The Broncos’ run of retaining core players is on.
Denver and veteran tight end Adam Trautman agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth a total of $17 million on Sunday afternoon, multiple sources confirmed to The Post. The deal can scale up to $18.5 million total with incentives. Trautman would have become a free agent and gained the ability to negotiate with any team at 10 a.m. Monday.
The deal came together quickly, a source said. Denver reached out to Trautman on Sunday afternoon and an agreement got hammered out in a matter of hours.
Denver also retained restricted free agent Nate Adkins by agreeing to a one-year deal with him, a source confirmed. The financials on that deal were not immediately known, but the low RFA tender for 2026 checked in at $3.52 million, so somewhere likely slightly below that number is the likely range.It comes as no surprise that head coach Sean Payton and company wanted Trautman back. He has been their most-used player at the position since the Broncos traded for him in the spring of 2023. Even after Denver signed former Pro Bowl tight end Evan Engram to a two-year deal with $16.5 million guaranteed in last year’s free agency, Trautman still far outpaced Engram in playing time at tight end — a 57% offensive-snap share for Trautman against just 40% for Engram.
In total, Trautman caught 20 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown in 2025. Payton and the Broncos are well aware that receiving isn’t necessarily Trautman’s strongest trait; the tight end had a built-in contract bonus if he reached 25 catches in 2025, and entered Week 18 against the Chargers still sitting at 20.
“I said it to him — I love him, but thatap what he averages a year,” Payton joked after the Broncos’ win postgame.
Trautman, though, is a steady pass-blocker and willing run-blocker as an in-line tight end in Payton’s system, although his Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade has declined every season since he entered the league in 2020. Ultimately, the near-$6 million in average salary makes sense for Trautman; former Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger’s camp is aiming for a deal in free agency between $7 to $8 million in yearly salary, a similar player to Trautman in production and usage.
Trautman, of course, also authored the undeniable quote of the year in defending Bo Nix from online detractors in November.
“We don’t care what other people think,” Trautman said then. “We know what we have in the building. And we know what he’s made of. And we don’t really care what people have to say. So, ‘Dragonslayer69’ with a 7-11 Slurpee in his mom’s basement, I don’t give a (expletive) what you have to say, right? And Bo doesn’t either.”
Trautman has played every one of his six seasons — save for Payton’s retirement in 2022 — for Payton, and Denver traded for Trautman from New Orleans just a few months into Payton’s tenure in 2023. He was originally drafted by Payton in New Orleans in the third round in 2020’s draft out of Dayton; at that time, Payton traded a slew of Day 3 draft picks to move up and pick him.
Denver now has three tight ends under contract for 2026: Trautman, Adkins and Engram.They are still widely expected to be players in the tight end market when the legal tampering window opens Monday. The Broncos could move on from Engram, though they would only save about $4 million on their 2026 cap and would take more than $10 million in dead salary cap charges.
Either way, what the Broncos do to complete the room will be closely watched considering the three players under contract now combined to produce a steady, but not particularly dangerous, group in 2025.
