Assuming Denver makes it through training camp and the preseason relatively healthy, here’s another safe bet: Sean Payton’s starting lineup figures to look an awful lot like the 11 that took the field for the first snap of Week 1 last fall against Tennessee.

There’s always the chance for a rogue opening formation to open offensive coordinator Davis Webb’s tenure as the Broncos’ primary play caller, but overall it����ap possible that the only change will be Jaylen Waddle in place of tight end Lucas Krull.

The other 10, in the form of the same starting offensive line, quarterback Bo Nix, running back J.K. Dobbins, tight end Adam Trautman and wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin all figure to have major roles again this fall for Denver.

There are, of course, twists and turns every summer. Injuries happen over the course of training camp. Last August the Broncos traded a potential starter in receiver Devaughn Vele. Sometimes a young player puts together such a strong camp that he snatches a job clean away from an established veteran.

Overall, though, Payton is betting that returning nearly every major contributor from Denver’s 2025 offense while adding Waddle and installing Webb as the play-caller is enough to elevate the Broncos’ offense away from the middle of the pack and toward the league’s upper echelon.

That means, on paper, there are not many starting jobs to be won. At most offensive positions, normal 53-man roster thresholds are met or nearly so before true competition for spots enters the equation.

And yet, there are many roles to be solidified and at least a handful of roster spots up for grabs as the Broncos near their reporting dates for rookies (July 22) and veterans (July 28). Here’s an early look at a projected offensive two-deep, with the obvious caveat that this represents a starting point ahead of camp’s outset.

Quarterback

1. Bo Nix

2. Sam Ehlinger

Starting point: The reality of life in the NFL: Much of what the Broncos want to accomplish in 2026 rests on Nix not just staying healthy for all or most of the season, but also on his game taking another step forward in Year 3, as well. Nix has a talented defense and an experienced, improved offense around him, plus Payton’s leadership and a new play-caller in Webb. He had played in every NFL game over his first two seasons until fracturing his ankle in the divisional round in January. Two operations and six months of combined rehab later, Nix and the Broncos say there’s no reason for concern. If they’re right, Denver’s in great shape. If the ankle issue lingers or comes back, that would be trouble.

Projecting Ehlinger as the No. 2 is perhaps a bit out on a limb considering Stidham has earned considerable equity with the front office, staff and locker room as he enters his fourth season with the Broncos. The notion that Ehlinger could beat him out is not rooted in Stidham’s performance in the AFC title game, but rather just in the staff’s excitement about Ehlinger a year ago, his mobility and a potential jump in performance in his second summer with the Broncos. Whoever ends up No. 3 might have the chance to be a No. 2 somewhere else at the end of August. That makes it basically a straight-out battle to be Nix’s primary backup. If there’s a way for Denver to keep all three — especially if the Broncos can get one to the practice squad to start the season as they did with Ehlinger last year —the club will almost certainly give it strong consideration.

Running back

1. J.K. Dobbins

2. RJ Harvey

Starting point: Dobbins is adamant he would have played in the Super Bowl after a November Lisfranc injury to his foot. He’s been healthy through Denver’s offseason program and enters camp as the clear lead back. Through 10 weeks last year, he was one of the most efficient runners in the NFL. The pecking order after him is likely to shape up more by role than anything else, unless Harvey takes a major leap in Year 2 – which, of course, the Broncos would more than welcome.

Harvey enters camp as the favorite to be second in terms of playing time and is the kind of player who, in Payton offenses, previously has racked up touches in the passing game. Rookie Jonah Coleman, a talented pass protector in college, looks like Denver’s third-down back right off the bat. That����ap a cleaner-fitting trio than last year if Coleman earns that trust right out of the gate. One interesting wrinkle here is what would happen if Dobbins were to get hurt. There’s a world in which Coleman might be a better lead back than Harvey; Harvey’s role stays about the same or expands some, and somebody else – a practice-squad Tyler Badie, perhaps — becomes the third-down back. The Broncos, naturally, hope Dobbins plays his first healthy season in the NFL and as long as the group stays on the field, it has the makings of a dynamic, dangerous trio.

Wide receiver

1. Courtland Sutton

2. Pat Bryant

1. Jaylen Waddle

2. Marvin Mims Jr.

1. Troy Franklin

2. Lil’Jordan Humphrey

Starting point: Waddle’s arrival changes this room in ways big and small. It goes from being one of the Broncos have seemed to like better than the industry does over the past couple of years to one that has a chance to be among the most dangerous in the NFL. They’ve got a dynamic pairing in Waddle and Sutton atop the room and they’ve got a myriad of skill sets behind. One of the most interesting questions of training camp is what the pecking order will look like behind Sutton and Waddle. The answer, at least early in the season, might be as simple as what the game situation is. The Broncos can mix up looks with Mims and even play him out of the backfield. They can be fast with Franklin on the field alongside Waddle. Or they can be big and physical with Bryant as the third man. One thing is certain: Denver is shaping up to play a ton of three-receiver and even four-receiver sets in Webb’s first season as a play-caller. The group is a clear strength on offense with Waddle’s addition.

Tight end

1. Adam Trautman

2. Evan Engram

Starting point: Engram, assuming good health, should easily lead the room in receiving targets again in 2026. Trautman, though, outpaced Engram in playing time by a wide margin last year (57% to 40%) and it would be a surprise if he didn’t do so again this fall. They are different types of players — Trautman more blocking with a bit of pass-catching ability and Engram essentially a receiver who is referred to as a tight end — but they are similar in the sense that Denver could have tried to replace either on the free agent market this spring and ultimately did not. What the Broncos did do, however, is use a pair of Day 3 draft picks to add players to the room who look like potential longer-term replacements. Fifth-rounder Justin Joly fits the Engram mold while seventh-rounder Dallen Bentley is more Trautman-esque. Payton spoke highly of second-year man Caleb Lohner and Denver also has Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull back on the 90-man roster for training camp. One of the positions where there are perhaps multiple 53-man roster spots up for grabs and where the Broncos hope the future of the position starts to come into focus this fall.

Offensive line

LT: Garrett Bolles, Matt Peart

LG: Ben Powers, Kage Casey

C: Luke Wattenberg, Alex Forsyth

RG: Quinn Meinerz, Alex Palczewski

RT:  Mike McGlinchey, Frank Crum

Starting point: The front five is set to return for a rare third straight season together unless a surprise trade pops up, injury hits or somebody like Palczewski can cleanly beat out Powers for a starting job. Above, the second line is essentially only placeholders except for Forsyth, who will have to fend off veteran Michael Deiter to retain his hold on the No. 2 center job.�� “Palcho” could end up as the primary backup at both guard spots and right tackle. Or, he could be the next man in at guard and Crum at tackle, regardless of side. Either way, it����ap pretty easy to find nine for the 53-man roster here: The starters plus Palcho, Crum, Casey (a fourth-round pick this spring) and Forsyth. Denver not only has one of the best starting groups in football but also some proven, functional depth. It����ap not just going to be a task to make the 53 for anybody on the outside of that nine looking in, but there will be competition for practice squad spots, too. That could come down to choosing between veterans like Peart, Deiter and Calvin Throckmorton and younger players like rookie tackles Tyler Miller and Gavin Ortega or Nick Gargiulo.

On the roster (seven): Evan Engram, Adam Trautman, Justin Joly, Nate Adkins, Lucas Krull, Dallen Bentley, Caleb Lohner

How many on the 53? Four or five. This is an overstuffed room with several guys who have complementary skillsets, meaning the Broncos will likely whittle the group down through training camp.

Most impactful offseason move: Drafting Joly and Bentley.

The Broncos went double-tight-end in April’s draft, trading up for the athletic Joly in the fifth round and swinging on Utah’s Bentley with the second-to-last pick of the proceedings. The emphasis was clear after Engram turned in a less-than-stellar season in his first year in Denver: add more youth with pass-catching upside at the position.

Both will give Denver options to pad out its roster with two types of TEs. Joly is a versatile “F” tight end similar to Engram, a sort-of hybrid slot receiver who can shift across a variety of alignments; Bentley profiles as a more traditional in-line option, similar to Trautman. In that vein, the Broncos essentially drafted younger versions of the 31-year-old Engram and recently-re-signed Trautman. If Joly and Bentley show in camp they’re ready for roster spots right away, get ready for a bunch of reshuffling in this room.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Can Davis Webb unlock Engram?

On March 13, 2025, a day after agreeing to a two-year contract with Denver, Engram tweeted a GIF of Heath Ledger’s Joker from Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” He has not typed out and sent a single tweet since. It was a strange year.

On one hand, Engram finished third on the Broncos in catches (50) and racked up the most receiving yards (461) of any Broncos tight end since Noah Fant in 2021. On the other hand, he finished 13th on the team in offensive snap share and turned invisible for long stretches of games. Looking through any prism, Engram’s 2025 season paled in comparison to fanbase expectations for the franchise’s heralded “Joker” signing last season.

Denver explored alternatives in the TE market in free agency but didn’t find an upgrade at the right price. The Broncos could still save themselves $6.5 million in cap room by cutting Engram; entering training camp, though, he still currently stands as Denver’s best receiving option at tight end, in part because the Broncos feel there’s more they can unlock from the two-time Pro Bowler. Engram signed with the Broncos last free agency in large part because of his relationship with new play-caller Davis Webb, with whom he played in New York at the beginning of his career in 2017 and 2018.

Webb won’t reveal the entire bag of tricks this preseason, but keep an eye on training camp for reports on how Engram’s looking in Denver’s offense.

Battle to watch: Anything involving Caleb Lohner.

Will the 24-year-old Lohner actually compete for a roster spot in camp? Who knows. Impossible to say, actually, because the 2025 seventh-round flier was absent from OTAs and minicamp with injury. But head coach Sean Payton set off a buzz when he talked up Lohner during May’s rookie minicamp, and it would certainly give Denver’s offense a new element of dynamism if the 6-foot-7 Lohner can show he’s grown enough as a blocker and route-runner to earn a roster spot for red-zone work in 2026.

It’s highly unlikely that Lohner beats out Joly, and he’ll have his work cut out for him to shake veterans Krull and Adkins for a spot. But Lohner did substantial work with former Pro Bowl wide receiver Donald Driver this offseason, and is entering just his third full season of full-time football at any level after switching from basketball before his final year of college. The upside will be fun to monitor.

Under the radar: Adkins, the Swiss Army Knife

The 27-year-old Adkins played just nine games in 2025 thanks to a seeming never-ending string of injuries, and his functionality might be diluted with the emergence of fullback Adam Prentice. But Payton has repeatedly talked up Adkins’ importance to the offense as a blocking tight end/fullback hybrid — enough to keep him off injured reserve when Adkins was set to miss multiple games at the start of the 2025 season.

“He’s too good a football player for us,” Payton said last August.

If Adkins is healthy during camp, he should have an early foothold for a roster spot at tight end, which would significantly squeeze the rest of the room.

On the roster (seven): J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman, Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie, Adam Prentice (fullback), Cody Schrader

How many on the 53-man roster? Four. Same number as in 2025, and no reason for change there. Dobbins, Harvey and Coleman will almost assuredly form some kind of three-man carousel, with McLaughlin or Badie as a change-of-pace insurance option. Prentice will likely start the season on the practice squad and find his way to the active roster once he runs out of elevations, as the Broncos have done with the Ghost of (Michael) Burtons Past.

Most impactful offseason move? Drafting Coleman.

Re-signing Dobbins — for a surprisingly high $8 million in guaranteed money — is the correct answer here. That’s boring.��History, both old and recent, suggests the 27-year-old Dobbins will run like a top-10 running back in the NFL for anywhere between eight and 15 games and get banged up at some point in the process, as high as he is on himself for 2026. The real kicker here for Denver is drafting an injury stabilizer in Coleman, a fourth-round pick out of Washington who profiles as a capable runner and an instant upgrade over Tyler Badie for possible third-down touches.

“You ultimately have a three-headed monster in the run game,” Coleman told reporters after he was drafted in April.

The 5-foot-8, 220-pound Coleman looked ready for instant NFL snaps in OTAs and minicamp this summer, and could spell Dobbins for short-yardage touches in the early going and pick up plenty of slack if anyone in the room misses time. Don’t forget, too, that Badie played 17% of Denver’s offseason snaps last year and ranked seventh on the team in targets (31). Coleman could substantially juice that 17% in a season where Denver will try and improve on the margins to prevent regression to the mean in close games.

Biggest question to answer in camp: How do the Broncos change their run-game identity under new playcaller Davis Webb?

More scheme-specific than room-specific here. Last August, several players directly mentioned that the Broncos were emphasizing more of an outside-zone-heavy rushing attack, a scheme that pops with laterally quick linemen and running backs with good vision to cut back upfield.

“I think we’ve always wanted to be kind of an outside zone team,” tight end Adam Trautman said in 2025 training camp, “and we’re just kind of committing to it.”

They didn’t. According to rushing data collected from Pro Football Focus and assembled by The Denver Post, the Broncos finished with the second-lowest percentage of zone runs (42%) among all AFC teams in 2025. Head coach Sean Payton has repeatedly pointed to Webb’s promotion as a fix for Denver’s run-game consistency, which fell off a cliff after Dobbins’ injury in Week 10 last year. It stands to reason, then, that the Broncos’ general ground scheme could look drastically different come training camp.

Battle to watch: McLaughlin or Badie for RB4.

Scintillating! No, seriously. McLaughlin began the season as a healthy scratch and suddenly blossomed into one of Denver’s most effective per-touch skill players down the stretch after Dobbins’ injury shifted him into an RB2 role. With Coleman in the mix, McLaughlin’s path to a fourth straight season on Denver’s opening 53-man-roster looks dicey.

“Man, I’ve been out there killing myself in the weight room,” McLaughlin said at a charity event in June. “Spitting up a little bit, throwing up a little bit. But it’s been amazing, and I’ve been working my tail off.”

Badie, meanwhile, is trusted by the staff and Nix for his pass-protection skills and veteran instincts. Both Badie and McLaughlin beat out former fifth-round pick Audric Estime for a roster spot in last year’s training camp; they will now face a direct head-to-head competition this August.

Under the radar: Adam Prentice the Menace.

After trusted veteran Burton landed on injured reserve in training camp, the 28-year-old Colorado State product signed with Denver close to the start of the season and quickly filled an integral role as a run-blocker and pass-protector at fullback. Quietly, he played 19% of the Broncos’ offensive snaps last season and nearly half of their special teams snaps. He re-signed for a reason in March and could easily end up playing in all 17 games again in 2026.

What’s the biggest battle going into training camp? I know everyone’s talking RB2, but WR3 is going to be interesting after the Jaylen Waddle trade. Between Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr. and Pat Bryant, we’re not going to have enough touches going around.

— Marshall, Parker

Hey Marshall, thanks for writing in and getting this midsummer edition of the mailbag going. We can all enjoy July for a few more weeks, but three weeks from now, the Broncos will be gathered for training camp — boarding the aircraft carrier for a multi-month tour, as head coach Sean Payton likes to say.

The two battles you mentioned should be interesting, and they get at a broader sense I have as camp approaches. There will be jobs up for grabs on the roster bubble, but most of the interesting battles in training camp will be among players who are sure bets (or at least strong candidates) for the 53-man roster. That����ap a sign of a deep, talented team.

This group doesn’t have a ton of roster spots up for grabs, but there are a pretty decent number of snaps up for grabs.

We’ll start with the normal summer caveat that injuries happen during training camp and we haven’t yet seen this rendition of the Broncos in pads. A lot will happen between now and Sept. 14 at Arrowhead Stadium.

This year in particular, perhaps it����ap also worth pointing out something interesting that offensive coordinator and playcaller Davis Webb brought up this summer: He noted that the Los Angeles Rams didn’t start leaning into their three-tight-end personnel groupings until about six weeks into last year. Then it became, in many ways, their offensive identity.

So, just remember that, particularly with a new playcaller, the early part of the regular season often brings more shifting and role changes as teams, like Payton always harps on, race to improve over the first quarter of the season.

All of that being said, the receiver group is among the most interesting in terms of how playing time will shake out. Assuming good health, Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton will be on the field together. A lot. So that����ap two spots occupied by nearly every-down players.

Last year, the Broncos were No. 11 in the NFL in 11-personnel (three receivers, one running back, one tight end) at 63%. They have not been dynamic at tight end in recent seasons and have the same personnel, plus rookies Justin Joly and Dallen Bentley back this fall. From here, that looks like a recipe to play a ton of 11 personnel and maybe even a healthy dose of four receivers. Interesting for a team that wants to pride itself on running the football, but outside of a stretch early last year, really has not been able to forge that identity under Payton.

Maybe Denver can play WR-heavy, force defenses to play light and then run the ball efficiently thanks to blocking work from a guy like Pat Bryant. That����ap a good argument for him being a go-to third receiver. At times, Denver will want to pair Troy Franklin’s speed with Waddle and really threaten secondaries. Payton continues to say that Marvin Mims Jr. doesn’t have to prove he belongs on the field and that the staff just has to do a better job of making sure he is.

Beyond those three contenders, Payton and the Broncos staff clearly trust Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Michael Bandy. They have some interesting undrafted rookies in training camp, too. Overall, though, the question entering camp feels like whether one of Bryant, Franklin, or Mims can separate himself. Can one of them help push the Broncos’ offense toward an identity? Or will the offensive direction shift more broadly and end up dictating which of those three has the biggest role?

Tight end was our weakest position last year. Why did we keep the same guys instead of going out to find an improvement? Jonnu Smith is still out there. Why don’t we bring him in to battle in camp?

— Levi, Los Angeles

Alright, let����ap keep it going on the offensive side. Thanks for writing, Levi. The answer to your first question has multiple layers.

First, the Broncos didn’t think their tight end play was as bad as perhaps others outside the building did. They value Adam Trautman as not only a blocker but also as a leader, culture-keeper, and Sean Payton playbook encyclopedia, which is helpful to a young quarterback like Bo Nix. Evan Engram made some big plays, even though overall it was an underwhelming first season in Denver. Nate Adkins battled injury and never really got into rhythm. Similar for Lucas Krull.

Teams also tend to value their own players more highly than external options due to familiarity. So, did the Broncos think free agents like Cade Otton or Charlie Kolar could have represented an on-field upgrade over Trautman? Yeah, but not so much as to justify the gap between where Trautman ended up ($5.7 million per year) and where the market went on Otton ($10 million per), Kollar ($8 million) and others. The Broncos had pretty solid thresholds in the free-agent market that they didn’t want to exceed. Ultimately, they mostly opted for retention over swinging in free agency. Not saying that����ap right, wrong or otherwise. It����ap just the path they chose to take.

As for adding a veteran, never say never, but the more likely option (again assuming good health) is internal competition. Perhaps it����ap unlikely this summer, but can Bentley or second-year man Caleb Lohner push Trautman for some work? Can Joly show he’s ready to play right away and compete with Engram for snaps? With the depth Denver has elsewhere on the roster, it would have to be counted as a surprise if all of Joly, Bentley and Lohner make the initial 53. Even if two make it, that probably means turnover at the expense of Adkins and Krull. Or Denver could make a big change and jettison Engram, though the more common time to make a move like that would have been this spring.

The bottom line in all of that: Denver is banking on the development of young players, a second year in the system for Engram, and potentially some role shake-ups, with Webb calling the plays, as a recipe for better results at tight end.

Do you think the Broncos will re-sign Riley Moss after this year? His rookie contract runs out after this year and we have bit of a dilemma. If he plays great, he’s due for a big payday. If he regresses, would we even want to re-sign him? What do you think?

— Mac, Castle Rock

Yeah, Mac, great question and one that I’m not sure anybody outside the building knows the answer to at this point. I wrote about Moss last week and we’ve covered pretty extensively the fact that he and Ja’Quan McMillian are both entering contract years while 2025 first-rounder Jahdae Barron waits his turn for full-time work.

Surprises are always possible, but it certainly feels like the Broncos will eventually have to choose between Moss and McMillian for a long-term extension. Denver has typically done most of its extensions just ahead of or during training camp, or around the bye week (this year, in the middle of November). So, that����ap definitely something to watch as training camp approaches and then gets going.

Payton spoke highly of McMillian in June when asked about him and said emphatically that he’s the kind of player the Broncos want around long-term.

“Absolutely,” Payton said then. “He has all the things you’re looking for.”

To be fair, Payton wasn’t asked about Moss specifically this summer but has consistently referred to him as a high-level player.

Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph likes both players but calls McMillian the heartbeat of the defense. At the same time, Joseph himself could be a head coach somewhere else a year from now.

This all adds up to perhaps the most interesting roster question for the Broncos to answer over the next year. The way this defense under Joseph is currently aligned, there’s a good argument to be made that Moss is a really good player, but McMillian is indispensable. Maybe it����ap that simple. At the same time, coaches, approaches and personnel change all the time in the NFL and paying your two outside corners and letting your prized first-round pick take over in the slot — his most natural position — would be a more typical resource allocation.

Parker, what happens next with Jonathon Cooper? Do we release him? Surely, he’s not on the roster come Week 1, right?

And how do we fill his spot? Do you see Jonah Elliss or Dondrea Tillman rising up the depth chart to become a starter?

— Mark, Arvada

Hey Mark, there’s a lot left to play out in Cooper’s legal case, but suffice it to say the Broncos and the league have several options for handling the football side as training camp approaches. The Broncos could simply release Cooper. The NFL could decide on a suspension sooner rather than later. Roger Goodell could place Cooper on the commissioner’s exempt list, which would mean Cooper doesn’t count against the 53-man roster but does get paid.

It����ap really probably best not to speculate about what might happen on that front. Do I think he’ll play for the Broncos in Week 1? I don’t, but I also can’t categorically say one way or the other. Beyond that, it����ap best to let the process play out.

As for filling his spot, you nailed it with Elliss and Tillman, but don’t forget about Que Robinson. Joseph said this summer that he thinks Robinson can be a starter for the Broncos, and he’s done nothing but impress when he’s had chances to play. This summer will also be a big opportunity for Drew Sanders to prove he can stay healthy. When he’s been available, he’s shown tantalizing flashes. He just hasn’t been available much the past two years. Add him to the list of interesting players entering contract years.

Do you think Von Miller coming back to Denver is back on the table with this Jonathon Cooper debacle?

— M.K., Aurora

Hey M.K., thanks for writing. Wouldn’t that be a heck of a story? Again, never say never, but there just hasn’t been much movement on the Broncos-Von Reunion Tour front. Cooper missing a chunk of the season or being jettisoned altogether would leave a production gap, but there are few positions where the team seems better-suited to internal solutions.

Miller, though, has certainly put the hard sell on Denver this offseason. Imagine the fervor if he signed the second week of training camp or something like that.

What would be the cap implications for the Broncos if they would trade Jonathon Cooper? Can you even trade a suspended player? Thanks!

— Chieflittleeagle, Little Eagle, Utah

Hey Chief, not sure what the trade value of Cooper would be before his situation is resolved. Once it is, the Broncos would theoretically want him either on the field or off the team. Hard to see a scenario in which Denver decides it����ap done with Cooper, but other teams are lining up to give up draft capital for him.

Still, the cap implications will come into play if the Broncos release Cooper.

Before any other considerations, if Denver cut Cooper today, they’d take his 2026 cap number of $5.78 million as dead cap this year and an additional $13.02 million dead next year.

Denver, though, could try to avoid paying Cooper $10.275 million in 2026 money, which the team converted to a signing bonus. That could more than cut in half the total dead cap hits the Broncos would face, dropping the numbers to $3.725 million this year and lopping more than $8 million off of the 2027 dead cap hit.

In the most extreme scenario, the Broncos could go after all of the signing bonus money that����ap been prorated into the future on Cooper’s deal, meaning they could try to recoup about $17 million that����ap already been paid or is due to be paid this year. That would undoubtedly come with a fight, likely in the form of a formal grievance filed by Cooper and the NFLPA.

If the Broncos did that and prevailed, they’d get a salary cap credit for essentially all of their remaining obligations for Cooper.

How it plays out, of course, remains to be seen, but the Broncos will be working through this situation well after they (or the NFL) makes an initial decision on Cooper’s status for the 2026 season.

They have very few starting spots up for grabs, at least on paper.

They have, relatively speaking, very few question marks.

And yet, Sean Payton’s fourth team will have plenty of competition throughout the early portions of the summer and into training camp.

There are, by The Post����ap count, somewhere in the neighborhood of seven to nine spots up for grabs on the 53-man roster at the moment and a pool of perhaps 18-20 players vying for them. Those counts come before any of the inevitable injuries that will crop up between now and the end of August.

This early projection comes before any potential substantial roster move, of which Denver has typically made at least one between OTAs and the start of the regular season. A year ago, for example, the Broncos signed running back J.K. Dobbins in June and then traded receiver Devaughn Vele in August.

It also comes before any big training camp surprise, a young player who makes a strong push or a veteran who suddenly appears out of gas.

Before Payton’s team starts OTAs on Tuesday, here’s an early attempt at a 53-man roster projection. The point of this exercise at this calendar waypoint is merely to mark a starting point and to attempt to determine where the most uncertainty — and opportunity — lies on the Broncos’ current 91-man roster.

Finding 53 among this group requires tough decisions even before any actual football activity has started. There are players that were difficult to leave off the roster and some groups — offensive and defensive lines, in particular — that are deep enough to impact other spots. Payton and general manager George Paton have shown time and time again they value quality players in the trenches.

There are a handful of veterans who could theoretically be considered cut candidates because of a combination of depth and salary, like tight end Evan Engram ($14.14 million cap hit) and left guard Ben Powers ($18.16 million). Denver could trade a veteran or quality player from a position of strength to help fortify elsewhere or accumulate future draft capital.

Among the players who look from this distance likely to exist somewhere around the bubble, however, none has a bigger cap number than offensive lineman Matt Peart����ap $2.39 million or more guaranteed money than quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s $1 million.

So, away we go. Players in the bubble conversation, both above and below the roster cut in this exercise, are in italics.

OFFENSE (25)

Quarterback (3)

Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger

The question, really, with Denver’s quarterbacks is this: two or three? Denver started last year with two when Ehlinger agreed to start the season on the practice squad. If a similar scenario plays out — he’s got $1 million guaranteed — then the Broncos could well take two. Denver values Ehlinger, though, and he’s going to get a bunch of work in OTAs and likely minicamp after Bo Nix had a second ankle procedure last month. This makes for tougher calls at other spots on a deep roster, but let����ap not mess around with the quarterback position when you’ve got players you like. If nothing else, using three as the starting point in this exercise ups the difficulty level the rest of the way.

Running back (4)

J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman and Adam Prentice (FB) 

Also: Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie and Cody Schrader

Coleman’s selection in the fourth round changes the complexion here by quite a bit. He’s a potential third-down back right away and the Broncos are high on him if he’s needed beyond that early on. With a cleaner-fitting trio of backs, McLaughlin and Badie both have a tough road to the roster. If Denver wanted four plus Prentice, McLaughlin probably heads into the summer with the lead.

Tight end (4)

Adam Trautman, Evan Engram, Justin Joly and Caleb Lohner 

Also: Dallen Bentley, Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull

One of the toughest projections. Lohner gets the nod for the moment after Payton raved about him earlier in May, especially because Payton was particularly impressed with Lohner’s physicality and blocking. This, like many bubble decisions, could come down to who Denver thinks it can get to the practice squad between Lohner and Bentley, the No. 256 overall pick in April. With a bounce-back summer, Adkins could re-establish himself as a key role player. He could end up competing for a spot with Prentice, though, as much as it seems he could play some fullback; the Broncos just haven’t asked him to do it much so far in his career.

Wide receiver (5)

Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims Jr.

Also: Michael Bandy, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Michael Woods, Cam Ross, Kolbie Katsis, Joseph Manjack and Dane Key

Assuming no trades, it����ap hard to see how anybody besides the top five makes the initial 53-man roster. Waddle was the Broncos’ big offseason splash and, though he will impact playing time for the rest of the room, Denver’s brass has been consistent in saying they’re not looking to move on from any of the regulars. Bandy and Humphrey are no strangers to starting the season on a practice squad and eventually seeing time on the 53-man roster. It’ll be interesting to see if an undrafted rookie like Ross can make the Broncos think twice about going status quo, but that����ap a tall task.

Offensive line (9)

Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, Mike McGlinchey, Alex Palczewski, Frank Crum, Kage Casey and Alex Forsyth 

Also: Matt Peart, Nick Gargiulo, Calvin Throckmorton, Tyler Miller, Gavin Ortega, Michael Dieter and Nash Jones

The Broncos have enviable depth on their offensive line, but, like with wide receiver, the roles are defined enough that it����ap difficult to imagine a ton of wiggle room. Palczewski and Crum are valued depth and development pieces and Casey, a fourth-round pick, joins them in a similar mold. Forsyth has been the clear No. 2 center for two seasons behind Wattenberg. That����ap nine. Peart and Throckmorton are veterans who have stepped in and played, while Gargiulo showed some promise before a bad preseason knee injury last summer. Miller and Ortega are interesting undrafted rookies but, outside a rash of injuries or major training camp push, it����ap reasonable to think they’re ticketed for the practice squad.

DEFENSE (25)

Defensive line (7)

Zach Allen, DJ Jones, Malcolm Roach, Eyioma Uwauzurike, Tyler Onyedim, Sai’Vion Jones and Jordan Jackson

Also: Matt Henningsen, Jordan Miller and Kristian Williams

A key part of the rationale for going heavy here again: Each of the past two years the roster cutdown has passed and Payton and Paton have made it clear that Jackson made the 53-man roster easily. We’ll bet for now that the same ends up happening this summer. They might decide they just have to have a player at another position. Maybe somebody else is a surprise cut, though among this group 2025 third-rounder Sai’Vion Jones is the only real candidate and that would be a major surprise given they traded up for him and also liked his development last season. So, Payton and Paton instead stick to their principles and go heavy up front once again.

Outside linebacker (4)

Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman

Also: Drew Sanders, Johnny Walker and Dasan McCullough

The first three are absolute locks and there’s not much doubt about Tillman, either. The going gets tough from there. Health has been a major obstacle for Sanders, but if he plays all summer, he’ll probably be productive enough to make the roster. The numbers just get tight elsewhere in a hurry. Keeping four here is really 4.5 in a way because Jonah Elliss can play on the edge if needed, plus a deep defensive line group can help take some work off the edge guys against heavier teams. Sanders is a training camp wild card, though.

Inside linebacker (4)

Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Jonah Elliss and Red Murdock 

Also: Jordan Turner, Karene Reid, Levelle Bailey, Taurean York

Once again, this is about roster management and who makes it to the practice squad after the top three. Murdock was Mr. Irrelevant in the draft at No. 257, but forced 17 fumbles in his college career at Buffalo. Turner’s got real promise, so it was not an easy call to leave him off. Reid was a special teams regular after making the initial roster as an undrafted rookie last year, but this is maybe a tougher roster to make despite the release of Dre Greenlaw earlier this spring.

Cornerback (5)

Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine

Also: Reese Taylor, Jaden Robinson, Brent Austin, Ahmari Harvey and Paul Manning

Pretty straightforward here. The major storyline is more about beyond 2026, as McMillian and Moss are both entering contract years. For now, though, this is one of the deepest and most talented cornerback groups in football. Taylor has been a regular on the practice squad and was promoted to the active roster from mid-November on last year. The only question is if new secondary coaches Rob Livingston and Doug Belk see any of the personnel differently than Jim Leonhard and Addison Lynch previously.

Safety (5)

Talanoa Hufanga, Brandon Jones, Devon Key, Miles Scott and JL Skinner

Also: Tycen Anderson and Parker Robertson

There will be competition across multiple position groups based on special teams output. You can put Skinner, Anderson, Scott, Taylor, Turner, Reid, Sanders and more all into that group. The Broncos gave Anderson $650,000 guaranteed in part to be a key special teams player, so he might well make it. But over who? That signing was before Denver drafted Scott. Skinner is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is at a critical point in his career. The way coaches have talked about Key this offseason, he feels like the early favorite to replace P.J. Locke as the No. 3 safety. Denver signed Sam Franklin and gave him $1.34 million in guarantees last year, then cut him in August.

SPECIALIST (3)

PK Wil Lutz, P Jeremy Crawshaw and LS Mitch Fraboni

Also: LS Luke Basso

Not much mystery here. The Broncos signed the rookie Basso as summer competition, but Fraboni’s been solid and is under contract through 2027.

Sean Keeler: Like Fox Mulder, But as precedent goes, the best we’ve got to work with is new offensive play-caller Davis Webb’s dry run pushing the buttons during last August’s 27-7 preseason win over Arizona. The Broncos had 39 pass attempts between Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger, who completed 30. But here’s the catch: Of the 36 recorded targets that night, only six went to tight ends — Evan Engram, who logged one for 58 yards and a score; three to Caden Prieskorn for 52 yards in receptions; one for Caleb Lohner, who turned it into a 4-yard catch; and one to Lucas Krull for 3 yards. Small sample size, granted. But color me more skeptical than hopeful.

Troy Renck: Jaylen Waddle comes in and out of breaks better than any receiver on the roster. He starts and stops like a Porsche. He can run deep, and slice like a knife on slants. Why bring this up? His versatility should create room in the middle of the field for tight ends. Based on his roots in uptempo offenses, new offensive coordinator Davis Webb should be more open to using Engram, a player he recruited to Denver. Will Payton let him? Will Engram even be on the team if one of the prospects breaks through in training camp? Last season, the Broncos’ five tight ends caught 78 catches for 719 yards, the latter ranking 26th in the NFL. They combined for three touchdowns, good for 24th. No player had more than one. Bentley and Lohner are intriguing prospects. Bentley can block so he should see the field as a rookie, making him available for sneaky targets. And why not make Lohner a red-zone target with his vertical leap honed from his basketball background? Let’s be real. Waddle cannot make the Broncos more explosive on his own.

Keeler: I was banging the Lohner drum a year ago to try him as an end-zone specialist — you won’t find many linebackers with a 6-foot-7 frame, an 80-inch wingspan, a 4.69 40-yard-dash time and you’ll find even fewer safeties who could match up. If you could combine Bentley’s physicality with Lohner’s (literal) upside, you’d have the perfect Joker. Alas, Payton and Webb are likely going to have to draw the line at one of the two former Utes, once push comes to shove at the end of camp.

Renck: Where Bo Nix must improve over the middle and against zone coverage and tight ends can help. The idea the Broncos cannot incorporate dig, hook and leak routes is preposterous. The running back screen has not worked. Maybe it will improve with R.J. Harvey and Jonah Coleman. Regardless, the tight end must become more of a weapon for the Broncos to produce a top-10 offense and reach the Super Bowl as a top two team.

Keeler: You know what the last two Broncos Super Bowl teams had in common besides Peyton Manning at the controls? The 2013 and 2015 Denver offenses featured at least two tight ends in each of those campaigns who’d snatched at least 25 targets during the regular season. Fast forward a decade, and under Payton, the resurgent Broncos have had one tight end with 25 or more targets (Trautman) in ’23; none in ’24 (Krull led the TE room in targets, though, with 23); and one in ’25 (Engram, with 76). Seam routes matter. Keeping linebackers honest matters. Is Nix averse to throwing the rock across the middle of the field because he doesn’t trust his options, or because his options are so rarely open? It’s your classic chicken-or-the-egg dilemma, and I can’t wait to see Davis take a crack at it.

In 2024, after two years racking up bench minutes at Baylor, Lohner asked Driver if it wasn’t a crazy idea for him to switch to football for his final collegiate season of eligibility.

“I just wanted a little bit of feedback, like, ‘Hey, is this something that you think I should pursue? Is it worth doing? Be honest with me,’ kinda thing,” Lohner told The Denver Post, on Saturday. “So he’s had a little hand in some of my success, and hope to be, future successes.”

That hand has pulled even more strings, now, after Lohner transferred to Utah to play football as a tight end in fall 2024 and became an out-of-nowhere Broncos seventh-round pick in spring 2025. After a rookie season spent entirely on the practice squad, Lohner has spent considerable time this offseason training with former four-time Pro Bowl receiver Driver — drilling the raw tight end’s footwork, hands and releases on his routes.

And between a year of scout-team reps and an offseason spent with one of the NFL’s modern-great route technicians, the 6-foot-7 Lohner has finally stopped treading water.

“I feel like a different person,” Lohner said. “I feel like my mind can finally take a step back, and breathe.”

A year ago, Lohner walked into the Broncos’ facility for rookie minicamp as a 23-year-old who’d played exactly 57 game snaps of organized football in his life. A year later, Lohner walked back in for another rookie minicamp as a 24-year-old who’s still played exactly 57 game snaps of organized football in his life. The difference lies between the margins and between the ears, as the Broncos drafted him late in 2025 knowing they’d need to stash him early on for developmental reps.

On Saturday, asked how Denver decides what returning players to invite to its rookie minicamp, head coach Sean Payton paused and offered a rare unprompted name-drop.

“I’ll tell you who stood out — Caleb,” Payton said. “Like, he looks entirely different in this camp. Now, he was here in this camp a year ago as a draft pick, but he stood out.”

Payton was asked, a beat later, what exactly looked different. He didn’t hesitate.

“Everything,” Payton said. “Everything … one year into the program and how he’s moving, what he’s doing, everything looks entirely different.”

Easy for Payton to say, cynically. The man, after all, made a sales pitch to Lohner that the Broncos would turn him into “the next Jimmy Graham,” as Payton told Lohner before taking him at pick No. 241 in 2025. The young tight end, though, has also caught the eye of those even younger at this weekend’s minicamp.

“Super, uber-athletic,” fifth-round rookie tight end Justin Joly told reporters Saturday, on Lohner. “He can jump out the sky. Fast, quick-twitch. It was great, all the tight ends, we get to learn from him, just asking as many questions as possible.”

“He’s a basketball guy,” added seventh-round TE Dallen Bentley, who played a year with Lohner at Utah in 2024. “But you can’t say that anymore. He’s definitely got his stuff down, and he’s working really hard every single day.”

Back in that senior year, Lohner walked away from a chunk of NIL basketball money to transfer to Utah for football and make $0, as tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham told The Post last year. He started, at first, not knowing how to as much tug on his pads. He caught a total of four passes in 2024 — all red-zone box-out touchdowns.

And still, his old Utes coaches came away convinced he was destined for ���dz���ٳ󾱲Բ���at the NFL level.

“His ceiling is – he hasn’t even tapped into how good of a football player he can become,” Morgan Scalley, now Utah’s head coach, told The Post last year.

Lohner, entering his second NFL season, is getting there. He is gentle by nature, a young man who preferred swimming in the Provo River to taking ice baths in the training room back in his two years playing hoops at BYU. But the physicality of playing NFL football came naturally, from years spent boxing out on basketball courts. Lohner even spent time as a scout-team outside linebacker on game weeks last year, Payton said, helping mimic opposing rushers for Denver’s tackles.

The blocking part of playing tight end, then, has been “a little easier to develop,” as Payton said. The receiving part — ironically, the traits the Broncos swung on — has been slower to come along.

That’s where Driver came in, this offseason.

“Being with someone that����ap done it – he’s able to look at it and tell me, ‘Hey, you gotta do this a little bit better. I want your hands up here, your feet need to be a little tighter,'” Lohner said. “So I think he helped me with a lot of small things.”

Those details will be the separator, in a room that’s become cluttered. There’s no guarantee Lohner even makes the practice squad in 2026, after the Broncos drafted Joly and Bentley in this year’s draft. Denver began last season with four tight ends on the active roster and one (Lohner) on the 16-man practice squad; they now return key veterans Evan Engram and Adam Trautman, rookies Joly and Bentley, blocking favorite Nate Adkins, and returners Lohner and Lucas Krull. It’s a math problem that will inevitably cross out several variables.

If the Lohner leap is as real as Payton’s words, though, that grand experiment could see results as early as this season.

“You knew there was going to be a developmental upside — but that,” Payton said, on Lohner’s Year Two growth, “was encouraging.”

Denver wrapped up standard four-year rookie deals with fifth-round tight end Justin Joly and seventh-round safety Miles Scott on Thursday, sources confirmed to The Post. They join seventh-round tight end Dallen Bentley and seventh-round linebacker Red Murdock in having their first professional contracts done.

Denver’s top three selections in the draft are at this point set to attend and participate in rookie minicamp on injury protection deals rather than having their actual contracts agreed to. The arrangement is a common one in the NFL, particularly with mid-round picks. Those players have a little bit more to negotiate with clubs over, including how much of a guarantee the player gets over the life of the four years in the event of injury.

The injury protection deal allows rookies to participate in minicamp on essentially the same terms as if their contract were done.

Last year, Denver didn’t agree to contract terms with first-round pick Jahdae Barron and second-round pick RJ Harvey until July, but they participated in all of Denver’s offseason program. In 2024, quarterback Bo Nix played in rookie minicamp on an injury protection deal.

The three players set to do so this weekend for Denver are third-round defensive lineman Tyler Onyedim, fourth-round running back Jonah Coleman and fourth-round offensive lineman Kage Casey.

Joly, meanwhile, has now agreed to his deal and arrives as one of the Broncos’ more intriguing rookies. He’s a natural pass-catcher and pairs with Bentley, more of an in-line tight end, to make a rookie duo that could be the club’s future at the position.

Once the full team is together, Joly will slot in behind veteran Evan Engram and Bentley behind Adam Trautman.

As the No. 152 overall selection in the draft, the slotted value of Joly’s four-year contract is $4.9 million. It comes with a $514,996 signing bonus.

Scott, the seventh-round safety who started his collegiate career at Illinois as a wide receiver, is in line for a four-year, $4.51 million deal with a $125,444 signing bonus.

The Broncos’ rookie minicamp runs Friday through Sunday.

The veterans started Phase 1 of the club’s voluntary offseason program Monday, but they’ll be just lifting and running for the month of May. Denver is set to hold organized team activities June 2-4 and 9-11 and then its mandatory minicamp June 16-18.

Rookie minicamp invites assembling

As is customary, the Broncos are inviting a slew of veterans and undrafted rookies alike to rookie minicamp this weekend on a tryout basis.��One particularly fun prospect to watch for: 6-foot-6 kicker/punter Paul Geelen, a Northern Illinois product who hails from the Netherlands and would qualify for an international roster exemption if the Broncos wanted to officially sign him. Former Colorado OL Zarian McGill and Colorado State DB Jahari Rodgers have also earned invites.

Here’s a complete list of 33 names The Post has confirmed will be in attendance from Friday to Sunday.

Rookies (with previous school)

OL Tim Anderson, Ferris State

OL Davion Carter, Texas Tech

S Ian Conerly-Goodly, Southeastern Louisiana

DE Sam Dankah, East Carolina

RB Julius Davis, Montana State

TE Stone Eby, SMU

DT Braxton Fely, Boise State

CB Randy Franklin, Charlotte

K Paul Geelen, Southern Illinois

DT Herbert Gums, Boise State

RB Rodney Hammond, Sacramento State

LB Max Harris, Arizona

OT Christian Hilborn, Washington State

DB Paul Manning, Henderson State

OL Marcellus Marshall, Minnesota

DE Tamatoa McDonough, Iowa State

OL Zarian McGill, Colorado

LB John Miller, Utah State

LB Nic Mitchell, Mississippi State

RB Jordan Nubin, Kent State

DE Hunter Peck, Montana

CB Jahari Rodgers, Colorado State

S Kekoura Tarnue, West Virginia

WR Tommy Thomas, Chadron State

QB E.J. Warner, Fresno State

OL Brett Weaver, Grand Valley State

DE Tyce Westland, Wyoming

OL DJ Wingfield, USC

P Jeff Yurk, Elon

Veterans (with previous NFL team)

DB Brandon Hill, Texans (2025)

QB Nathan Peterman, Falcons (2024)

DE Isaiah Thomas, Bengals (2025)

WR Mike Woods, Packers (2025)

Jonah Coleman looks like he could be the second coming of C.J. Anderson: A short, tanky back with big-time pass protection skills. It looks like we’re going into 2026 with J.K. Dobbins as RB1 again, but can he beat out RJ Harvey for that RB2 slot? Thanks.

— Ryan Smith, Commerce City

Hey Ryan, thanks for writing and getting us going this week.

The other Broncos running back that Coleman has drawn early comparisons to: Dobbins himself. In fact, head coach Sean Payton brought it up during the draft and assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt after the draft called the comp “very valid.” That����ap a pretty good starting point for the fourth-round pick out of Washington.

Dobbins will indeed lead Denver’s running back group into the 2026 season. It����ap early to know exactly how roles shake out, but to my mind the early blueprint is essentially Dobbins and Harvey in similar roles to what they did last year and then Coleman as the third-down back plus maybe a little more.

Let����ap just make the overarching disclaimer once, since most of the questions this week are about guys who have not yet stepped on an NFL practice field, let alone played in preseason or regular season games: It����ap April. Every rookie has a lot to do to get onto the field and there are months of work, development, signings, injuries and all the rest before we even get to the season’s starting point.

The Broncos would of course love it if Harvey took a big step in Year 2 and added every-down rushing efficiency to his obvious talent and explosiveness catching the ball and working in space. They would love it if Dobbins plays the entire season for the first time in his career. They’d love it if Coleman made himself difficult to keep off the field.

Coleman’s going to have to prove he can pick up Denver’s protection plan — not an easy task for a rookie — in order to lock down the third-down job, but the Broncos like his ability in that department. Add in 51 catches over the past two years at Washington and there’s a chance he can essentially consolidate the roles of Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin. In an ideal world, Coleman and Harvey can perhaps take a bit of the load off Dobbins and complete the orbit of needs around him and then also serve as complementary options should Dobbins miss time.

On paper, it looks good. If everyone is healthy going into the season and Harvey looks poised to take a leap, Coleman’s role right out of the chute might be third down only. But even that����ap an important spot, and the rookie could push for more.

Hey Parker! What do you think of our draft class? I like Jonah Coleman and I think he can be a contributor this year. But how do you feel about Tyler Onyedim? And what’s up with us not going for an inside linebacker until literally the last pick in the draft?

— Mark, Arvada

Hey Mark, thanks for writing and, more importantly, for agreeing with me on Coleman.

Onyedim, too, is going to have a real chance to carve out a role, even if it����ap not a massive one. Basically, he’s going to get thrown into the mix of players attempting to replace John Franklin-Myers, who got more than $20 million per year from Tennessee in free agency.

It����ap worth saying there’s no guarantee that Denver will play its defensive rotation exactly like it did a year ago. Franklin-Myers played very similar rates each of his two years in Denver — 46% in 2024 and 49% last year. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Broncos will see those 517 snaps as the exact shape of the hole. They could use Malcolm Roach even a bit more (career-high 50% play time in his 12 games last year) and Eyioma Uwazurike (36% playing time) figures to be a key in the equation, too. If Denver keeps Roach in essentially the role he excelled in last year, then it has three options to replace JFM’s approximate snaps: Uwazurike and Onyedim — former teammates at Iowa State — and 2025 third-rounder Sai’Vion Jones.

Uwazurike has the most experience, even after missing 2023 due to suspension and playing just 63 snaps in 2024. Overall, though, that����ap a good battle going into this summer. Plus, Uwazurike is entering the final year of his rookie contract this fall.

As for the linebacker conversation, there’s never a good way to say exactly how or why a team didn’t draft a position during a particular draft. Burckhardt made it clear afterward that Denver wanted a linebacker, but didn’t see it as a critical need after re-signing Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton earlier this spring. It����ap also worth considering how the second round developed.

Remember, GM George Paton said the club had a group of six players targeted as options at No. 62.

“They all started going,” Paton said Friday night after selecting Onyedim while noting that the defensive lineman was in that group of six.

Combine that with the fact that five ILBs (and four TEs) went in the 19 picks before Denver’s original slot. ILB Anthony Hill Jr. and TE Max Klare were selected in the spots immediately preceding Denver. It����ap not difficult to figure out where, at least in part, the Broncos were initially looking.

Do you think either of the tight ends we drafted will do much this year? I don’t know much about them.

— Phillip K., Denver

Hey Phillip, thanks for the question. They’ll each have a chance to contribute early, but I’m not sure you look at either as a surefire rotation member right out of the gate.

They are different kinds of players. Justin Joly, the fifth-rounder out of NC State, is a pass-catcher first and foremost. He’s, in positional parlance, an “F” who will move around the formation, play from the slot or wing and factor in the passing game. Dallen Bentley, the seventh-rounder out of Utah, is a “Y.” He’s the classic tight end who can line up in-line, attached to the tackle on either side of the formation.

The shorthand: Joly begins as an Evan Engram-type and Bentley begins as Adam Trautman-type.

Those aren’t Denver’s only tight ends, of course, though injuries limited the rest of the group in terms of playing time in 2025. That trio came in this way: Nate Adkins (199 snaps in nine games), Marcedes Lewis (81 snaps in five games) and Lucas Krull (53 snaps in three games).

Trautman’s 57% playing time checked in between 2024 (52%) and 2023 (70%). Engram played less in Year 1 with the Broncos than any healthy season previously in Jacksonville and with the New York Giants.

The Broncos need to figure out how to get more production out of this group. If that����ap via Joly or Bentley right away, great. Maybe they can help Denver play heavier or feature more TE variety. If it����ap as simple as unlocking Engram more, that����ap more than fine. As a starting point, I’m not sure there’s a massive role for either rookie right away, but perhaps one or both can make some summer noise and alter that conversation.

What can you tell me about this Red Murdock kid? I’ve been watching videos about him and it feels like we found a gem that fell through the cracks. He owns the NCAA record for most career forced fumbles! How did he not get drafted higher?

— Walter, Pueblo

Hey Walter, thanks for writing in. First thing, make sure to catch Sean Keeler’s column from early this week. It����ap a good one and will tell you a lot about Murdock the person. He’s a smart, interesting guy.

The stats are indeed wild. Murdock forced 17 fumbles over 34 games at Buffalo. He was credited with 298 total tackles in the past two seasons. So on and so forth.

Not only that, but plenty of services thought Murdock would go sooner than No. 257. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, for example, had him graded as a fourth or fifth-round pick and the No. 138 overall player in the class. Murdock checked in two spots behind Boise State OL Kage Casey on Brugler’s overall list. The Broncos drafted Casey No. 111 overall.

As for why Murdock was available late, teams see players in increasingly disparate ways as the draft enters its latter stages. Murdock also doesn’t have a huge wingspan and isn’t a top-shelf athlete, comparatively speaking. He also dealt with a foot/ankle injury last year that he played through but which lingered long enough to cut his pro day short this spring.

Which of the undrafted free agents do you think will have the best shot at making the team?

— K.J., Cheyenne, Wyo.

Hey K.J., good question and definitely one to revisit after rookie minicamp, which will be next weekend. There’s always somebody who jumps out when reporters get a chance to watch guys on the field. That doesn’t always equate to making the 53-man roster, but it����ap always an interesting exercise. Plus, it����ap hard to complain about seeing football-related activities in May.

The first guide is typically money. If you see a big guarantee for an undrafted free agent — some teams committed as much as $300,000 in total guarantees this spring — that means the team believes that player will at least be on their practice squad. The base practice squad salary for a rookie is $13,750 per week, totaling $247,500 for the season. So some players are essentially being guaranteed an entire PS salary plus a little.

By that measure in Denver, you’d look to players like ILB Taurean York (Texas A&M), OLB Dasan McCullough (Nebraska) and OT Tyler Miller (Iowa State). Of course, offensive line and outside linebacker are going to be two of the toughest position groups to crack, assuming good health. So let����ap say York as an early candidate, but see what happens once the guys have been on the field a couple of times, too.

Eventually, they started looking. That was good. That also brought questions, though. And one very specific inquiry.

“What’s the big thing,” Whittingham recalled scouts asking, “on his hand?”

After a Week 3 win over Wyoming in early September, as Bentley was cementing himself as one of the Utes’ primary receiving weapons, a trainer walked into Utah’s meeting room and announced Bentley had a spiral fracture in one of his fingers. A surgeon was recommending a procedure that would knock him out for six weeks, the trainer said. The staff, as Whittingham recalled, was floored.

Bentley, though, got a second opinion. Another doctor told him he didn’t �󲹱�����to get the surgery, Whittingham remembered. It’d heal eventually, that doctor said, if he just immobilized it for long enough.

Seventh months later, the Utah tight end became a Broncos seventh-round pick — and a near-Mr. Irrelevant upside play — after catching passes the near-entirety of his senior season with a club-like contraption on his hand.

“He was essentially playing one-handed this year,” Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham told The Denver Post.

By the final picks of last Saturday’s NFL Draft, the Broncos had already made their move on an athletic tight end, packaging together a fifth-round and a sixth-round pick to move up 18 slots and nab NC State’s Justin Joly. Before a Broncos scout reached out the week of the draft, a source told The Post, Denver hadn’t had much communication with Bentley. Freddie Whittingham, even, said point-blank he didn’t expect the Broncos to take Bentley. But magically — thanks to a combination of age (25 years old) and previous injury history (32 total collegiate games), a was sitting there at No. 256.

And thus, the Broncos snagged an under-the-radar Utah tight end in the seventh round for the second draft cycle in a row.

“We must be making a good impression on them,” former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham cracked.

The situational optics are strange. The logic, though, is clear. Bentley stands 6-foot-4, weighs 253 pounds, and his testing ranks inside the top 7% of all tight end pre-draft athletic profiles since 1987, . He is old, but has only actually played tight end for four seasons. After being thrown a football exactly six times as a junior, he broke out for 620 yards and six touchdowns as a senior.

And the most eye-popping fact of all: he recorded exactly zero dropped passes in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus, despite playing nine games with that club.

“I think I’m a really great hybrid tight end who’s able to go out there and make some big plays in the passing game, and stick my hand in the dirt and make some big plays there,” Bentley said, on a post-draft conference call with reporters. “I have great hands, so I don’t drop balls. So you can trust me, in some situations.”

At the end of Day 2, Broncos general manager George Paton made plain Denver’s plan this cycle: look for “young, developmental backups with some traits that we can develop,” as Paton put it. They found several on Day 3, from Washington running back Jonah Coleman to Mr. Irrelevant linebacker Red Murdock. And Bentley fits that profile better than anyone, a one-time JUCO product who was on absolutely nobody’s radar at the beginning of last season.

After graduating from Taylorsville High in Utah, a then 5-foot-11 Bentley embarked on a year-long mission trip in Colorado through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Somehow, he “grew like 5 inches” by the time he returned, as Freddie Whittingham recalled. Bentley decided to try football, enrolled at Snow College in Utah as a walk-on, caught eight passes in eight games, and drew Utah’s attention as a big local kid who could move.

That single spiral fracture, though, threatened to wipe out any hope Bentley had of realizing his potential as a Ute. His first year at Utah brought a hamstring strain that he tweaked several times in practice, as Freddie Whittingham remembered. His second year brought a broken hand in fall camp and a majority-blocking role as a backup. 2025 was meant to be his breakout, until he was thwarted again by his own body.

Instead, he wrapped his pinky, ring and middle fingers together in a hard cast for more than two months.

“A lot of guys would’ve just pulled the plug,” Kyle Whittingham said, “and gotten that surgery. But he wanted to prove himself because of the frustrations he had, in years previous.”

After Bentley’s first practice with the splint, Freddie Whittingham looked down at his hand and wondered if he’d still be able to catch a football. After practice, the Utah tight ends coach chuckled, and the staff realized that wouldn’t be an issue. Bentley managed to figure out how to use the cast to brace a pass against himself as it came in, and Utah began wrapping his brace in the same red-and-black color as his gloves to try to throw other programs off the scent.

“I don’t know how many teams noticed,” Freddie Whittingham said, “or didn’t notice.”

Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t. Bentley still caught 48 passes — again, without a drop -— and had the seventh-highest PFF run-blocking grade of 22 Big 12 tight ends with at least 100 run-blocking snaps in 2025.

When the cast finally came off for a Las Vegas Bowl matchup against Nebraska, Bentley had his best game of the season in a 44-24 win: six catches, 106 yards, a touchdown.

“It was pretty impressive,” Kyle Wittingham said, “given the circumstances.”

He’ll have his work cut out for him in training camp, as the Broncos will introduce widespread competition with a slew of tight ends of varying skillsets: veteran receiver Evan Engram, veteran blockers Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins, and youngsters Joly and Caleb Lohner. Bentley is a dart thrown into the mix, a traditional in-line blocker who can also split out to the slot and beat zone coverage.

Importantly, he should also have both hands available this fall.

“He’s just sneaky athletic … he can line up in-line at the line of scrimmage and block, you can also involve him in the pass game,” Freddie Whittingham said. “So I think it’ll be interesting to see what they do.”