It helps that this movement towards youth has been led by a promising first-round quarterback selection. Fans are bo-lieving in this team.
Earlier this week, I dropped a survey about the youth movement this team has experienced heading into Week 1 compared to last year. In 2023, Denver entered Week 1 as the third oldest team in the NFL and today they are the 10th youngest. That is a rapid shift towards youth.
71% of fans are loving the move and 28% are neutral on it. Then we have a Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs fans filling out the last 2%.
The movement to get younger has not gone unnoticed by the local media. In fact, veteran defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers was asked about what it means for a team to be ‘young and hungry’ in the NFL. Myers actually had a really good explanation of how a young team feels different from a more veteran-heavy one.
“I think there’s a different level of physicality [and] there’s a different level of effort playing with guys who are young and hungry,” Myers explained. “What’s kind of understood is that when you first get into the league, we’re all excited. We all just want to run and hit. You see that a lot here. Guys just want to run, they want to hit and they play with extreme effort and physicality. Those are the two things [I said] in my first press conference [that] if you ask anybody about my game, that’s what they’re going to tell you I play with. So I fit right in with these guys, and [I’m] looking forward to the season.”
The seven-year veteran enjoys the kind of atmosphere this young locker room has in Denver this season and he went on to say that the hunger to win is always there with him.
“It’s been a while,” Myers said of winning. “I went to the Super Bowl my rookie year, and I’m in year seven now. The hunger is [there].”
As a rookie, Myers was with the Los Angeles Rams when they lost to the New England Patriots. He ended up with the New York Jets every year since and that franchise has been stuck in a long rut just like the Broncos have.
Hopefully that changes this season for Denver.
However, if you ask most NFL fans the optimism that Denver is heading in the right direction is about 50-50.
While that might seem like a bad number, its actually the 13th best rank out of all 32 teams. This survey was of all NFL fans, not just Broncos fans. Obviously, we’re about as close to 100% as we can be after two un-bo-lievable preseason games.
What did you think of these results? Share in the comments section below.