The Denver Broncos having the longest Super Bowl odds is crazy

The Denver Broncos having the longest Super Bowl odds in the NFL right now is downright crazy.

And perhaps, maybe even a little insulting.

One popular sportsbook lists the Broncos at +30000 to hoist the Lombardi Trophy this season, or a 300-1 shot. The next worst is the Carolina Panthers at 250-1, The New England Patriots at 180-1 and the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans are both at 150-1.

A cool $10 wager on Denver would net someone $3,000 if they did the impossible.

Now let’s make one thing clear: this isn’t a column predicting the Broncos will win the Super Bowl in New Orleans next February. Even the biggest Bo Nix Kool-Aid drinkers aren’t going that far. Nix did dazzle in his two preseason games and absolutely looks like he can be a franchise QB moving forward.

But it’s going to take some time. Rookie quarterbacks don’t usually come into the NFL and turn the league upside down overnight. Heck, no rookie QB has ever won the Super Bowl or even started in the biggest game in professional sports.

However, based on these odds, the bookmakers are saying the Broncos are the worst team in the league. Come on now. Sean Payton’s a top-10 head coach in football, and one of only seven active with a Super Bowl ring.

Nix might be a rookie, but you have respected national media members like Colin Cowherd saying he might best the best one from the 2024 NFL Draft. Remember, Nix went 12th overall, but was the sixth QB taken off the board. That’d be a massive coup for Payton and the Broncos if it comes true.

And just watching these guys through two preseason games and a month of training camp, they don’t look like that bad of a football team. If anyone knows bad football over the last eight years, it’s Broncos fans.

Every year we talked ourselves into why the team might finally turn it around. From Paxton Lynch to Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum to Joe Flacco, and Teddy Bridgewater to Drew Lock, we always thought we had the answer. Of course, the most infamous of them all was Russell Wilson, one of the biggest busts in Denver sports history.

The reality is replacing Peyton Manning is hard. John Elway tried and couldn’t do it. George Paton tried and couldn’t do it. But Payton pounding the table for Nix at No. 12 might turn out to be one of the best draft picks in franchise history.

Yes, the Colts and Packers didn’t have all their starters on the field when Nix tore them up, but that shouldn’t matter. Nix is passing the eye test with flying colors and putting points on the board virtually every drive he’s on the field. The only time he didn’t was when tight end Lucas Krull fumbled in Indy, something that obviously wasn’t Nix’s fault.

We don’t need to go through team by team of who the Broncos are better than. They’re clearly more talented than the Panthers, Patriots, Giants and Titans, the teams with the closest Super Bowl odds to them.

And come on, the Raiders and Cardinals are both 100-1? They have three times a better chance to take the title than Denver? That’s hogwash.

Again, this isn’t financial advice or a prediction the Broncos are going to win the Super Bowl. This is pointing out that by these silly odds, Denver is viewed as the worst team in the NFL.

If Payton could get a dysfunctional bunch with a QB he didn’t like in Wilson to eight wins last year, what can he do this year? The relationship with Nix will be the exact opposite, and that’s worrisome for the rest of the league to think about.

The Broncos dominated the Packers at joint practices on Friday and did it again on Sunday. That’s a team that was a play or two away from going to the NFC Championship Game last season.

That’s just one of many pieces of evidence that Denver isn’t the worst team in the NFL. And the Super Bowl odds do a poor job of reflecting that.