The Broncos tight end is the first one fans see on the grass every day at training camp. He loves the fans, but he does it for himself.

Fifteen or so minutes before any other Bronco jogs out from the locker room, the tight end goes through his routine — the stretch before the stretch. Engram bends deep. He hops for a few yards. He drives his hand into the ground in a blocking stance and smacks a dummy pad.

In September, longtime trainer Drew Lieberman will move with his wife to Denver to a house just down the street from Engram, another step in a precise routine. It’s an arrangement they’ve had since Engram entered his second year in Jacksonville back in 2023. Lieberman and was trying to determine which of his clients — a group that’s included NFL receivers Mohamed Sanu and Olamide Zaccheaus — demanded the most attention.

Engram craved it. The first season Lieberman rented a property near him in Jacksonville, Engram caught a career-best 114 passes. Now Lieberman spends half his years living essentially with Engram, the two breaking down tape and the tight end’s psyche.

“He’s becoming the sensei,” Lieberman said, “of this whole (thing).”

When they first began working together before his last year with the Giants in 2021, Engram told Lieberman his primary career goal was to win a Super Bowl MVP.�� Lieberman’s response was simple: That’s BS.��

“How is that the judgment of your career?” Lieberman recalled saying. “Pick better goals.”

It was an arbitrary trophy, based on factors largely out of Engram’s control. So later on in their relationship, as they spent time discussing books like sports psychologist Bob Rotella’s Engram came back with a new proclamation.

“He’s like, ‘When I really think about it, I know if I really get everything out of my talent, I can be one of the best tight ends that ever lived,’ ” Lieberman said.

That one was better.

A few years and a rebirth in Jacksonville later, the 30-year-old is still far away in that chase. He is, however, one of the best tight ends currently playing in the NFL.

He signed with Denver this offseason to embed himself in an offense that won’t put guardrails on his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame.

“I think the important thing for players like this,” former Giants tight ends coach Derek Dooley said, “is to get within systems that have flexibility to do different things outside of the traditional NFL way, so to speak.”

There is no traditional NFL position for the moniker that’s been bestowed on Engram in Denver: “Joker.”

Head coach Sean Payton coined the term over the years. It applies to unconventionally gifted receivers who thrive underneath in his offenses. It doesn’t exactly pop up in meeting rooms. Fans and reporters, Engram smiled, “have a lot more fun with it” than actual coaches.

The “AI” definition, as Payton put it, is a tight end or running back who’s a rare pass-catcher. This concept has long existed in the NFL, of course, outside of Payton’s “Joker” favorites like tight end Jimmy Graham or running back Darren Sproles in New Orleans. A player like Engram, as NFL vet Sanu explained, forces defenses to choose whether to play in base or in nickel (extra defensive back) to account for his ability to burn a linebacker in coverage.

“When the defense puts an umbrella on the deep ball or they’re clouding to the outside — they force you to work inside sometimes,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said in camp. “And having guys that have the talent to get open underneath, but also the feel — a lot of those routes are feel routes. A lot of them have options to them.

“So having guys that have the ability to do it and then the feel and the instincts to do the right things, it����ap huge.”

It’s easy to take away a wide receiver in the pass game in the NFL, Payton explained. It’s less easy to take away a halfback or tight end. With Engram’s arrival, the Broncos now have multiple pieces — receiver Marvin Mims Jr. and running back RJ Harvey are others — who can move across formations and veer in and out of the flat on choice routes.

Engram has been particularly focused on developing as a blocker since arriving in Denver — a role he’s filled on roughly a third of the snaps in his eight-year NFL career. That, too, forces opposing coordinators to adjust. If Engram can stay on the field as a run-blocker, defenses can’t just game-plan against the pass and always shadow him with an extra defensive back.

“He sticks his nose in there,” Lombardi said. “Complete tight end, and a guy who’s been really showing up here in camp.”

The “Joker” label is fun. It means little to Engram, though, until he earns it.

“I just see that as being reliable, being clutch, making plays … run-game, it����ap pass-game, in the locker room, in the weight room, just doing my job at the highest level,” Engram said. “With doing that, and the work, the results will come.

“And then, the fun — we can have more fun with it as we go.”

Broncos TEs vs. Evan Engram

The Broncos tight ends were far from productive during Sean Payton’s first two seasons as head coach in Denver. The addition of Evan Engram through free agency should change that this fall. Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.

Source: .

Most will even say that if they’re getting talked about too much during a game week or broadcast, it����ap probably because something bad happened.

Nonetheless, the Broncos have a high-profile offensive line group, at least relatively speaking.

Four of their five starters are either considered among the best in football at their position or are among the game’s highest-paid.

On the left side, tackle Garett Bolles and guard Ben Powers check in at $20.5 million and $13 million per season, respectively. Those are both top-10 numbers, and they are each arguably top-10 performers, too. At right guard, Quinn Meinerz is an All-Pro and contender for best interior offensive lineman in football. He’s No. 5 on the pay list at $18 million per season. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey submitted maybe the best overall year of his career in 2024, and his $17.5 million per season ranks 10th at his position.

They all flank the least-known, lowest-paid, most-under-the-radar player of the group: Center Luke Wattenberg.

The fourth-year player out of Washington stepped into the starting lineup last fall to replace departed free agent Lloyd Cushenberry. He not only held his own, but he cemented himself as a player head coach Sean Payton, offensive line coach Zach Strief and the rest of the offense could rely on.

Asked during training camp whether his vision for Wattenberg had changed over the past year, Payton quickly acknowledged it had.

“It����ap a lot different,” he said. “A starter. Asset starter. Smart. He played really well last year for us in his first year as a starter.”

Wattenberg doesn’t pop up on many lists of the best centers in football. He’s set to make $1.1 million in the final year of his rookie contract.

And yet he turned himself into a reliable starter while helping smooth the road for rookie quarterback Bo Nix a year ago. Now, as they head into their second year as starters together, they’ve got plenty of reason for confidence.

“It����ap a big deal,” Wattenberg said. “Just more time together, the more it feels natural. We’ve gotten a lot of those reps together, so it����ap starting to feel seamless.”

Wattenberg is quick to say that, as well as he played last season, it makes a big difference being sandwiched between a pair of guards like Powers and Meinerz. He does have the occasional assignment of blocking an interior defensive lineman one-on-one, but the nature of the position means he often either has help from the left or right, or he’s tasked with working in tandem with one of the guards.

“It goes back to my confidence,” Wattenberg said. “Being around the four guys around me brings my confidence up. We play so well together. They’re fantastic players, and I couldn’t ask to be on a better OL.”

The Broncos considered stretching their budget after the 2023 season to keep Cushenberry on the roster. Eventually, though, he signed a four-year, $50 million deal with Tennessee. Two rounds of free agency later, he’s still the No. 5-paid center in football. Part of Denver’s calculus in letting ‘Cush’ get away was the cautious optimism they had in Wattenberg and Alex Forsyth. Wattenberg won the job during training camp last summer and hasn’t looked back.

The only hiccup during his first season starting: An injury Week 5 against Las Vegas landed him on injured reserve and cost him four games. Aside from that, he put together a steady, productive season during which he not only held his own but showed he could be an asset in his own right.

Now the 2022 fifth-round pick is aiming to take another big step forward.

“I really want to take the next step in the run game and running off the ball. (New assistant offensive line coach) Chris Morgan has been helping me a lot with that and taking the next step in my run game. Playing fast, playing with my hat and getting my backside hand in have all been a point of emphasis for me, and he’s been helping me a lot with that.”

Another quality season for Wattenberg would further solidify the Broncos offensive line as one of the best in the business. It would also set Wattenberg up for a sizable second contract and cast a question as to whether the Broncos can retain all five starters — he’s the only one not currently under contract for 2026 — at substantial salaries.

That����ap all for the future.

“I think we just have to keep focusing on the details and take it one step at a time,” Wattenberg said. “We just have to focus on what we want to get better at the next day. That will take us to where we want to go.”

Snap decision

With expensive pieces scattered about their offensive line, the Broncos relied on inexperienced center Luke Wattenberg to take the reins in the middle last fall. And of the 23 centers in the NFL who played more than 800 snaps in 2024, Wattenberg was among the best bargains of the bunch. That could be the case again this season. Here’s a look at the lowest 2025 cap hits for returning centers who made 800-plus snaps last year.

Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.

Source:

Big Play Dre was born, for one date, on Sept. 13, 2014, when 17-year-old Dre Greenlaw went rogue in Arkansas. Darryl Patton’s Fayetteville High School juggernaut was locked in a battle with familiar rival Jefferson City. As the huddles broke on one play, Patton’s star defensive back was supposed to be covering Jeff City’s No. 3 receiver. Except he wasn’t.

Patton barked at his assistants, bewildered.

Hey, guy’s uncovered! Guy’s uncovered!

On the snap, the quarterback pivoted and fired a hot route to his seemingly wide-open target. Except Greenlaw shot out of a chamber, and somehow beat the receiver to the spot. Seconds later, he pulled into the end zone with a pick-six.

How Broncos DT Zach Allen’s insistence on innovation powered rise, set stage for another leap this fall

Later, he told his coaches he'd studied Jeff City's tape enough to know he could bait that play.

"You’ll see him sometimes be out of position, but he’ll end up with the ball, by the ball," Patton recalled. "And it����ap one of those things you’re going, ‘Oh, crap, Dre, Dre, no ... good play, Dre! Great play.’

"It was, Big Play Dre."

Big Play Dre was NFL-made, for another date, on Nov. 11, 2019, when Greenlaw started his fourth game with the San Francisco 49ers. He'd begun the year battling for reps with Kwon Alexander, who'd just signed a four-year deal that offseason. But Alexander was placed on IR after the previous game, and so the rookie Greenlaw found himself in the middle of a primetime game against the division-rival Seahawks -- and promptly picked off Russell Wilson in overtime of an eventual loss.

As Greenlaw tucked the interception and ran it back 47 yards, fellow 49ers linebacker marveled how natural the kid looked with the ball in his hands.

“In that moment," Warner recalled, "it����ap like, ‘Dang, this really is Big Play Dre.’”

Denver Post sports staff predictions for 2025 NFL season

In March this offseason, the Broncos shelled out $11.5 million guaranteed for that. For Big Play Dre, the ballhawk ILB. The only soft spot of a third-ranked Denver defense in 2024 was up the middle, where the Broncos' linebackers delivered largely mediocre marks in coverage, according to Pro Football Focus grades.

The 28-year-old Greenlaw, one of the heartbeats of a San Francisco defense that made two Super Bowls in five years, is an instant upgrade. In 2023, he allowed the , according to NFL's Next Gen Stats. The Broncos wanted him. And Greenlaw wanted to be wanted, a former foster kid who still craves feeling accepted.

His three-year deal in free agency is no sure thing. Greenlaw played all of two games in 2024 after a freak torn Achilles in 2023's Super Bowl. He has been set back by quad troubles all through the offseason and training camp. But if healthy, he gives the Broncos a playmaking element at inside linebacker that they haven't had since the days of Danny Trevathan.

"There’s an intensity to how he plays," Broncos head coach Sean Payton said in late July. "And it����ap just -- he’s one of those players that, if you put the film on and didn’t say anything, at some point early you would ask, ‘Who’s this guy?’”

His sideline-to-sideline intensity as a 230-pound tank of a tackler drew Payton's eyes.

Greenlaw began his career as a rangy safety playing on instincts. Patton has long been close with then-Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, and he begged him to recruit Greenlaw.

Bielema hemmed. Bielema hawed. He didn't know if Greenlaw was fast enough or big enough. He didn't know if Greenlaw was a safety or a linebacker.

Eventually, Bielema agreed to send defensive coordinator Robb Smith down to Fayetteville High one Friday night in October. Greenlaw, Patton remembered, had three picks. After the Fayetteville win, Smith walked off the field with Patton.

"Why in the hell," Patton remembered Smith asking, "have we not offered this kid?"

The defensive-back gene never died, even after Greenlaw arrived at Arkansas and converted to linebacker. Bielema put stripes on players' helmets at practices at Arkansas, to see where their eyes tracked. Greenlaw's eyes were always in the right place, Bielema remembered. Eventually, he told his defensive coaches to not slow Greenlaw down.

"He’s going to see things and play things at a higher level easier than other players," Bielema remembered saying. "Let����ap not make him overthink.”

Greenlaw moved his family to a permanent residence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, simply because it's a main hub for offseason training. He has two gyms in that house.

For dominant Broncos defensive line, it’s not whether they’ll all get paid — it’s where

This offseason, agent J.R. Carroll asked Greenlaw if he'd help review some pre-draft film of another client, Ole Miss linebacker Chris Paul Jr. Carroll was hoping he'd offer feedback on a few plays. Greenlaw downloaded Paul's entire season.

"He enjoys watching film," Carroll said, "like any other person would enjoy watching a sitcom."

Greenlaw "loved" defensive coordinator Vance Joseph's scheme in evaluating teams in free agency, Carroll said. And the safety-turned-linebacker's mind will now make up the central nervous system of Denver's defense.

"I don't think people understand," Warner said, "how intelligent of a football player Dre is."

Fewest receptions over expected in coverage, linebackers, 2023 NFL season

Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.

Source:

Not only did Aaron Glenn, a former defensive back and assistant coach for Payton, land the New York Jets’ head coaching job, but he did so after a terrific run as the defensive coordinator in Detroit. There, he coached for head man Dan Campbell, himself a Payton disciple.

“I spoke to him the night before he took that job, and I could feel his excitement,” the Broncos head coach said earlier this year. “I go all the way back when he was a player for us in Dallas, and then had the chance to hire him. He was a scout, I think, when we hired him and he first got into coaching. He was one of the best — I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of great assistants work for me, and Aaron was right there at the top.”

Glenn and Campbell represent the only Payton proteges who are head coaches in the NFL this year, and there’s a growing set of coordinators around the league, too. Take Chicago, which will feature Dennis Allen — fired as New Orleans’ head coach last year — as defensive coordinator and 28-year-old former Broncos tight end coach Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator for Ben Johnson.

“I counted on Declan Doyle for another three years at least,” Payton said recently. “At least until he starts shaving. But you’re happy for him.”

Campbell hired John Morton as offensive coordinator, and Glenn hired Chris Banjo as his special teams coordinator. The wheel keeps spinning.

And yet, Payton believes he’s got considerable talent on his 2025 Broncos coaching staff and several coaches who may one day stand in front of their own teams in the NFL.

“Sometimes it would be the presence in front of a room when they present their knowledge and work ethic,” Payton said of identifying head coaching traits in assistants. “It����ap hard to predict. And I would say it����ap not just offense, defense or special teams. Future head coaches can come from any one of those areas. …  There’s a communication skillset. There are a number of things that give them a chance. And ultimately, you’ve got to be in a place where you’re winning.

“If you’re in a program where you’re having success, generally, your coaches are going to get taken from that program.”

Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph got interviews this past winter, and if Denver’s defense lives up to expectations this fall, he should be in demand once again. Younger coaches like quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, secondary coach Jim Leonhard and offensive line coach Zach Strief all got coordinator titles this offseason — a reflection of the work Payton had to put in to keep them from exploring other opportunities around the league.

“This is an attractive spot, so you can win a lot of the jump balls if you’re competing against two different teams,” Payton said. “I think ownership has a lot to do with that. Stability has a lot to do with that. … (On) the procurement of those coaches, you rely on that and then the interview. You do a lot of research.

“It����ap easy to hire a coach. It����ap not easy to hire an exceptional one.”

The Broncos’ corps of potential future head coaches has traveled all kinds of paths. Joseph got the Denver head coaching job but was fired after just two seasons. He’s going into his seventh as a defensive coordinator since then, four in Arizona and now three back in Denver.

One player who’s been on every one of those teams: Defensive tackle Zach Allen.

“The X’s and O’s, everybody knows he’s incredible at that,” Allen told The Denver Post. “But he’s a leader of men, and he’s really good at understanding each player and building a relationship with each player.

“But he’s not a softie. He holds us to a very high standard. If we’re not doing something right, those defensive meetings are tough. He coaches you hard, and he loves you hard, too. I think any player would love to have that.”

Webb jumped into coaching directly after playing, while Strief spent just two seasons between retiring from the Saints and getting into coaching offensive line with Payton in the Bayou.

“For my sake, I hope he doesn’t leave,” swing tackle Alex Palczewski said of Strief. “… He wasn’t a top-10 pick where he just naturally had it. He was a seventh-round pick. He had to learn how to make it happen. … A big part of what he coaches is mental, putting yourself in the right state. It’s helped so much, and just the way he’s able to convey that, it’s unbelievable.”

Leonhard had a long playing career in the NFL, but coached seven years in college at Wisconsin before eventually landing in Denver after getting passed over for the head job at UW in 2022.

“You have to sometimes be willing to accept that they’re at the college level and they’re going to become this (in the future),” said Payton, speaking generally about coaches. He tried to hire Leonhard for his 2023 staff but ended up having to wait until 2024 as Leonhard took a year away from coaching and served as an analyst at Illinois.

“I’ve had a lot of success and been fortunate to have gotten a number of guys that went on to be really good NFL coaches.”

Payton’s NFL head coaching tree

It may not be robust, but Sean Payton’s coaching tree includes a pair of current head coaches, one of whom has turned the Detroit Lions into NFC contenders in short order. Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.

He knows, better than most, that this is a cold business. He went undrafted in 2020 out of Texas, somehow played himself into a roster spot in a season without any preseason games — and was left “so upset” when New Orleans opted not to re-sign him in 2024.

A year later, he’s the self-dubbed “Sixth Man of the Year” for a dominant Broncos defensive line. But he could find himself in the same position five months from now. There are many mouths to feed in his position room — all chomping for extensions.

D.J. Jones got his last March. Zach Allen‘s came in August. Now, Roach needs one. And so does John Franklin-Myers.

They all have come to an implicit understanding, though: They �ɾ�������get paid, if they keep the standard the same as last fall. Maybe in Denver. Maybe somewhere else. The where isn’t important right now.

“We don’t really think about it that much,” Roach said at the start of August. “At the end goal, we think about stopping this run and getting to the quarterback.

“And we do that at a high level — we all have a lot of money.”

It’s largely impossible for this Broncos interior defensive line to make another massive jump after a season collapsing pockets and leading the NFL in sacks last season.

Allen had a career year in 2024, making second-team All-Pro and joining J.J. Watt, T.J. Watt, Nick Bosa and Aaron Donald as the only players to record 40 quarterback hits in a year since 2006. Jones played well enough at nose tackle to earn himself a hearty three-year extension. Roach continued to do “Sixth Man” things. And after coming over in a trade with the Jets, Franklin-Myers was “the last piece of the puzzle,” as Jones said during camp.

The question, now, is how the Broncos preserve their dominance in years to come. Not a day after Roach’s “lot of money” comments, Denver shelled out $102 million over four years to extend Allen. The payday recognized Allen as one of the best interior defensive pieces in the league. It also might have constricted the pot for everyone else.

Come 2026, Allen’s cap number will balloon to $28.6 million, the highest figure on the Broncos’ current roster. Denver is also working toward an extension with edge rusher Nik Bonitto that could extend to the range of $25 million to $30 million a year. And franchise quarterback Bo Nix will become extension-eligible before the 2027 season.

Roach and Franklin-Myers, for the moment, may find themselves on the outside looking in.

“I was in that position in Arizona where it’s like, you know what, you’re going to get it one way or another, and at the end of the day it’s just about performing,” Allen said when asked about Franklin-Myers and Roach waiting for deals. “They’re awesome people, awesome guys, and I’m just really blessed to play with them. I root for the best for them.”

Roach, for one, has largely shrugged off the money: He’ll be happy, he told reporters during camp, whether the Broncos re-sign him or not. Franklin-Myers, though, has been vocal on social media all offseason about his desire for a new deal, despite not creating much actual fuss at camp.

“Under appreciated & Underpaid, but numbers won’t lie!” Franklin-Myers . “I’d bet my money too if I were you!”

To Franklin-Myers’ point, the veteran has racked up 50-plus pressures for five straight NFL seasons, according to Pro Football Focus’s metrics. But Bonitto is higher on Denver’s list of extension priorities. After the Patriots gave $26 million a year to former Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams, Franklin-Myers could reasonably ask for upwards of $20 million a year. The Broncos, especially after taking rookie Sai’vion Jones in the third round in April, may not be willing to spend that capital.

But they may need him, too, to stay at their current bar. After Franklin-Myers left the Jets last season, New York’s Quinnen Williams dropped from 70 pressures in 2023 to 54 in 2024. After Franklin-Myers arrived in Denver, Allen jumped from 60 pressures in 2023 to 81 in 2024.

“He’s very important for us because of who Zach is, right … to have two inside rushers does balance out things for us,” Joseph said of Franklin-Myers. “So, someone’s getting a one-on-one. It����ap just math, right?

“If he gets it, he wins it. If Zach gets it, he wins. So, for offenses, it����ap got to be a choice each week: Who gets the double-team, who gets a single?”

Franklin-Myers, then, is a natural ceiling-raiser. So is Roach, as a ready-made rotational substitute for Jones and others.

But the Broncos, soon, will be forced to weigh the height of that ceiling against several tens of millions.

It took 14 attempts for the Broncos to find his long-term replacement.

The Broncos knew it would never be the same when Manning left the building, but they had no idea his exit would become the curse of incompetence.

As awful as those eight years were in cementing a sobering reality, it only took one season for a new truth to become evident.

Bo Nix is the best Broncos quarterback since Peyton Manning. And no one is happier about this than, well, Manning.

“Bo is made of the right stuff. He’s a little bit older, carries himself the right way. And all of it should help as he moves forward in his career,” Manning said. “I am just happy that Bo is the established starter. For a number of years, they had quarterback competitions. That����ap hard on the receivers, the coaches, the play-caller, and the quarterback. Now, they’ve got their guy.”

As impressive as Nix was as a rookie, throwing for 29 touchdowns and leading the Broncos to their first playoff berth since You Know Who, now comes the hard part.

Doing it again.

The sophomore slump remains part of the American lexicon, with examples scattered across sports, music and cinema.

When Nix disappointed in the exhibition opener at San Francisco, it fed into the narrative that his follow-up will rival Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Fairweather Johnson.”

Manning knows the challenge of living up to lofty expectations, but from what he has seen of Nix, he is not buying a regression.

“I just don’t see that as being a big factor for him. Rookie quarterbacks are supposed to struggle, and then the game slows down. But, it sure looked like it slowed down a lot for him last year,” Manning said. “Like with C.J. Stroud, Bo didn’t play like a rookie. … I believe experience is the best teacher, and he got great experience last year.”

Manning struggled in his rookie season, setting the record with 28 interceptions, before finishing second in the MVP voting in his sophomore year. His situation was worse because his team was.

But he identified the most important similarity in his shared experience with Nix.

“The continuity, more than anything else. There are times when guys go into their second year, and they are going on their third coordinator,” Manning said. “.. He has an experienced head coach in Sean, who is his play-caller. Having that same voice and verbiage is so critical. We expect Sean to be here for a long time, so Bo will use that to his advantage.”

Reflecting on his years with offensive coordinator Tom Moore, Manning explained how they could fix things quickly and seamlessly add new wrinkles. He has watched Patrick Mahomes progress in a similar fashion with Andy Reid, while others like Alex Smith and Baker Mayfield bounced from team to team and system to system.

“When you look around the league at guys who play well, they often have the same coordinator. It is not automatic, but it makes a difference,” Manning said. “Learning the language of a new playbook and getting on the same page with a new coach is hard.”

This season represents the first time since 2016 that the Broncos have had the same starting quarterback and play-caller in back-to-back seasons. Comfort matters. So does “Bo having more weapons in the run game and at tight end,” Manning said. It also helps that the 25-year-old Nix gets it.

Just as Manning accelerated his growth through obsessive attention to detail, studying defenses and the sleight of hand of play-action artists like Boomer Esiason, Nix is more than willing to get bleary-eyed in the film room or pick the brain of future Hall of Famer Drew Brees.

“For him to spend time with Brees makes a lot of sense as far as learning Sean’s offense and the mental side of things. That is an example of him not being satisfied,” Manning said.

Manning and Nix hoped to talk over rounds of golf before training camp, but scheduling conflicts arose. But Manning knows Nix. They met at the Manning Passing Academy a few years ago as Nix was preparing to transfer to Oregon. And Peyton’s two-time Super Bowl champion brother, Eli, hung out with Bo and his father, Patrick, this summer. Nix and Eli helped set a Guinness World Record alongside Auburn fans as they tossed more than 7,000 rolls of toilet paper into the trees at Toomer’s Corner.

“Eli talked about how they are great guys. I know Bo was great at the (passing academy). You spend three days with them. He was so mature,” Peyton Manning said. “Eventually, we will get together. But I have told Bo, I am always around as a resource whenever he needs me.”

As the unofficial ambassador of football, Manning is often diplomatic. But he doesn’t provide his stamp of approval to just anyone. He knows Nix is different and recognizes that this season feels special in Denver.

Sophomore slump? Quite the opposite. Manning cannot wait to see what Nix does next.

“I signed in Denver as a free agent after playing for 14 years. Being drafted here, that’s an even different kind of pressure. I was certainly aware of the responsibility that comes with it, and I believe Bo is as well. It is important. People care so much, and you feel that,” Manning said. “That’s the kind of environment you want, where they talk about your team during the season, free agency and the draft. It’s an unbelievable place to play. I believe Bo understands it and embraces it. I only see him getting better.”

We don’t talk about Pat Surtain II’s vision nearly enough. Great cornerbacks are football’s the biggest of the big-game hunters, dogging prey through darkness and chaos. PSII spies where a ball is headed seconds before it leaves the station. Talent borrows. Genius steals.

And as Champ Bailey, one of the best corners of all time, reminded me the other day, you can’t catch what you don’t see first. So when I asked Champ what Surtain, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, could do for an encore in 2025, Bailey hit it right on the nose.

Actually, right above the nose.

“(PSII) is probably smarter than he’s been throughout his career,” Bailey, the NFL’s all-time leader in pass break-ups and a Broncos cornerback from 2004-2013, told me by phone earlier this month.��“But the only way you utilize that is by seeing what’s going on, seeing the plays develop, the route concepts, and having a better understanding of your role in the defense.

“… I’m sure (defensive coordinator) Vance Joseph is thinking about this: How do you put him in position to make plays? The best way to make plays is to allow him to see the ball.”

There’s just one problem: The better you are at cornerback, the fewer balls actually come your way. And Surtain is the best cornerback on the planet.

He was charted with 60 targets in 2024. That was after 91 in ’23 and 70 in ’22. Unofficially.

“We know this dude competes every play, whether the ball’s coming at him or not,” Bailey, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and analyst with Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT, said of Surtain. “And it’s going to come less and less the better he gets.”

The larger the legend, the smaller the windows. Yet the greats also have the vision — and foresight — to impact the action that’s actively avoiding them. In 2005, Bailey recorded eight interceptions, returning two for scores, and defended 23 passes.

The next year, he was thrown at just 35 times all season. Bailey wound up deflecting 21 throws and picking off 10 others. His 98 tackles, 84 of them solo, ranked third on a defense that had Al Wilson (113 stops) and Ian Gold (101) at linebacker.

Last winter, PSII became just the seventh cornerback to ever take home NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors from the Associated Press. No CB1 has ever won the award twice.

Bailey wouldn’t be shocked if Surtain, who turned 25 in April, became the first. So long as he follows two sage pieces of advice. 1.) Fight the boredom, kid. 2.) Then get out there and fight for the blankety-blank tackle.

“You could (be bored) if you allow it,” Bailey said. “But there are so many aspects of the game that are important.

“Like tackling, making sure you don’t miss tackles. You don’t want to ever be that guy that (they say), ‘He’s great, he’s going to shut his guy down, but he’s going to miss a tackle.’ You never want to be that guy with chinks like that.

“And (Surtain) is not that. He’s big. He has the size. I look forward to seeing him mix it up a lot more this year.”

Wideouts? Yeah, not so much.

PSII is 6-foot-2 with an 80-foot game, a 202-pound cudgel and the wingspan — and eyes — to erase half a football field. Box girders have more fat on them than

“(Pat) had such a great year. How do you build on that? I think that����ap focus,” Broncos general manager George Paton told The Post recently. “He wants to be Defensive Player of the Year again, I’m sure, but he just wants to win. So (that means) helping his teammates get better and prepare. Pat doesn’t say a lot, but he’s a great leader and they follow him. Winning. That����ap how his (2025) gets better.”

PSII is entering the prime of his career as the bulwark and apex to one of the fastest, frenetic, pocket-crunching, QB-mashing defenses in Broncos history.

Of the eight players who’ve won multiple NFL DPOY honors, seven did so a second time for a team with a winning record. When it comes to the postseason, legends make sure to see that train right through to the end.

“You can’t make a play on something you don’t see,” Bailey said. “Think about the picks (Surtain) had last year. Every time he got an interception, he was in a position where he could see what was coming.. He just saw the ball coming. And he’s an exceptional athlete.

“When you can anticipate, see what����ap happening, and then react the way he does, he’s going to make a significant amount of plays. I’m looking forward to (2025).”

Turns out that kind of vision goes both ways. When it comes to PSII, Bailey can see something else off in the distance, just past the horizon: Dominion. Domination. Clear as day.

Week 1

Pittsburgh at New York Jets

Sunday, Sept. 7, 11 a.m., CBS

Tempting as it is to go with the Chiefs and Chargers on Friday, Sept. 5, in Sao Paulo, we can’t resist QB Aaron Rodgers’ return to the Meadowlands for a matchup against former Steelers quarterback Justin Fields.

Baltimore at Buffalo

Sunday, Sept. 7, 6:20 p.m., NBC

Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Ravens counterpart Lamar Jackson split the NFL’s MVP awards last fall, marking the first time that’s happened in 21 years. The winner here gets an early leg up — in both the MVP race and the race for the AFC’s top seed.

Week 2

Philadelphia at Kansas City

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2:25 p.m., FOX

Did the Eagles put an end to the Chiefs’ dynasty with last February’s 40-22 beatdown in Super Bowl LIX? This game could provide an early clue as to how sturdy quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ squad truly is after five Super Bowl trips in six seasons.

Las Vegas at Los Angeles Chargers

Monday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m., ESPN

There’s no better coaching rivalry in football than Pete Carroll vs. Jim Harbaugh. It began in the Pac-12 with USC vs. Stanford, moved to the NFC West with Seattle vs. San Francisco, and now it comes to the AFC West. So, of course, the NFL buries it at 8 p.m. on a Monday.

Week 3

Houston at Jacksonville

Sunday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m., CBS

A relatively tepid Week 3 slate is saved by the presence of CU Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who could spend half his day trying to shake free of All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and the other half locking down Pro Bowl receiver Nico Collins.

Week 4

Cincinnati at Denver

Monday, Sept. 29, 6:15 p.m., ABC

If this is anything like last December’s instant classic at Paycor Stadium — an overtime thriller that included a Bo Nix-to-Marvin Mims Jr. heave at the end of regulation and walk-off TD pass from Joe Burrow to Tee Higgins — then we’re in for a treat.

Week 5

San Francisco at Los Angeles Rams

Thursday, Oct. 2, 6:15 p.m., Amazon Prime

Plagued by injuries, Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers went from Super Bowl LIV to a disappointing 6-11 campaign in 2024. After an exodus of talent in free agency, their hopes of returning to contention with a healthy Christian McCaffrey may very well hinge on this divisional matchup.

Week 6

Chicago at Washington

Monday, Oct. 13, 6:15 p.m., ABC

The top two picks in the 2024 draft meet again, with Chicago QB Caleb Williams looking to avenge last year’s Hail Mary heartbreaker. Jayden Daniels-to-Noah Brown ignited a 10-game Bears losing streak that led to the end of the Matt Eberflus era in Chicago.

Week 7

New York Giants at Denver

Sunday, Oct. 19, 2:05 p.m., CBS

An early-season Russell Wilson injury denied Broncos fans a true Russ Bowl when the Steelers came calling last fall. But good things come to those who wait … unless first-round pick Jaxson Dart has already taken Wilson’s job at this point. Another “petty game ball,” anyone?

Week 8

Green Bay at Pittsburgh

Sunday, Oct. 26, 6:20 p.m., NBC

If only this were at Lambeau Field. Alas, we must settle for Aaron Rodgers facing his former team — the one he quarterbacked to 11 playoff bids and a Super Bowl title, not the one currently digging itself out from his disastrous two-year tenure — in the Steel City.

Week 9

Kansas City at Buffalo

Sunday, Nov. 2, 2:25 p.m., CBS

Sign us up for any meeting between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Mahomes holds the head-to-head edge at 5-4 after winning January’s AFC title game, but Allen has won four straight regular-season meetings. Add a dash of snow and this is must-see TV.

Week 10

Atlanta vs. Indianapolis at Olympic Stadium, Berlin

Sunday, Nov. 9, 7:30 a.m., NFL

Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. made his bones in the Crossroads of America, but his first game against an Indiana team will be in … Germany? The 2024 first-round pick showed flashes at the end of last season. Take another step, and Atlanta will contend in a winnable NFC South.

Week 11

Detroit at Philadelphia

Sunday, Nov. 16, 6:20 p.m., NBC

Washington’s playoff upset of Detroit robbed us of what could’ve been an epic NFC title game between the Lions and Eagles. Will Dan Campbell’s club remain explosive with former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson off to Chicago? A matchup against Philly’s D should reveal plenty.

Week 12

Tampa Bay at Los Angeles Rams

Sunday, Nov. 23, 6:20 p.m., NBC

Sean McVay and the Rams resurrected Baker Mayfield’s career with a brief cup of coffee at the end of the 2022 season. They’ll meet for the first time since, with the Heisman Trophy-winning QB now the leader of a Bucs franchise that’s won the NFC South four years in a row.

Week 13

Minnesota at Seattle

Sunday, Nov. 30, 2:05 p.m., FOX

QB Sam Darnold led Minnesota to 14 wins and a playoff berth, then the Vikings said “thanks, but no thanks” to offering him another contract with 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings. Here’s guessing Darnold’s had this one circled for a while.

Week 14

Tennessee at Cleveland

Sunday, Dec. 7, 11 a.m., FOX

Consider this a bet that Shedeur Sanders will be taking snaps for the Browns … and ready to prove his father and CU Buffs head coach Deion Sanders right by taking down No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward in a battle of Class of 2025 quarterbacks.

Week 15

Miami at Pittsburgh

Monday, Dec. 15, 6:15 p.m., ESPN

Head coach Mike Tomlin hasn’t had a losing record once in 18 seasons in Pittsburgh. Aurora native Mike McDaniel has won eight games or more in each of his three seasons as head coach in Miami. Both may need a big year to hold on to their jobs.

Week 16

Green Bay at Chicago

Saturday, Dec. 20, TBD, FOX

The best rivalry in football is also among the most one-sided, with the Packers holding a 26-5 edge in the series since 2010. If former Lions OC Ben Johnson is going to win over the Midway as the Bears’ new head coach, he must start beating the Pack first.

Week 17

Dallas at Washington

Thursday, Dec. 25, 11 a.m., Netflix

The league’s holiday gift to football fans? Three spectacular divisional matchups on Christmas Day… that will all be broadcast on either Netflix or Amazon Prime. Because nothing says happy holidays quite like making fans pay for two different streaming services.

Week 18

Indianapolis at Houston

Jan. 6 or 7, TBD, TBD

The AFC South is the early front-runner for the weakest division in the NFL. It stands to reason that one of the two games involving teams from that division will decide a playoff spot on the final weekend of the season. Here’s guessing it’s this one.

Nor the muscles around it. Nor the material of the sutures.

“The thing that has to be the most right,” ElAttrache says, “is the guy. The guy that Achilles is attached to.”

In the span of a few months rehabbing in Los Angeles in 2023, an oft-surly 40-year-old quarterback became pals with a 25-year-old goofball of a running back. This is the J.K. Dobbins Effect — the smiling man who won over Aaron Rodgers.

The ex-Ravens running back came to ElAttrache with a torn Achilles a couple of years after blowing out every lateral ligament in his knee, and he never wavered. At one point, he hopped off his training table in the middle of physical therapy, ran into a room , and chirped at the quarterback to get back to rehab.

ElAttrache reconstructed Kobe Bryant’s Achilles. He performed Tommy John surgery on Shohei Ohtani. .

Dobbins, the now-26-year-old Bronco, will always be one of ElAttrache’s favorites.

“I can’t say enough about him,” ElAttrache said. “I mean, he’s the kind of guy that I would like to have as a friend forever. He’s that kind of person.”

The general NFL public can be forgiven for assuming Dobbins’ career was all but over before ElAttrache repaired his Achilles. It would’ve been two decades ago. A torn Achilles spelled career death for hordes of productive running backs, including LenDale White, , Beanie Wells and Arian Foster.

Achilles rehabilitation has grown leaps and bounds in recent years, with ElAttrache at the forefront. He performed the first “SpeedBridge” procedure on former Los Angeles Rams RB Cam Akers in 2021, . Still, recovery is no guarantee. And yet Dobbins was “joyful,” as ElAttrache remembered, throughout an otherwise miserable experience.

When training back home, Dobbins sent his surgeon texts of most anything that was happening to him. Updates. Video clips of him cutting, usually with some sort of message attached, like: Can you tell which leg it was? 

“If every player I took care of had J.K.’s personality,” ElAttrache said, “I would be 100% successful the rest of my career.”

Dobbins, who signed with the Broncos in June, brings a significant injury rap sheet to Denver. After a productive rookie year with the Baltimore Ravens in 2020, Dobbins blew out his knee the following training camp. He played half a season in 2022, with midseason surgery to remove scar tissue. He blew out his Achilles in the preseason of 2023.��Denver tossed him a one-year flier in June, with $2.5 million of incentives for him to return to the player he once was.

That player may be gone. But the player who remains is a veteran who submitted a fuller body of work in 2024 — after the Achilles tear. After signing a one-year prove-it deal with the Chargers, Dobbins didn’t hit edges with as much efficiency, but he was virtually the same rusher up the middle in a 905-yard season. He also had more catches (32) and pass-blocking snaps than the rest of his NFL career combined.

“You never want to expect they’re going to be 22 years old again,” ElAttrache said. “You can’t turn back the clock and go before, when he was that number one (running back) for the Ravens.

“But, having said that, his performance was still right there.”

ElAttrache’s modern approach to Achilles repair began with Bryant’s rehab in 2013, when he first experimented with techniques to help disseminate the amount of tension that went back to the Achilles. Athletes have to essentially re-train their gait perfectly, ElAttrache explained, rebuilding strength without putting full weight on the tendon.

A decade later, Dobbins’ rehab involved long stints on an anti-gravity treadmill. ElAttrache and physical therapists slowly dialed up the amount of body weight he was walking on — from 40% to 100% of his full mass — until he had a perfectly symmetrical gait.

Exactly a year after that torn Achilles, Dobbins promptly exploded for 266 yards on 27 carries in his first two games in Los Angeles.

“My thing is to be a blessing to other people,” Dobbins said. “And if they see my story, and they’re like, shoot, maybe they had bad days, maybe they got fired, all right.

“Or, you hear about CEOs all the time,” he continued. “They send thousands and thousands of emails, and nobody ever answers. And then that one clicks. And then they made it. So, that����ap all I’m trying to do.”

Dobbins averaged just 3.8 yards a carry after that torrid two-game start with the Chargers. But he chipped away at Denver for 96 yards on 25 carries in October, and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said Dobbins was “one of the best guys we saw.”

“One-on-one, he was a tough tackle for us,” Joseph said. “I’m happy he’s a Bronco.”

Dobbins is Denver’s primary answer to a backfield that slumped last season. But he doesn’t need to be the Dobbins of old in Denver. Rookie RJ Harvey is there to add off-tackle burst. Dobbins can settle into a role as a between-the-tackles runner and pass-protector.

If the year calls for it, though, there’s still three-down juice left in Dobbins’ legs.

“I don’t see how you can say, going into the season,” ex-Ravens RBs coach Craig Ver Steeg said, “he can’t be a workhorse anymore.”

Before and after

Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins was productive in his first year back from an Achilles tear with the Los Angeles Chargers last season. While he didn’t produce the same burst on off-tackle/outside runs, he was able to do damage between the tackles and provide a reliable threat on passing downs. Here’s a look at Dobbins pre- and post-Achilles surgery.

Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.��

Source: Pro Football Focus

The Broncos’ war room was already stretched thin, trusted generals recently gone from Dove Valley after years of service. Heading into a pivotal offseason stretch, Paton had no assistant general manager after Darren Mougey left for the Jets. Executive director of football operations, Kelly Kleine Van Calligan, was on maternity leave. VP of football operations Mark Thewes left for the Raiders. Heck, Mougey poached Paton’s nephew away  New York.

Then, in the faint hours before sunrise, Paton got a text from director of player personnel Reed Burckhardt: a picture of him and wife Julia’s newborn daughter, Cecilia.

“You couldn’t have picked a — just, the timing was so unique,” Burckhardt said in a conversation with The Denver Post months later. “Because it wasn’t Day Three (of free agency). It wasn’t Day Five. It was literally Day One.”

This was no simple absence. This was a Paton loyalist since his days in Minnesota, who now led the Paton-and-pro-personnel braintrust. And as free agency broke, Burckhardt was helping run operations on a laptop inside Julia’s hospital room.

They already had the big points sketched out, though. In fall 2024, now-pro personnel director AJ Durso keyed in on San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga, whose contract was set to expire in the offseason. And they entered free agency with a plan coordinated by Burckhardt, from Durso to the Broncos’ scouts to cap guru Rich Hurtado to Paton.

When Hufanga agreed to terms with Denver on March 26, was Burckhardt excited enough that he woke baby Cecilia up?

“A little bit,” Burckhardt grinned.

“He was — man, Huf was, I don’t want to say he was the key to the whole thing,” Burckhardt continued, slightly later. “But he was certainly a high target.”

The Broncos hit on most of their targets, despite that thin front office. In came Hufanga’s teammate Dre Greenlaw, tight end Evan Engram, and special-teams gunner Trent Sherfield, a signing Burckhardt emphasized Denver was “really excited about.” A month and a half later, Paton tabbed Burckhardt to fill Mougey’s spot in a necessary personnel reshuffle.

In June, Burckhardt sat on a bench off to the side of the Broncos’ facility in Dove Valley and waved a hand out at the grass. Something like this, he gestured, probably seemed out of the realm of possibility growing up. He hails from the 348-person town of Russell, Minn., where the most daring of teenage adventures involved pizza-eating contests at Dar’s Pizza. He played quarterback at FCS South Dakota State, but never started a game.

It’s a small-town story. It’s also precisely why Burckhardt ascended to one of the most prominent decision-making roles in the Broncos’ front office. He is a connector with a disarming Midwestern grin, aligned stably behind Paton and head coach Sean Payton.

And he’s a good enough conductor to carry out a free-agency plan from a hospital room.

“I think Reed’s a star that people don’t even know about yet,” said Paul Roell, the GM of the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions and a former Vikings scout.

“They’re about to find out.”

•�Ģ�Ģ

In the old days of Winter Park, when some of the Vikings offices in Eden Prairie had paneling, the Minnesota staff’s primary league-scouting tool was a massive magnetic wall.

Cards with the names of every player on every NFL roster were slapped on that wall. If a player went on injured reserve, he’d get a red dot pinned on his card. If he were placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list, a yellow dot. If he got released, they’d peel the card off the wall and chuck it in what they called the boneyard.

Dot duties fell to the interns, who were tasked with reading the waiver wire every night and updating the cards. Rick Spielman, who ascended from a player-personnel role to Vikings general manager, impressed upon his interns that this role was of extreme importance. Make a mistake that leads to a mistake on a transaction, and it’s on you, Spielman told them.

“I just wanted to see,” recalled Spielman, now a senior football advisor with the Jets, “if they were willing to do the dirty work.”

Many weren’t. In 2009, Minnesota’s personnel intern quit. Couldn’t handle it. It was their only intern, Paton recalled. They started searching.

“We were like, ‘Man, this dude in ops — I don’t know his name and don’t know much about him, but this guy just works,'” Paton recalled. “‘Maybe they’ll let us use this guy.'”

That was Burckhardt.

Paton quickly learned his name. Many others didn’t. Burckhardt was “understated,” longtime Minnesota scout and personnel executive Jamaal Stephenson said. He developed an old-soul bond with scout Jerry Reichow, a former Vikings receiver in the 1960s and franchise lifer.

They tossed him in the fire, as Paton put it, and Burckhardt emerged unscathed. He could handle the board. And most everything.

“He was a fixer,” Paton said. “Everything he did, he did at a high level.”

The Vikings brought him back the next year — the start of a 15-plus-year attachment to Paton. When Paton was named Broncos general manager in 2021, he was determined to bring two people along: Kleine Van Calligan and Burckhardt.

This offseason, Spielman was a heavy advocate for Mougey in the Jets’ GM search, knowing his front-office role within the Broncos’ gradual culture change. Spielman had a trust in Paton, back when he was his assistant GM in Minnesota. Paton, Spielman sensed, had that same trust in Mougey. And Burckhardt, too.

“I think Reed,” Spielman said, “is going to be a future general manager.”

•�Ģ�Ģ

Years ago, one of the only examples any football hopeful in rural Minnesota had was Todd Bauman — a former Vikings quarterback who grew up in the tiny town of Ruthton.

Naturally, Burckhardt knew him. The Burckhardts knew everyone. And after Burckhardt finished his years at South Dakota State, Bauman called former Vikings director of operations Luther Hippe to recommend Burckhardt for an internship.

“Once he’s there,” Bauman told him, “you’ll fall in love with the guy.”

Russell has no gas station and no stoplights. Burckhardt’s mother, Diane, ran a daycare, and his late father, Keith, worked for the railroad. When Burckhardt traveled with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits for away games, Diane and Keith paid for their own seats on the flight. Diane baked the team cookies. When the softball field in town needed a scoreboard, Keith built a wooden one by hand.

One of Keith Burckhardt’s sayings, still, is burned into Russell Mayor Hilary Buchert’s head.

Don’t be bitter. Be better.��

“I feel that Reed really takes that role on and gives the Burckhardts a good name,” Buchert said.

Buchert speculated that most in Russell probably don’t have any idea Burckhardt is now the assistant GM of the Denver Broncos. But the Russell spirit has gotten him to Denver.

Ask many in the old Minnesota building about Burckhardt, and the demeanor sticks out instantly. Bauman’s still never really seen him have a bad day.

“I think George just, maybe — he liked the guy,” Stephenson said.

And as Paton’s “champion,” as Stephenson put it, Burckhardt’s earned head-coach Payton’s public respect, too.

“He’s got a real good eye for talent,” Payton said. “And he’s not afraid to give you his opinion, even if it����ap contrary to maybe what you want to hear.”

Payton and Paton have increasingly presented a united front in Broncos decision-making. That’s trickled behind the scenes to a braintrust he’s now in further charge of unifying.

“Their fundamentals of what they believe in — from building a football team, from what makes a good football player — are totally aligned,” Burckhardt said. “And I would say, me being with George … I’m totally aligned. And then, so subsequently, our staff’s totally aligned.

“And so, it����ap just, once we get that — then you feel like you’re building something.”

Broncos offseason front-office personnel changes

(Click here to view chart in mobile.)