What will the Denver Broncos look like in five years?

The 2017 NFL Draft is over and the Denver Broncos may have just had one of their best draft classes during the John Elway era. So let’s do a fun little exercise this morning and guess where the Broncos might be in five years from now.

Five years ago, a month after signing Peyton Manning, many of us could not have imagined he would lead this team to a 12-4 or better record in every season and lead Denver to two Super Bowl berths.

In five years, I think:

John Elway is no longer the Denver Broncos GM. Elway has achieved what he set out to do and could be looking for bigger and better challenges. The fact that he has yet to sign an extension is concerning, but if that deal gets done it likely won’t for more than a five year span.

The Broncos will be more of an offensive team than a defensive one. Sure Von Miller will still be around and the leader on defense, but he will be long in the tooth by then and many of the stars on the defense will have moved on. Meanwhile, the offense has gotten significantly younger and will likely be the driving force on the team.

Denver will add another Super Bowl title. That’s right. This defense will slide a bit over the next few years, but the offense will become light years better. The slide will be overcome and surpassed by the offensive production in a way that allows the team to be nearly a complete roster, resulting in a Super Bowl championship (or two).

Only one of the three current quarterbacks will be on the roster. Once the franchise quarterback is found, the other two will be traded or cut. I said three, because Chad Kelly will become a thing by the 2018 offseason. Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch will battle it out in 2017, then one of them will battle it out with Kelly next year.

Denver only misses the playoffs once in the next five seasons. The balance between the offense and defense makes for consistent competitiveness year after year. I predict they only miss the playoffs once over the next five seasons - with 2017 being the most likely year that occurs.