Q >> At the halfway point of the season, who are your choices for Broncos team MVP?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
Parker >> Recency bias and a bad day at the office against Baltimore don’t change this answer for me. It’s co-MVPs and they’re both on defense in cornerback Pat Surtain II and defensive lineman Zach Allen.
Vance Joseph’s defense revolves around Surtain’s talent. His importance to what they do was put on full display when he got hurt the first play against Los Angeles. It’s not just plug-and-play. They had to change their whole approach to coverage when he left the game.
Then Allen has put together a monster start to the season. He’s on pace for career-highs in sacks and pressures. Before going without a pressure against the Ravens, he’d logged three or more in seven straight games and averaged 5.1 per game in that stretch. He entered Week 9 leading the NFL in run stuffs, according to Next Gen Stats.
And he’s doing all of that while playing 90% of Denver’s defensive snaps. If the Broncos defense bounces back and ends the season as a top-10 group, both of those guys are likely to be in All-Pro conversations.
Safety Brandon Jones could be a down-ballot candidate and perhaps no offseason addition was more impactful than defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers. Here’s an interesting question: How far down the list do we have to go before we get to an offensive player? And who’s first up on that list? I’m inclined to say left tackle Garett Bolles. He’s had penalty issues — including a tough holding call that nullified a Bo Nix touchdown run Sunday against Baltimore — but given his pass protection on the blind side of a rookie quarterback and the fact that he’s stayed on the field while the offensive line has juggled injuries, he’s almost certainly under-appreciated.
Q >> What’s the story with Marvin Mims Jr.? He surely merits more than one or two targets a game. What did he do to get into Sean Payton’s doghouse?
— Randy Swanson,
Yukon, Okla.
Parker >> I get versions of this question a lot — and I see this one comes directly from the Sooner State — and it’s getting to the point where they just clearly don’t see him as deserving of being on the field as much as the other receivers.
We saw the explosive ability early last year but what we haven’t seen since is consistency.
Small samples all around, but Mims’ catch rate is way down this year (seven grabs on 15 targets for 46.7%) compared to a 66.7% catch rate as a rookie. His catch rate over expected, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, is -18% compared to +5.4% last year.
Some of that can be attributed to playing with a rookie quarterback. A couple of deep shots have sailed out of bounds and a pick against the Chargers in Week 6 was thrown high over the middle.
At some point, though, Mims has to make plays when they’re there to be made. He dropped a comeback route against New Orleans. He had a deep ball on his hands against the Chargers. Go get the ball when it’s there.
The Broncos need as many playmakers as they can get offensively. They aren’t going to intentionally keep guys off the field who demonstrate they can tilt games.
Coaches have continued to say positive things about Mims. Here’s what receivers coach Keary Colbert told The Post last week:
“He has a great mindset and mentality and he’s focused on the right things, which is winning and doing whatever he can to help the team win,” Colbert said. “He knows that the opportunities are going to come and he’ll be ready whenever they do. He busts his tail every single day and he’s coming out here and working and doing everything that’s asked of him.
“I think he has a great mindset about his approach to the game and I tip my hat to him for that.”