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 (12): Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Michael Bandy, Hakeem Butler, Kolbe Katsis, Dane Key, Joseph Manjack IV and Cameron Ross

How many on the 53? Five as a baseline. Six or even seven would be unlikely but not impossible.

Most impactful offseason move: Trading for Jaylen Waddle

This wasn’t just the most impactful roster move of the offseason for the Broncos’ receivers. It was the move of the offseason for the franchise. Combine Waddle’s addition with Davis Webb taking over the playcalling duties and you’ve got most of what Denver is hoping will elevate its offense this fall. Waddle was expensive — the Broncos gave up a first-round pick and more — but he’s also exactly what this unit needed. He can play from the slot or outside; he’s the kind of explosive playmaker Denver has lacked for years, and he’s got a mentality that already seems to fit Payton’s mold. Webb himself, in June, likened the acquisition to his time in Buffalo, when the Bills landed Stefon Diggs ahead of quarterback Josh Allen’s third pro season. If third-year QB Bo Nix and Waddle have anything like that kind of connection, look out.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Could the receiver room see another trade this summer?

Last spring and summer, the Broncos were adamant they liked their receiver depth and adamant they didn’t need to trade anybody. In the middle of the preseason, though, they got an offer they couldn’t refuse and shipped Devaughn Vele to New Orleans for a fourth-round pick and more. Broncos brass once again say they love their depth and don’t need to trade anybody after acquiring Waddle. They can stick to that, reminded by what it looked like when they were down to a couple of healthy bodies in the postseason. Or they could once again be tempted if the overlapping skill sets of some players — most likely Waddle, Franklin and Mims — make somebody dispensable. Mims is heading into the final year of his rookie deal, while Franklin has this season and 2027 before free agency.

Battle to watch: The quest for targets after Sutton and Waddle

Franklin and Mims are two of the key players in this conversation, as is second-year man Bryant. It����ap not impossible others could get in the mix, too, but that trio is clearly in the running. Franklin had a breakout second season with the Broncos last fall, catching 65 passes for 709 yards and six touchdowns. His 104 targets were second only to Sutton’s 124, well more than third-place Evan Engram (76) and more than double any other receiver (Mims third at 51). From Week 6 onward, though, Bryant closed the gap some. He averaged 4.5 targets per game to Franklin’s six. Mims had a tough time finding consistent playing time, but when injuries hit down the stretch, he turned in big performance after big performance and left Payton after the season swearing, again, that he needed to find more ways to get his multi-talented former second-round pick the ball more. Sutton has averaged 130 targets in two years playing with Nix. Waddle should come close to (or slightly exceed) Sutton’s mark atop the room, though it����ap possible each is slightly below Sutton’s dominant target share over the past two seasons. Either way, figure that if both are healthy, they’re good for well north of 200 targets and perhaps pushing toward 250. In the past two seasons, Denver’s receivers have totaled 351 targets (on 612 attempts in 2025) and 359 targets (on 570 attempts in 2024).

Under the radar: Humphrey

There are names that might be a little bit more fun — the undrafted rookie Ross, for example, made some plays in the offseason program and could be an intriguing camp story if he can keep it rolling into August, as could jumbo-sized UFL summer addition Butler — but that����ap kind of the reason Humphrey gets the nod here. Humphrey’s not that exciting. He’s been shuffled on and off the practice squad here over the years. But he appeared in every game for Denver in the 2023-24 seasons, then seven more last fall after starting the season with the New York Giants. He played 36% of snaps after jumping back into the fold in the middle of the fall. Is he a lock to make the initial 53-man roster out of training camp? Hardly. But is Humphrey likely to make an impact in some way, shape or form for Denver this fall? There’s no reason to bet against it at this point.

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.

Parker �Ҳ����������:��Well, Troy, I am just a humble beat reporter who stumbled into the debate room this week and I certainly am no betting man, but every time we venture to the desert for AFC West football, I am reminded that the bookmakers seem to be pretty good at what they do. Imagine the electric bills in those casinos. I tend to agree with you that 23.5 feels a little light, though there are multiple factors — some that would be fine for the Broncos and some that definitely would not be — that might be pushing the line a little bit lower. Nix has a new play-caller in Davis Webb, which is being largely hailed as a good thing, including by head coach Sean Payton himself. But perhaps Webb will stay more committed to running the ball. Perhaps it will take him a bit of time to get his sea legs, especially given Denver’s brutal stretch of opponents to open the season. What if Nix gets hurt and misses four games? So much talk about his ankle this offseason, but an aggravation there obviously isn’t the only issue that could cost him time over a long season.

Renck: Put it this way: If Nix goes under the betting number, he is taking the season down into the deep with him. The Broncos want to run the ball more effectively. Payton writes it on his play sheet and will yell it into Webb’s ears on game day. However, the Broncos are a passing team, leaning on the short game. No one has dropped back more over the last two years than Nix. He led the league in attempts last season with 612. Even if that number dips, the addition of Jaylen Waddle screams that Nix will throw at least 25 touchdowns. Why? He threw 29 as a rookie and 25 a year ago. There is no way that number drops unless he or Waddle gets hurt.

�Ҳ����������:��Could be, but — and this is strictly a guess from this hazy, early-summer vantage point — perhaps Webb wants Nix not only to not lead in pass attempts but also to come down considerably. That wouldn’t be a knock on his faith in his quarterback. Instead, it would be trying to take some pressure off him. Payton talks all the time about not putting quarterbacks on the high dive, but Nix has spent his first two seasons in the league working mostly from the 10-meter platform. If the Broncos build the kind of running game they think they can, 24 touchdown passes can be just fine. Denver had just 12 rushing scores in 2024 and only one of them was on an explosive run. That was all of 14 yards. The rest came from 8 or closer in. Last year, those numbers jumped to 18 and six. Good, but not great. The 18 TDs tied for No. 11. Their 10-plus run mark overall (51) was tied for No. 15 and their run rate (41.8%) was No. 22. All of those could realistically improve. A year ago, Seattle threw for 25 touchdown passes and finished third in the NFL in scoring. The play-caller, Klint Kubiak, got a Super Bowl title and a head coaching job out of it.

Renck: Webb was schooled in the Air Raid before the invention of the Air Pod. He is a few years removed from playing in the NFL. And he has a catalytic weapon in Waddle. The Broncos’ receivers ranked nearly last in yards per reception last season — 27th at 11.7 yards per catch, to be exact. Waddle averaged 14.2 in 2025. He is not a high-volume scorer, but posting eight touchdowns remains in reach opposite of Courtland Sutton because of his ability to turn short strikes into pay dirt. Realistically, Waddle, Sutton (eight) and Troy Franklin (five) should combine for 21 touchdowns. That means if the tight end position returns from witness protection and RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman catch a few well-timed wheel routes, Nix should finish closer to 30 touchdown passes than 25. I know they call Las Vegas Lost Wages for a reason. Casinos are built on bettors’ losses. But with Webb in charge and Nix healthy, the quarterback will establish a career-best, not a career-worst, in passing scores. Book it.

But a few days after the Broncos’ summer minicamp ended last week, quarterbacks Bo Nix and Sam Ehlinger organized a throwing session in Austin, Texas, with a handful of skill players. Ehlinger, an Austin native who is the “sheriff over there,” as receiver Troy Franklin put it, organized a few additional activities. And thus, a few key Broncos — from receivers Courtland Sutton, Franklin and Pat Bryant to tight end Evan Engram — found themselves posing for a photo on a boat with Nix and Ehlinger, that such a picture .

This is cool:

A number of Broncos, including Bo Nix, Courtland Sutton, Evan Engram, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and RJ Harvey, spent the weekend together.

— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR)

One key new face was missing. Star receiver Jaylen Waddle, of course, will have a massive impact on Denver’s ability to avoid a post-boat slump — like those Giants of yesteryear.

But the photo, too, was a reminder of the holdovers who still need to grow in 2026 for the Broncos to truly bloom as Super Bowl hopefuls. Chief among them is the 23-year-old Franklin, throwing up a peace sign on that Austin boat.

“He’s a guy who’s coming in who’s a first-rounder,” Franklin told The Post Tuesday at his youth football camp hosted at Englewood High. “We traded high value for (Waddle), and he’s gonna get his touches, you know?

“But I think the same thing to where we’re not just going to be predictable … ‘Oh, yeah, we’re giving 17 the ball every play,'” Franklin said, referencing Waddle’s number. “It����ap just one of those deals where I think we just always gotta be ready.”

Franklin, Denver’s 2024 fourth-round pick, stands to be impacted as much as anyone on the roster with Waddle’s arrival. Just four months ago, Franklin told The Post he was aiming for a 1,000-yard season in 2026. Any path there has become improbable with the Broncos’ trade for Waddle, a 27-year-old burner who has gone over 1,000 yards in three of five NFL seasons.

On Tuesday, Franklin was asked his immediate reaction to the Waddle trade: Did he think more on his own decreased targets, or on easier looks opening up for him?

“Obviously, I think it’s a bit of both,” Franklin told The Post. “You got a guy coming in like that — obviously he’s getting paid more than me, or whatever the case is,” he said. “I feel like that����ap the thought any receiver has when they get somebody coming into the receiver room, you know?

“But I know me, personally, I’m always up for a challenge, competition. I think I’m hyper-competitive. I know what I can do out there, man. Especially just building off of last year. And I’m just building now, with him there. Trying to figure out my role in the offense now, and all that good stuff. And it����ap been going good, man.”

Franklin’s mental focus in offseason training, he told The Post, has been working with receivers coach Drew Lieberman in Atlanta to “attack, and kill.” It is a broad concept, with specific applications to a promising mixed bag of a 2025 season. Franklin finished tied for 25th among all NFL receivers in catches last season; he also caught just 54% of his targets that didn’t come via a screen, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Anything can happen, as Franklin pointed out. But it’s highly unlikely he sees the same total target volume in his third NFL season, given the presence of Waddle and Denver’s 2025 leading receiver Courtland Sutton. If his overall touches decrease, Franklin’s growth needs to come in his ability to make them count — finishing dead-last in catch rate among 29 NFL receivers with more than 25 targets on vertical routes last year.

And Franklin is well aware, himself, that he may have to trade volume for efficiency in 2026.

“I just gotta go out there and be consistent and make plays when the ball comes my way,” Franklin said. “And to be real — say I do get like, what, two to three targets a game? If I make a play each target the whole season, nobody’s going to say anything.”

Sean Payton nixed the final day of Broncos minicamp Thursday, a sign that Denver’s staff has seen all they need to see before players re-enter the building in late July to tug on actual gear. And Payton has been quick to remind reporters, throughout weeks of summer practices, that it’s tough to properly evaluate one’s roster while playing in shorts and T-shirts.

“I think all of us are anxious,” Payton said Wednesday, “to get to where we’re in pads.”

Denver’s organized team activities and subsequent minicamp this June, though, still set in motion a horde of training-camp storylines that’ll have key parts to play in the Broncos’ 2026 outlook. The Post observed two full OTA and two full minicamp practices across the past three weeks, which provided first looks at new receiver Jaylen Waddle and new play-caller Davis Webb’s offense in early 11-on-11 periods.

With that in mind, here are seven things The Post learned from the Broncos’ summer program.

1. Davis Webb has yet to dip deep into his bag

Remember the screens? Sick of them yet? They’re still around. This is still Sean Payton’s ballclub, after all, even if Davis Webb is his new play-caller.

“It’s the Broncos’, right?” Payton said Wednesday, when asked if this was his offense or a combination of he and Webb’s.

The quick game will forever be a staple of Payton-led offenses, and it won’t go away under Webb. It just has to get better. Bo Nix led the NFL last year in passing attempts of under 10 air yards (432), and finished 27th in yards per attempt on such throws. That’s not good enough to run back. In that vein, the Broncos’ offense under Webb found its most offensive success throughout summer practices by attacking the defense with weapons in the flat and in the short-to-intermediate range in the middle of the field.

New receiver Jaylen Waddle is already playing a considerable part there. Waddle had more yards after the catch with the Dolphins in 2025 — even in a down season in Miami — than any Broncos wide receiver not named Troy Franklin.

“You just can’t replace speed,” Nix said Tuesday, on Waddle. “That����ap just what he brings to the table.”

2. Jahdae Barron will compete at outside cornerback

Payton confirmed this point-blank to reporters in the first week of OTAs, but weeks of practice have only underlined this further. After the Broncos took him in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft with no actual pressing need for a cornerback, Barron lost a training-camp competition for the starting nickel job with Ja’Quan McMillian in last year’s training camp. A year later, and Barron is poised to challenge Riley Moss at outside CB2 come July.

That could have direct ramifications for who Denver decides to pay between McMillian and Moss, who will both be free agents after the 2026 season.

“It seems like he’s wise beyond his years, going into his second year,” star cornerback Pat Surtain II said Tuesday, of Barron.

3. Rookies Tyler Onyedim and Jonah Coleman can — and probably will — play right away

The Broncos’ first two picks of their 2026 NFL Draft class have looked more than the part. The 6-foot-3, 292-pound Onyedim is wearing No. 98 in Denver, the number vacated by John Franklin-Myers, and is poised for immediate rotational snaps at Franklin-Myers’ former boundary-end slot on the defensive line. He has drawn rave reviews inside the building, and has been hard to miss outside of it, with several reps through OTAs and minicamp either bursting through the line of scrimmage or fitting a run gap.

Coleman, meanwhile, has been heavily involved in the Broncos’ passing game. He’s flashed the open-field burst to be a threat on screen passes and choice routes out of the backfield, and has clear enough stockiness to chip rushers on obvious passing downs.

“He’s put together well,” Payton said, in early June.

4. There could be a QB2 battle brewing

Backup Jarrett Stidham has had his moments — including a beautiful ball to Courtland Sutton up the seam on the final day of minicamp Wednesday — but largely has looked like the same quarterback who struggled at times to get the ball out in January’s AFC Championship loss. QB3 Sam Ehlinger, meanwhile, has at times ran the offense smoother in team periods and continues to flash sneaky athleticism.

Stidham remains the team’s 18th-highest-paid player in terms of average contract value, and led the way in quarterback reps with Nix limited through the offseason program. But in Ehlinger’s second year in Denver’s system, he could push Stidham for the backup job in training camp on sheer performance.

5. It’s obvious why ILB Jonah Elliss will not be a reality

This is a compliment, actually. Elliss has stuck at outside linebacker through the offseason because he’s simply “doing too well outside,” as Payton said during OTAs. He hasn’t played inside at any point in team periods, despite Payton’s declaration in March that Elliss could shift there. It’s only taken a couple weeks for reporters to see why.

On Wednesday, Elliss broke off a lightning-quick spin move for a would-be sack and the day’s defensive highlight. He had another eye-catching pass-rush rep on the first day of minicamp Tuesday, too. It’s difficult for offensive lineman to adequately protect without pads, but Elliss’s sheer speed off the ball has been impossible to ignore.

6. The Broncos love the UFL, for demonstrated reason

The Broncos plucked one key reserve out of the UFL in 2024 with edge rusher Dondrea Tillman, and are trying for two more in former St. Louis Battlehawks Hakeem Butler and Sean Fresch Jr. Both wasted zero time acquitting themselves to an NFL practice field. Cornerback Fresch had a highlight pass-breakup Tuesday and receiver Butler pinned a pass down the sideline against a defensive back’s back for a ridiculous catch Wednesday.

The 6-foot-5, 242-pound Butler was a two-time Offensive Player of the Year in the UFL, and has shown why in just two days in a Broncos jersey. His natural fluidity is impossible to teach at his size, and he has a real shot to force Payton and the Broncos’ staff to make some tough decisions in camp.

7. Some receiver in Broncos camp will get snapped up elsewhere after roster cuts.

After trading for Waddle, the Broncos suddenly have too many standouts at receiver for too few roster spots. Denver only activates five receivers on gameday, with its current quintet of Waddle-Courtland Sutton-Troy Franklin-Pat Bryant-Marvin Mims Jr. all but set. That will likely leave veteran Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Butler and a host of undrafted rookies competing for practice-squad spots.

Former Nebraska and Kentucky receiver Dane Key has stood out from that group of undrafted pass-catchers in summer workouts, with good speed in space at his 6-foot-3 frame and a handful of chunk catches. Some standout will inevitably get left on the chopping block.

Nix has been ramping up his activity as he rehabs from a pair of surgeries on his fractured right ankle this offseason, and, no surprise, he’s excited to get to full-speed work with new Denver wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

“There’s an element of explosiveness that I think as an offense we’ve lacked for a couple years,” Nix said Tuesday. “We’ve had plenty of explosive plays, plenty of points, all that kind of stuff. We’ve made great strides, but there was a level of explosiveness that a guy like that adds. So you could be first-and-10 and starting a drive and go one-and-done because he takes it 75, 80 yards.

“That����ap the kind of weapon that we added, and that����ap I think what we all have been out here watching and sort of really enjoy watching.”

Several Broncos players said after the season that the club needed more offensive playmaking ability and Waddle should deliver it atop a receivers room that also features Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims Jr.

“You just can’t replace speed,” Nix said. “That����ap what he brings to the table. He’s extremely fast with the ball in his hands. He looks like he doesn’t really slow down to make cuts, which is pretty tough to do for a fast guy. …

“I think a guy like that makes everybody on the offense better, and then it obviously helps the defense in the same way.”

LG Ben Powers out, but ‘right on schedule’ according to Sean Payton

Left guard Ben Powers hasn’t done much during the offseason program practices open to reporters. He was one of a few players not seen on the practice field Tuesday.

“Ben’s right on schedule to where we thought he’d be at this point,” Payton said, without specifying why the veteran offensive lineman has been sidelined. Powers tore his left bicep last October and missed 10 games but returned for the team’s stretch run and postseason games.

Broncos waive two, host eight tryout players for minicamp

In order to make room for WR Hakeem Butler and CB/return man Sean Fresch Jr., the pair of UFL standouts Denver signed this week, the club waived veteran receiver Michael Woods and cornerback Paul Manning. Each of the two had an injury designation on the league’s transaction wire.

Meanwhile, the Broncos had eight tryout players on the field at Tuesday’s minicamp practice, including rookie quarterback Sawyer Robertson from Baylor.

The others: DLs Herbert Gums and Marlon Tuipulotu, DBs DeCarlos Nicholson and Blake Cotton, OLs Jack Walsh and Reid Holskey and FB Trent Howland.

George Paton, the general manager who’d just traded for Waddle hours earlier, was there. So was running back J.K. Dobbins, whose ground game stood to benefit from Waddle’s field-stretching speed. So was newly-minted offensive coordinator Davis Webb, suddenly gifted a precise route-runner in his first year as a play-caller. And so was quarterback Bo Nix, of course, who Waddle got an instant picture of.

“He’s different, in a good way,” Waddle told The Post on Thursday, on his first sitdown with Nix. “He’s in tune. He’s a family man. He loves playing football.

“He loves just being around, and he’s got one of them personalities you just gravitate to.”

The last time the Broncos mortgaged this much of their future on a player also brought a celebratory dinner at a steakhouse. It was Elway’s, for quarterback Russell Wilson in 2022. That outcome ended in disaster. The Broncos no doubt hope Waddle’s outcome will be different, because the situation is. Wilson was tasked with the entire foundation in Denver; Waddle simply needs to be the organization’s final piece of the puzzle, slotting in next to Dobbins and Webb and Nix.

“There was a crystal-clear vision prior to the trade,” head coach Sean Payton reflected Thursday. “As to — ‘All right, this is what we see, this is where he plays, and these are the things we feel like he’s exceptional at, and then let’s apply them into what we’re doing.'”

Three months later, the integration process is coming along smoothly. Payton said Thursday the 27-year-old Waddle “picks things up quick,” and there is no supplement for accelerated learning like accelerated talent. Nix won’t actually throw to Waddle in live situations until later in June, as the quarterback is still rehabbing his broken ankle. He was on the field to watch Thursday, though, as Waddle veered all across formations in 11-on-11 periods, broke off lighting-quick cuts on out routes and torched cornerback Riley Moss so badly on one in-breaker that Moss simply resorted to grabbing him.

After the third day of OTAs wrapped up, safety Talanoa Hufanga gave his initial impressions of Waddle.

“Everything he’s expected to be,” Hufanga said.

Fast and smooth

On Thursday, Waddle smiled and shrugged off a reporter’s question about whether he viewed himself as a “hired gun.” And teammates have not described the sixth-year receiver as some sort of savior, because the Broncos do not need him to be. They need him, simply, to do what he’s good at to upgrade the Denver offense, a process that has already turned plenty of navy-blue helmets.

“He’s a special dude,” veteran receiver Courtland Sutton said Thursday. “There’s a lot of things that he has, his qualities, that are very unique to himself. And I say that in a very specific way, because he has some qualities that only he could do. And it����ap fun to be able to watch it up close and personal, and I think Coach Webb and Coach Payton have done a really good job of trying to figure out the things that he can do well.”

The things Waddle can do well, Sutton smiled, are obvious. At Episcopal High in Bellaire, Texas, former offensive coordinator Kary Kimble dubbed Waddle “Magic.” Defenders saw him, until they didn’t. He was named an All-American returner as a sophomore at Alabama 40-yard-dash, and led all qualified NFL receivers in yards-per-catch (18.1) in his second year with the Dolphins in 2022.

The niche Waddle fits in Denver, though, goes much deeper than surface-level speed. Payton places a premium on smooth deceleration in evaluating wideouts; after Troy Franklin’s shaky first season in Denver, for example, Payton told the young receiver he wanted him to learn how to start “stopping like a Tesla.” The brakes are already innate to Waddle, who Payton praised Thursday for his ability to stop fast.

That single trait adds a complete unpredictability to Waddle’s breaks. The receiver grinned when asked by reporters on that Thursday, joking he couldn’t “give away the sauce.”

Hufanga, though, defined it well enough.

“I think his ability to make every route look the same is pretty important,” Hufanga said. “As a defender, when you can make a 10-yard stop look like a go, a 10-yard dig (route) look like a go, a 10-yard out-route — it����ap just, everything looks the same. And it puts pressure on your backpedal, as a DB.”

The best version of Waddle to date came in 2022, immediately after the Dolphins’ trade for Tyreek Hill but before the eventual decline of the Mike McDaniel-Tua Tagovailoa era in Miami. Hufanga, who faced the Hill-Waddle tandem firsthand while playing for San Francisco back then, noted the duo’s ability to accelerate and decelerate to disguise in-breaking routes as deep routes and vice versa. In Denver, now, Waddle can play off another “elite playmaker” — as he termed it — in Sutton, as the two give Payton and Webb options to interchange through a variety of alignments and route concepts.

“You could start slot to outside, or outside to slot,” Payton said, describing the vision for Waddle. “Just pick.”

The 30-year-old Sutton, of course, is nowhere near as quick as Hill. Few are. Quietly, though, Sutton finished second in the NFL in 2024 and tied for 10th in 2025 in catches on balls thrown more than 20 yards in the air, according to Next Gen Stats. It’s an open secret that Sutton is usually Nix’s go-to look on third downs, which could conversely pen up one-on-one looks for Waddle in high-leverage spots.

On the flip side, opposing secondaries keyed in on Sutton in 2025, often putting a natural cap on Denver’s offense. If Sutton was bracketed, Nix often didn’t have a consistent deep threat last year, and finished 17th in the NFL in completion percentage of throws 20-plus yards downfield.

Enter Waddle.

“I think that he and I being able to manipulate the outside is going to help the run game,” Sutton said Thursday. “And then ultimately, whenever we do get a chance to get these one-on-one looks, I think it����ap going to be interesting to see where that safety does decide to shade.”

Low maintenance, high potential

The arrival of one star, of course, will naturally dim the light of those around him. On Thursday night, Sutton received the heartiest cheers and took the heartiest swings at UCHealth’s annual “Healthy Swings” home-run-derby at Coors Field; as he accepted a winner’s trophy, a fellow teammate off to the side cracked a joke labeling Sutton as “Mr. Bronco.” The eight-year veteran made a Pro Bowl in 2025 on the back of two straight 1,000-yard seasons, and Denver wouldn’t have made the Waddle trade if there was any risk that either receiver would lose sleep over lost targets.

Sutton, though, has established himself as one of the lowest-maintenance receivers in the NFL. Waddle, meanwhile, never publicly complained about diminished targets through two sub-1,000-yard seasons in Miami in 2024 and 2025.

“I think last year, we saw what it would take for a selfless offense to be able to get to where we want to get to,” Sutton said “It����ap not the — I don’t think we have any individual personalities that are saying, ‘Hey, I need this. I need that.’ I think we got a bunch of guys that are willing to put their pride aside and say, ‘Hey, look, what do I need to do for this team to be successful?’”

Payton often refers to locker-room favorites as “force multipliers.” Dobbins is one. So is boisterous defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, for instance. Waddle does not project in the same vein; former coaches describe him as quiet, and he doesn’t carry himself with any particular gravitas when speaking at a public podium.

That personality, though, is a fit in itself. And Waddle has already begun force-multiplying with his first routes down in Dove Valley.

“I just think he takes us — unlocks another dimension for us, especially with RPOs and stuff like that,” Roach told The Post Thursday night, at Coors. “I think the best is yet for him to come, and the best is yet for us to come.

“So I think it����ap going to be a good marriage.”

A team won’t hesitate to cut a player. Cold, calculated decisions are made on the daily.

NFL players, likewise, aren’t interested in charity when it comes to their employer.

Clubs try to pay players as little as they can. Players try to earn as much as possible.

That����ap the way the business works 99% of the time.

That����ap also what made the news earlier this month that the Broncos had given Pat Surtain II a $5 million raise — and added a 2027 escalator worth another $5 million if Surtain makes the Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team this fall — interesting.

It was a smart move by the Broncos, even if it wasn’t done out of pure grace.

Surtain knew he was underpaid after a boom in the cornerback market since he signed an extension in September 2024. So did Broncos officials. There was really no reason to play hardball with a guy the club is likely hoping plays another 7-10 years on the Front Range and retires a Bronco and a future Hall of Famer.

Surtain is 26 years old. He’s going to be due for a monster extension in the next 12-24 months anyway. Why risk souring the relationship now, just as the roster around Surtain has blossomed into a Super Bowl contender?

It looks from here like good employee management on the front office’s part to bump Surtain up this year — and likely next year, too, as long as he’s mostly healthy this fall. A four-year, $96 million extension signed in 2024 essentially becomes four years and $106 million, setting Surtain up to cash in again before too long.

There’s another key to the raise, though, and it����ap a very simple one.

The Broncos did it because they could. They started the week more than $25 million under the salary cap, and even after giving Surtain a raise, they can easily absorb another contract if they wanted to add a veteran this summer, add at the trade deadline this fall — or both.

“He’s obviously someone that we feel like is elite and at the top of his position,” head coach Sean Payton said Thursday, explaining why Surtain got a raise without a new deal. “Part of that is the salary cap and how that fluctuates and moves, especially in the last three years.”

As it pertains to Denver, specifically, the Broncos have worn $85 million in dead cap for Russell Wilson alone over the past two seasons. Now they head into 2026 with among the cleanest books in football. They have newfound flexibility and are putting it to use.

There is still plenty of roster maneuvering, cap management and future planning to do, however.

First, Denver will likely want to get back to rolling over a fair chunk of cap space year to year. They’d made a practice of it under George Paton until cutting Wilson. The past two years, they’ve rolled over less than $1 million. Before that, Paton was consistently rolling between $5-10 million over per year.

The Broncos’ use of option bonuses as a contract tool likely plays into their approach this offseason, too.

Option bonuses give a club flexibility on how it accounts for a player’s pay. Remember, base salary counts against the cap in the current year, whereas bonus money can be prorated over up to five seasons. Teams regularly convert base salary to bonus to lower a player’s current-year cap number and push cap charges down the road. Option bonuses basically let teams decide how to handle those decisions as they go.

Under Paton and vice president of player administration Rich Hurtado, the Broncos have used option bonuses with more frequency as they’ve locked up more than 10 core players on major extensions in the past two years.

Teams like option bonuses in part because, the way the CBA is written, the default assumption is that each option will be exercised and the money will be accounted for as a bonus. So teams get the flexibility of the proration built in until the option date, then can decide whether to actually use it.

That����ap a bit of a mouthful, so an example might be cleaner: Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton has a $12 million option bonus this year due Sept. 1. The money is guaranteed, so he’s getting paid no matter what Denver does.

Currently, that $12 million is accounted for as $2.4 million on the cap for this year and each of the next four. Add the $2.4 million to Sutton’s $4.735 million base salary, $6.075 million of prorated signing bonus and $765,000 in per-game roster bonuses, and you get his 2026 cap number of $13.975 million.

On Sept. 1, Denver can leave that just the way it is. But the team could also rescind the option bonus in total or in part. The Broncos’ options usually allow them to choose between prorating all, half or a smaller portion (around a third) of the bonus amount. So, if Denver rescinded the entire bonus, Sutton’s base salary would jump from $4.375 million to $16.375 million. His cap number would balloon from $13.975 to $23.575 million this year, but the Broncos wouldn’t have $9.6 million in future-year prorated bonus money on their books.

The Broncos did this in part with Garett Bolles last year, prorating out $6 million of his option bonus but rescinding some of it and bumping his base salary to $10.235 million and his cap number to $13 million.

Bolles, like Sutton, has an option bonus due Sept. 1 this fall. His is $16.935 million.

So, put it this way: Bolles and Sutton could eventually count a combined $22.43 million against Denver’s cap in 2026. But they could also count $45.58 million. Or somewhere in between.

It just depends on whether the Broncos want the cap room now or want to increase their flexibility in future years. Some teams, like Philadelphia, use option bonuses aggressively and basically always exercise them. Kick the money down the road. As long as the cap keeps going up each year, a dollar on the cap is cheaper in the future than it is this year. It����ap a bet that there’s not another surprise downturn like the COVID-impacted years coming around the corner.

There’s an argument to be made that if a team can choose between counting money on the cap this year or in the future, it should choose the future every time. The pandemic happened, though. It����ap not impossible for the cap to drop or stagnate. Payton in New Orleans was part of a group that spent years walking the tightrope and prorating aggressively. It mostly worked until the pandemic. Now it����ap taken years and years of roster slashing and money burning in a straitjacket to unwind the mess.

The Broncos are aggressive but have demonstrated a somewhat lower-than-maximum risk tolerance.

The older a player is, the more likely Denver will at least consider rescinding an option bonus and taking more of the money on the current year cap.

Sources also indicate that internally, the Broncos generally treat option bonuses as if they’re going to rescind them. So, they don’t necessarily look at Sutton as a player with a $13.975 cap hit this year. They look at him as a player with a $23.575 million cap hit that they can choose to lower by exercising the option on Sept. 1.

The CBA assumes the flexibility and the league credits Denver with around $21 million in cap space after Surtain’s raise. But the Broncos enter the summer likely working under their own internal assumption that they have less room than that.

Now that the team’s built a stable of players with option bonuses in their deals, it can treat them essentially like puzzle pieces. Exercise a couple here, rescind a portion there. Manipulate cap space and associated risk on a per-player, per-year, per-option basis.

It����ap complicated, it����ap interesting, and it����ap the way the front office has decided to attack a future that could, as soon as next summer, include a mega-contract for quarterback Bo Nix.

Every team’s calculus changes once it pays a quarterback. But from this far away, it����ap impossible to say exactly what that might look like, how fast the cap will grow, how players at other positions will age and what position might go from strength to weakness or vice versa.

As such, the Broncos are trying to set themselves up with as much flexibility as possible.

It means you can pay a star player what he’s worth in the present and maybe, just maybe, keep an extra quality player or two down the line.

He is no longer calling plays. It is like asking Paul McCartney to only play bass for the Beatles. For 15 years, no one was better at piling up points than Payton.

In his previous life in New Orleans, Payton always had the answers as the voice in Drew Brees’ head. But that was 1,300 miles away.

And $18 million ago. That is his annual salary.

With an organization’s hopes in his grip, with his Hall of Fame bid hanging in the balance, Payton was brought here to make decisions like this.

He wasn’t hired to deliver a winning record, even if one was desperately needed after a seven-year drought, or capture an AFC West title, or post a playoff victory.

It was never about that.

It has always been about this: winning a Super Bowl.

That is why he makes more money than any coach in Broncos history. He is a legendary culture builder. And no NFL boss pushes the right buttons as an underdog like Payton.

But to achieve a championship — “Go The Distance,” aka GTD, the new offseason slogan — he was brought in to make tough choices, including about himself.

Want to throttle up the offense? Promote The Mad Scientist.

Thursday offered the media’s first chance to see Davis Webb — “The Mad Scientist,” Courtland Sutton said — calling plays.

It is June. There are no pads. And Bo Nix is still recovering from a check-up procedure on his ankle after an offseason of the Broncos putting their foot in their mouth about his health.

But watching Webb speak into the walkie-talkie, seeing Evan Engram look reborn and Jaylen Waddle turn routes into blurs, there was an obvious conclusion to draw: this should work.

It is time for a new chapter. For Payton to transition into a CEO position.

This is how he can achieve the ultimate goal. At Thursday’s practice, Payton showed a willingness to fade into the background, watching from a distance, glancing at his play sheet and providing pointers to receivers.

Webb was steering the wheel. And he looked comfortable in the cockpit.

“It����ap a combination of things that he has learned from coach Payton and things that he has liked and seen from his own experience of playing and coaching in this league. I know he is ready. There is not a thought behind it,” Sutton said. “I know that he is ready and being able to listen to the way he coaches and the way he is teaching the terminology to us on the field and in the classroom has been amazing.”

Webb, 31, has the hardest job outside of Rockies pitching coach. Working for Payton is a challenge, and now he is taking over one of the coach’s favorite things to do.

Regardless of how Payton relinquished the role — cajoling, self-reflection, kicking and screaming — it was the right decision. Payton can provide a 10,000-foot view, blending his experience with Webb’s innovation.

During the open viewing session, the Broncos ran a lot of three-wide. Sutton and Waddle showed why they will be a problem — good luck to defensive coordinators deciding where to slide coverage — and Engram lost linebackers easier than Ozempic does weight.

Maybe Payton and Webb were just showing off for the cameras.

But the way the players talk about Webb is inspiring confidence. Nix has been all in since he met him. Garett Bolles calls him “scary smart,” saying on the “Up and Adams” podcast a few weeks ago that he is not “afraid to put everything on the line and let it rip.”

Think of Payton as Robin Williams and Webb as Will Hunting.

All those screams from Nix to the sidelines, all those punts (third most in the league), don’t lie.

Payton can still dial up gash plays, but the mechanics of communicating them to Nix have become problematic.

Into this equation comes Webb. He is an obvious solution. And not just for the reasons mentioned above.

Everyone knows Webb has a high football IQ. He has been keeping notebooks of plays since high school, which he later converted to PDF files. He is cerebral.

But that is not what has me convinced that Webb can pull this off.

It is Webb, the person, the player. Webb brings a swagger, an edge, a presence, a thick skin. He walks into the room at 6-foot-5, 220-ish pounds and fills the space. He is a former quarterback in every way.

Even if his ideas get squashed, he is not afraid to speak up to Payton. Just like Nix. Friction is a defining quality in any productive relationship with Payton.

And the good part, when it comes to squeezing every ounce of juice out of this offense? Webb bet on himself.

Talking to industry folks over the last several months, it is clear that Webb nearly landed head-coaching jobs with the Raiders and Bills. If he wanted to play the iron off the tee box, Webb could have stayed in his role as the Broncos quarterbacks coach.

He did not need to call plays to land a head coaching job next offseason.

Like backup quarterbacks, assistant coaches benefit from the great unknown.

And yet, Webb muscled his way into a promotion with his performance the past two seasons, his first as a coach since retiring from the NFL.

Payton wasn’t giving up his play-calling for just anyone. Webb was in the building, and with his interview list long, it drove home what Payton already knew.

Now was the time, like it or not, to hand off the play-calling.

It would be naive to suggest Webb won’t struggle, hit rough patches. He has not developed the scar tissue to overcome a second-and-25 after a failed reverse, or a fourth-down stop when the defense makes it look like Webb was tipping his pitches.

But that is what makes this so fascinating. Will Payton show patience after the third three-and-out? He must, or this is all so much cotton candy, empty calories.

Webb must microwave his development. And he needs Payton’s help.

The coach can provide institutional knowledge, in-game advice, and Webb can see the defense through a current quarterback’s eyes.

Time is ticking faster than the play clock on this experiment. If it goes well, Webb will be a head coach in February.

There is a lot to like here, particularly if you want an offense that features a modern twist.

The Broncos have a duo that can make this team better.

Webb is ready. And if this goes as planned, a Super Bowl berth will cement Payton’s Hall of Fame legacy.