of those, like Cincinnati, Baltimore and Los Angeles are surprising. Others like New York and Carolina are not. Fans hoped Sean Payton and Bo Nix could get off to a faster start this year after a dazzling preseason, but it wasn’t meant to be thus far.

The defense has been good, but the offense has not. Nix and the Broncos managed just six points in a 13-6 defeat to the Steelers last Sunday.

But if the NFL Draft were tomorrow (luckily it’s not), Denver would have the No. 8 overall pick. The tiebreaker is strength of schedule using all 17 opponents the Broncos will play, and that number is pretty high. Denver’s SOS is .618 percent, while only the Rams have a higher number, sitting at .647 percent. This will obviously fluctuate mightily throughout the season, as the sample size is quite small.

As of this moment, the Bengals would have the No. 1 pick (.441 SOS) and the Colts the No. 2 pick (.471 SOS).

If the Broncos can get a win on Sunday at Tampa Bay, this might feel like a moot point. If not, they could be in trouble. Just one team out of 103 to start the season 0-3 since 2002 has made the playoffs. That was the 2018 Houston Texans.

Let’s hope Denver can beat the Buccaneers this weekend, so they don’t have to try to become the second squad in that dubious group to make a postseason rub. If not, draft order will be something we’re watching during another long year.