Welcome back to the mailbag!
Jake V wrote in and asked: "Why is the offense better but it seems like the stats are worse?"
Funny observation Jake, and yeah that's sort of a by-product of the Sean Payton offense. It spreads the ball around a lot and has a lot of built in targets for the running backs. So while no WR has had a 100 yard game this year, the offense appears to be getting better, even if individual stats seem to be less.
Kaleb from Highlands Ranch asks: Has Jaleel McLaughlin fallen out of favor? It seems like we don't use him as much as we did earlier in the year? Why don't we get the ball to Marvin Mims either?
Well Kaleb thanks for writing in, no I don't think he has fallen out of favor so much as they're still trying to find the right ways to use him. When Sean Payton had Darren Sproles, Sproles would often only see 8-10 plays a game. McLaughlin is also a bit of a liability in pass pro because of his size. So when you put him on the field you're tipping your hand a bit. You're either handing off to him or have an empty protection. He's the third back and I think they're still feeling out exactly how much to give him.
Zach tweeted to ask "Will the Broncos bring Russell Wilson back next year?"
Well Zach, I'm not 100% sure yet, and I don't think the team is, either. There some economic realities we have to consider as well. Just the way Russ' contract is set up the Broncos need to decide by the beginning of March or the contract sets up to keep them on the hook for at least another two seasons. If the Broncos do decide to trade him or cut him, they'd have to use a post June 1 cut. That would allow them to split the dead cap over multiple seasons and provide savings in year two. The bigger problem is who would you get to replace him? With the dead cap (even split over multiple years) it limits your options to probably a rookie, and is that a path Sean Payton wants with a roster set to win now?
Thanks for reading and as always send your questions to @AllbrightNFL on twitter!