The Broncos’ super power is guys like Ben Powers.
Most of Oct. 5, 2025 has evaporated from our minds. But the lingering memories in Philadelphia always capture a critical scene. On the final drive, as the Broncos marched for a field goal to seal an improbable victory, they were hanging on as Powers’ arm hung motionless from his body.
He tore his left biceps. It was actually more gross.
“Well, it popped off the forearm and rolled up on me,” Powers said Wednesday.
They said Powers was a brute when he signed four years ago. And he is, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 310 pounds. They said Powers was willing to drop the gloves. He provided a reminder at training camp this summer, on occasion taking a swing at defenders after a miscarriage of justice.
They said he would protect the quarterback like his ATM PIN, and he allowed zero sacks across 465 snaps last season.
What they didn’t know — and neither did we — was his staggering pain tolerance. It is a defining characteristic.
When his limb became useless against the Eagles, he refused to exit, blocking with his right shoulder.
“Given the chemistry we have developed, I think it is pretty selfish to just kind of bow out because something is bothering you,” Powers explained. “It was the drive that won the game. I think we can all fairly say, looking back, that it was the turning point of our season. Beating the reigning Super Bowl champs in Philadelphia, down 15, that is where our team grew closer and gained a bunch of confidence.”
Powers is the thunderstorm that you hope doesn’t arrive at your doorstep. And if you think this was a one-off, you don’t know Ben.
After what is believed to be the fastest return on record from a torn biceps, Powers suffered a Lisfranc injury on the last snap of his first game back on Dec. 21 against Jacksonville. He thought he sprained his foot. As the trainer removed the ankle tape, Powers winced.
Getting an MRI was floated. Powers dunked the suggestion.
“I said, ‘I can’t do it.’ I had just missed all those games, and that exam could be a death sentence. It bothered me during the week,” Powers said. “Normally, it swells up like a football. My foot was an anomaly. The doctors could not give me a good answer why. So I was able to get through it with the adrenaline of the games.”
Powers played well over the remainder of the season. He sacrificed his health and assumed the risk for the greater good.
Why not consider his contract status? Or how putting out poor tape could affect his future with the team?
“Simple,” Powers said, “because we are in this together.”
This answer rattled in my ears as we stood inside the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse. It made me think of the Denver Nuggets. Peyton Watson, suspicions confirmed by his representatives, staged Operation Shutdown last April, declining to attempt to play in the postseason because of a hamstring injury.
Truth is, some players are agents for change. And some players are pawns for their agents.
Powers could not stomach the idea of missing a snap. That is how he thinks. He is not worried about the next game or the next drive, but the next play.
This type of mentality is threaded throughout the Broncos roster — and why they can win a Super Bowl. Longtime team employees talk about the character of this team like coaches did during the back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1997 and 1998.
Coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton have been intentional in how they built this locker room. Of course, a baseline of talent is required. But Payton demands players who are smart, love the game and demonstrate “we-over-me” toughness.
Dudes like Powers.
“There’s a unique part to the offense and defensive lines where they play for each other. Itap those traits that are hard to measure when you’re doing the college evaluation,” Payton said. “And then when you kind of hit on those type, they’re special and Ben would definitely fall into that category.”
What makes Powers different is that he doesn’t consider himself unique.
Not in the Broncos locker room. Linebacker Alex Singleton missed 23 days and one game after undergoing surgery for testicular cancer. Safety JL Skinner played last season with a torn labrum. Brandon Jones planned to play in the Super Bowl — “thug it out,” as he put it — with a still-mending pectoral muscle if the Broncos had advanced. Same goes for running back J.K. Dobbins with his aching foot.
“It is not just me,” Powers pointed out multiple times, “it is 100 percent a culture of instilled physical and mental toughness.”
In a time where athletes obsess over their personal brand, social media followers and getting paid, the Broncos take us on a quantum leap back in time.
When the team mattered more than a witty tweet. This is why they can win a title.
Don’t confuse this as advocating playing with a concussion, as a new CTE study raises concerns about long-term risks for NFL players.
But in a sport that must continue to do more to protect brains, brawn still matters.
Powers, whose bicep is healed and foot strong after screws were removed a few months ago, is admittedly “old-school” in his approach and mindset. He punches his time card. Tapes every inch of his arms and hands. And goes to work.
Ask those who know him, and stories of grit began following him in college. Remember the Baker Mayfield flag plant game at Ohio State? Oklahoma’s team doctor ruled Powers out with a high ankle sprain. His replacement suffered a head injury in the first half.
At halftime, Powers said he could go. He helped lead the Sooners to a victory.
Moments like this create a sense of pride for Powers.
As he enters his eighth NFL season, there is one goal left for him to accomplish in Denver, something he refuses to let pain prevent.
“There is a standard that this regime has built over the past four years that you can’t let your brother down next to you,” Powers said. “The closer you get to that goal of a Super Bowl, you understand the significance of winning it all. You look back at the AFC Championship Game, and we were one drive away from playing in the Super Bowl. And that sucks. It sucks to think that, and now we have to look in the mirror and see how we can get over the hump. But we are in this together. At the end of the day, all that matters is the team and getting the win.”
