Here are the 20 best games to watch this season.

Week 1

New England at Seattle
6:20 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 9, KUSA-9

Drake Maye likely had offseason nightmares from the pounding he took from Seattle’s defense in the Super Bowl. Will the Patriots be able to exact some revenge on a night when Seattle raises its second championship banner? Insider tip: Mike Vrabel can’t wait to get back to playing actual games after an offseason full of tabloid headlines.

San Francisco at Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia
6:35 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10, Netflix

The NFL’s first game Down Under should be saltier than Vegemite. Kyle Shanahan loves nothing more than beating his old friend Sean McVay at SoFi Stadium with 49ers fans taking over the joint, which is likely why McVay worked the NFL’s scheduling levers to play a neutral site game — after a 16-hour flight. Makes sense, since the Niners have won three of their last four in Los Angeles.

Denver at Kansas City
6:15 p.m., Monday, Sept. 14, ESPN

“Are you ready for some football?” Yeah, you can say that again for two fan bases ready to put 2025 in the rearview. Will Patrick Mahomes be rusty coming off knee surgery? Are the Broncos a legit Super Bowl contender? Does Sean Payton love rivalry games in which his team isn’t favored? You know the answer to that last one. We’ll find out the rest under the lights in Kansas City.

Week 2

Dallas at Washington
2:25 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 20, KDVR-31

Will the Eagles have any serious competition for their third straight NFC East crown in 2026? This early-season tilt between the Cowboys and Commanders should provide some clues.

Week 3

Baltimore at Dallas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2:25 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 27, KUNC-4

Jerry Jones loves spectacle, so it makes sense that America’s Team would play in the legendary Maracanã Stadium in the NFL’s first regular season game in Rio. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys receivers against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens should provide some offensive fireworks for the fans in Brazil.

Week 4

Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia
11 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 4, KDVR-31

The odds-on Super Bowl favorites face a brutal opening stretch against the rival Niners (in Australia), Giants, Broncos, Eagles and Bills — which includes back-to-back road games in Denver and Philadelphia. The Eagles have also won the last four matchups in this series. Could this be an NFC Championship preview?

Week 5

Buffalo at Los Angeles Rams
6:15 p.m., Monday, Oct. 12, ESPN

In a quarterback league, it doesn’t get much better than old gunslinger Matthew Stafford firing away against Josh Allen at home. Outside of the Broncos, Allen won’t face a more ferocious pass rush this season, especially if Aaron Donald comes out of retirement.

Week 6

Dallas at Green Bay
6:20 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, KUSA-9

Does the winner of this game break the 40-40 tie from last season? The Packers have won eight of the last 10 in this series, including a 48-32 thrashing in the NFC wild card at Jerry World after the 2024 season that still has Cowboys fans sore.

Week 7

Kansas City at Seattle
6:20 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 25, KUSA-9

It����ap the Kenneth Walker III Bowl and a possible Super Bowl preview when last year’s title-game MVP faces his former team in Seattle. Yards won’t come easy for Walker against Mike MacDonald’s swarming unit, especially with the 12s in full throat. Old AFC West fans and Hall of Famer Warren Moon will love Seattle rocking its crisp royal blue throwbacks against the Chiefs for a national audience.

Week 9

Houston at Los Angeles Chargers
2:05 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8, KCNC-4

The Texans have won the last two against the Bolts, including a playoff win after the 2024 season. Will the addition of QB whisperer Mike McDaniel tip the scales for Justin Herbert and Los Angeles against DeMeco Ryan’s top-ranked defense from last season?

Week 12

Kansas City at Buffalo
6:20 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 26, KUSA-9

The only thing better than an extra slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? A renewal of the NFL’s best QB duel. Josh Allen is sick of the narrative that he can only beat Patrick Mahomes during the regular season, but so far that����ap true. These two rivals have split their last 10 meetings, but Mahomes is 4-0 in playoff games. This will be the first time the two rivals square off at Buffalo’s new Highmark Stadium.

Denver at Pittsburgh
1 p.m., Friday, No. 27, Prime Video

Skip the lines at the mall and feast on leftovers and Broncos-Steelers on Black Friday. It����ap the last time (presumably) that the Broncos will face Aaron Rodgers, who is 2-2 against Denver entering his 22nd NFL season.

New York Jets at Miami
11 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 29, KUNC-4

Geno Smith vs. Malik Willis looks like one of the worst games of the regular season, but there could be a big prize at stake: The right to draft Archibald Charles Manning at No. 1. The Dolphins, carrying an NFL record $179.2 million in dead cap space, are projected to win only 4.5 games, while the Jets are projected to win just 5.5. The Cardinals, of course, might be worse than both. Embrace the suck.

Week 13

Buffalo at New England
2:25 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, KCNC-4

These two division rivals would’ve faced off for the right to go to the Super Bowl last January if not for Ja’Quan McMillian’s season-saving pick in an AFC wild-card thriller in Denver. (Yeah, don’t bring it up with Bills fans, who are still convinced it was a Brandin Cooks catch.) The Bills are looking to recapture the AFC East crown after the Patriots’ magical run in 2025.

Week 15

Baltimore at Pittsburgh
11 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 20, KUNC-4

John Harbaugh is coaching the Giants. Mike Tomlin is analyzing games in the NBC studio. Doesn’t matter — the antipathy between these two franchises is still as strong as ever, especially after last year’s rock fight to close the NFL regular season. The Ravens, a trendy Super Bowl favorite, would certainly love to get payback after a missed FG cost them the playoffs and cost Harbaugh his job. Mike McCarthy and Jesse Minter, you’ve got next.

Week 16

Green Bay at Chicago
11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 25, Netflix

Da Bears and the Packers at frigid Soldier Field, renewing the NFL’s oldest rivalry, is the perfect gift to open after you get done with the presents under the tree. Expect the Packers to be like your nephew who didn’t get “Grand Theft Auto VI” for Christmas, too, after blowing both tilts in the Second City last season. That includes a brutal playoff loss in which the Bears, trailing 21-3 at halftime, went off for 25 points in the fourth quarter and won on Caleb Williams’ TD dime to DJ Moore. Micah Parsons, nearly a year removed from his ACL surgery, will try to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Buffalo at Denver
2:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 25, Netflix

You know who doesn’t love the NFL’s Christmas Day schedule? The NBA. This rematch of last year’s instant-classic AFC wild-card matchup is the stuffing between Bears-Packers and Rams-Seahawks. It should be pivotal for playoff position in the race for the AFC’s top seed.

Los Angeles Rams at Seattle
6:15 p.m., Friday, Dec. 25, KDVR-31

All football fans want for Christmas is another NFC West title fight after three epic clashes last season. That included Week 16’s overtime classic in which the Seahawks scored their third 2-point conversion of the game to secure the win. Playoff seeding and home-field advantage should be on the line again when the odds-on Super Bowl favorites head to Lumen Field to tussle with the defending champs.

Week 17

Denver at New England
TBD Jan. 3 or 4, TBD

Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda. The Broncos are motivated by the Super Bowl opportunity that disappeared in a whiteout during last year’s AFC Championship. What if Bo Nix hadn’t broken his ankle? What if Sean Payton kicked the field goal on fourth-and-1 from the 14? No doubt Nix will be up for this one against Drake Maye, who went nine picks ahead of him in the 2024 draft.

Baltimore at Cincinnati
6:15 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 31, Prime Video

Skip the pricey prix-fixe on New Year’s Eve and stay in for this one, which could decide the AFC North title. This division rivalry only got juicier after Trey Hendrickson switched sides on a four-year, $112 million deal after the Ravens nixed the Maxx Crosby blockbuster. Hendrickson returning to the Jungle for the first time as a Raven should bring out the boo birds from Who Dey Nation. Crank the Guns N’ Roses.

Buffalo Bills

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 10-1; Over-under win total: 10.5

Strengths: Josh Allen has won the most regular-season games (83) since 2019 and has an argument for being the No. 1 quarterback in the league. His 301 total touchdowns is the most since 2016, even though Allen’s debut came two years later. James Cook led the NFL in rushing yards last year. When healthy, there is star power on the defense, which now includes former Broncos first-round pick Bradley Chubb. The Bills have won this division five straight years.

Weaknesses: There’s a lot of uncertainty for a Super Bowl contender, starting with a new head coach (Joe Brady), a new defensive coordinator (Jim Leonhard) and a new look on defense (3-4, after years in a 4-2-5). D.J. Moore was a big offseason addition, but the wide receiver corps could still be an issue. The rush defense was a significant problem last season — Buffalo allowed the fifth-most yards and tied for the most rushing touchdowns.

New England Patriots

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 20-1; Over-under win total: 10.5

Strengths: Drake Maye finished second in league MVP voting in just his second season. He led the NFL in quarterback rating and yards per passing attempt. Maye’s leading receiver, Stephon Diggs, is gone, but A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs arrive to join tight end Hunter Henry and give Maye a high-end set of targets. The defense allowed the fourth-fewest points last year and added first-team All-Pro Kevin Byard III in the secondary.

Weaknesses: It’s been … let’s call it an eventful offseason away from the field for the Patriots and coach Mike Vrabel. New England was a surprise participant in Super Bowl LX, and even the high-profile additions of Brown and Byard might not prevent some regression. One big reason? The schedule is going to be much tougher.

New York Jets

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 250-1; Over-under win total: 5.5

Strengths: Garrett Wilson is one of the best wide receivers in the league and a pair of first-round picks — tight end Kenyon Sadiq and wideout Omar Cooper Jr. — could give the Jets an exciting collection of pass catchers. Breece Hall is a solid, versatile running back who could get some help if a young offensive line improves.

Weaknesses: Geno Smith had a bad year with Las Vegas while his former team won the Super Bowl, but now he’s back with the franchise that drafted him. He’s 35 years old, and it could go sideways if the line struggles. The Jets allowed 503 points last year. The pass rush could be fun with No. 2 overall pick David Bailey joining Will McDonald IV, but other teams will likely continue to find joy against this defense. Expect Jets fans to be dreaming of Arch Manning, Dante Moore or one of the other top quarterback prospects in the 2027 NFL draft.

Miami Dolphins

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 500-1; Over-under win total: 4.5

Strengths: A lack of expectations? Does that count? The Dolphins are in full-fledged rebuilding mode. There’s a new general manager, a new head coach and a new quarterback. Malik Willis showed some promise as the No. 2 behind Jordan Love in Green Bay. The Dolphins need Willis and De’Von Achane to be a dynamic duo.

Weaknesses: Linebacker Jordyn Brooks earned All-Pro honors with a league-leading 183 tackles. He had a lot of cleaning up to do. There are intriguing young players on defense, but it could be a long year for the defense. With Jaylen Waddle in Denver and Tyreek Hill released after a severe knee injury last year, Willis might be working with the worst group of receivers in the league. Achane led the Dolphins in receptions last yea, and would be a solid bet to do it again.

As he flashed his mitts toward Green Bay reserve tackle Brant Banks on Friday night, Banks raised his to counter.

Just as he did, though, Robinson dipped his right shoulder low, bent around Banks and exploded toward quarterback Kyle McCord, who never had a chance to throw the ball away or even think about escaping.

Unlike some players who see action in the second half of preseason games this time of year, a 10-yard sack midway through the third quarter Friday night for Robinson is hardly the biggest play he’s made in his career.

Que Robinson with a BIG sack

GBvsDEN on ��
Stream on

— NFL (@NFL)

That came back in January, of course, when Robinson sacked New England quarterback Drake Maye in the AFC Championship Game.

This play, though, held significance for Denver’s second-year outside linebacker.

Robinson is one of the primary names mentioned when the conversation turns to 2026 breakout candidates for the Broncos. He’s got the size, speed and physicality to blossom into a steal of a fourth-round draft pick.

In order to do so, though, Robinson must continue to refine his game. During his rookie season, he only got six games’ worth of playing time plus the conference title game.

That makes playing time like his 23 snaps on Friday all the more valuable.

And it makes cashing in a move like the one he pulled on the sack feel quite distinctly like a step forward.

“Shoot, man, I’ve been giving our offensive tackles hell all of camp,” Robinson said in the postgame locker room. “So it feels pretty good to go against somebody else and work a move that I’ve been practicing for I don’t know how long.

“It felt pretty good. It probably would have felt better if we’d have won.”

This is all part of the process for Robinson, who went from a little-used defensive player at the University of Alabama — he played all of 370 defensive snaps in four seasons there because he primarily backed up first-round picks Will Anderson and Dallas Turner — to one of the most promising young players on the Broncos’ loaded defensive front.

“There were certain traits you saw on film,” head coach Sean Payton said earlier this month. “He’s a real good technician and he’s one of those guys that we know has been coached hard. We felt coming into this defense from what he was playing in, there were some similarities to what we were going to ask him to do. I think that����ap a help.”

Robinson, general manager George Paton, said after the season, might have the most upside of any defensive player in Denver’s 2025 draft class. This summer, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said Robinson needed to play more and that he has the ability to be a starter for Denver.

Players, too, will happily endorse him as a potential impact player.

“Que is obviously a very talented guy. He’s showing out every day in practice,” outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said before Denver’s preseason opener at Atlanta. “He has all the tools and whenever he sets his mind to it, nobody can block him. He’s been playing really well right now and I’m excited especially to see these next couple of games what he does out there.

“I know he’s going to put on a show for sure.”

He did on Friday against the Packers, harassing both Tyrod Taylor and McCord. On one pressure against Taylor, Robinson sped 10 yards up the field, found himself stymied by left tackle John Williams, spun, backtracked by 5 yards, saw Taylor trying to escape his direction and then closed 10 yards back to Taylor in a blink, blasting him as he threw the ball out of bounds well over receiver Bo Melton’s head.

The 25-year-old is learning the play-by-play rhythm of the NFL. He’s also trying to make sure he always has a plan and knows it, but also that he plays fast regardless of whether what happens in front of him resembles his plan at all.

“I’m able to play fast and go, man,” He said. “The guys in my room and, shoot, really, the team believes in me. They’ve got high hopes for me. I’ve just got to try to prove them right and put all my energy out there on the field for everybody. …

“I don’t want to go out there half-stepping or getting in my own head. Or being like, ‘oh, my pinky hurts, poor me’ and stuff like that.”

Robinson’s work so far is going to make it difficult to keep him off the field, though he’s still refining his run defense and down-to-down consistency. The splash is there. Even in a room that returns all four of its regular rotation members from a year ago — pending, at least, potential discipline for Jonathon Cooper at or near the start of the regular season —��Robinson’s attempting to carve a bigger role.

“You’ve got to make it count,” he said of the preseason chances. “This is a great defense. You’ve got Nik and Coop and Jonah and all those guys out there giving it their all.

“When I get my opportunities, I feel like I’d be doing them a disservice if I don’t do the same.”

Months earlier, he had little idea what was going on.

He was one of a few newcomers to the Broncos’ offseason program in 2025, and felt like it, finding his place as one of the levers and pulleys in Vance Joseph’s defensive system. So Hufanga would glance across the field at his safety partner Brandon Jones. Or north, at All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II.

“Like, ‘Hey, what are we running right here?'” Hufanga recalled in June. “‘I’m still learning the defense.'”

He is not, anymore. Few consequential members of Joseph’s defense are still in the elementary stages, entering the coordinator’s fourth season in Denver. These Broncos will head into training camp for the 2026 season still carrying 10 of the 11 defenders who started Week 1 in 2025, and those 10 starters average out at 28 years old. Not long in the tooth, exactly. But far beyond baby teeth.

That organization-wide emphasis on retention, though, has embroiled Joseph in a unique paradox after a second straight year crafting a top-three NFL defense.

“I think the challenge is human nature,” Joseph said in June. “I told the guys the very first day (of the offseason) that we’re not chasing what we’ve done in the last two years, but we’re chasing the process that got us there.”

This Broncos defense has little room for complacency, now, largely betting on the same personnel in 2026 to capitalize on a Super Bowl window that the outfit opened in 2025. An entire offseason came and went without any obvious on-paper upgrades to Joseph’s units; instead, Denver actually moved on from two notable contributors in John Franklin-Myers and Dre Greenlaw to cut costs. The gang’s mostly back, as the rest of the NFL has retooled.

“Starting over and chasing the process is our goal,” Joseph said, “and being better than we were last year.”

But how does one of the league’s most fearsome defenses — tied for fifth all-time in single-season sacks in 2025 — improve without actual personnel upgrades? Much of that will fall on Joseph, in yet another audition for an eventual second chance at a head-coaching job. Much of that, too, will fall on individual growth within his depth chart, as All-Pros like Hufanga and edge rusher Nik Bonitto are a year older and a year wiser.

As veterans are set to report for training camp this coming Tuesday, that depth chart looks awfully similar to the one the Broncos finalized at the end of 2025’s camp. But there are still a handful of key positional battles to play out — with a particular mind to cornerback.

Here’s an early two-deep defensive projection before the Broncos march into the start of the (pre)season.

Defensive line

DE:��Zach Allen, Sai’vion Jones

NT:��D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach

DE:��Eyioma Uwazurike, Tyler Onyedim

Starting point:��Here’s where roster shifting will be felt the most on Denver’s defense. John Franklin-Myers’ time as a Bronco expired the minute his contract did, through no fault of his own. Can’t pay everyone. The Broncos, evidently, felt they had enough quality depth in the room to cobble together snaps to fill Franklin-Myers’ 7.5-sack void, and drafted to their defensive line in April by taking a body-type carbon copy in Onyedim in the third round.

The process of recongealing, though, might not be so smooth.

“Anytime you lose a great player, you know there’s gonna be a big hole that you gotta replace,” Roach told reporters in June, at a charity softball event. “But also, when you lose a great friend, a great brother, it kinda hits hard.”

It could hit Allen the hardest, a bona-fide star who’s made two straight All-Pro teams and knocks around opposing quarterbacks more than anyone in the NFL. As the Jones-Roach rotation seems stable at nose tackle — even as the ascending Roach could continue growing in his versatility — the most movement here during camp will happen at boundary end, with a few hungry mouths awaiting.

The 28-year-old Uwazurike figures to play a massive role in 2026, after a mini-breakout last season: a 36% defensive snap share, 3.5 sacks, 49 tackles in 19 total games. He’ll be the stabilizer. Onyedim, meanwhile, looked instantly ready for serious NFL snaps this summer before Denver even put on pads, and figures to play at least a rotational role. Keep an eye on Sai’vion Jones here, the Broncos’ 2025 third-round rookie who now will have a serious shot to wreak havoc on passing-down snaps with his 82-plus-inch wingspan. Denver will likely give veterans Jordan Jackson and Matt Henningsen long looks in camp for 53-man spots, too, given the potential reliance on youth here.

Outside linebacker

OLB:��Nik Bonitto, Que Robinson

OLB:��Jonathon Cooper (?), Jonah Elliss

Cooper’s mere presence on this roster — let alone his outlook for 2026 — is in flux, after he was arrested multiple times in June in relation to a physical altercation with his girlfriend. That, correspondingly, leaves the Broncos’ entire edge outlook here in flux, as Cooper has racked up 27 sacks and 49 quarterback hits across 51 straight regular-season games as a starter in Denver.

However Cooper’s legal process and potential league and team discipline plays out, though, there’s still an overwhelming amount of talent in this room — enough to leave key contributor Dondrea Tillman off this two-deep entirely. If Cooper is suspended for any part of the 2026 season, expect Elliss to get the first crack at playing alongside two-time Pro Bowler Bonitto, who should be set for another leap in his own right. Head coach Sean Payton went public earlier this offseason proclaiming the Broncos would look at the 23-year-old Elliss to shift inside, only to walk that back months later and make clear that wasn’t an option simply because of Elliss’s talent playing the edge.

Another glaring breakout candidate here, too, is Robinson, enough for him to supplant Tillman as a rotational rusher beyond the Broncos’ top duo. His sack of Drake Maye in the AFC Championship Game made waves and his closing speed and upside are both ridiculous. Denver has some flexibility here.

Inside linebacker

ILB:��Alex Singleton, Red Murdock

ILB:��Justin Strnad, Jordan Turner

Utter crapshoot here behind a completely stable duo of Singleton and Strnad. Both veterans re-upped with the Broncos on multi-year deals in free agency as certified Joseph guys, and they head into camp as the unquestioned starters. They know it, too. Strnad, after all, told The Denver Post flat-out in January that he didn’t think he’d re-sign in Denver if he didn’t anticipate starting at ILB in 2026.

After two straight seasons of spot-starting at ILB, now Strnad will step fully into a featured role in the middle of Denver’s defense. And Singleton, for one, said in May he expects a “huge leap” from his running mate.

“You have that confidence where — a team finally gives you what you deserve, you have that confidence all offseason,” Singleton said. “So he’s had that already. There isn’t that question of, ‘Oh, what snaps am I going to play?’”

That question comes further down, in what projects as a slight mess of a depth chart. Red Murdock (2026 pick No. 257), Taurean York (2026 undrafted free agent), Jordan Turner (2025 undrafted free agent), Karene Reid (2025 undrafted free agent), and Levelle Bailey (2024 undrafted free agent) don’t have a single NFL start between them. Strnad, as the team’s third ILB, has wound up playing a rather important role the past two seasons; the Broncos need one or two youngsters to step up in camp. Murdock should have an inside track, a loyal Buffalo product with a mean streak and a fast processor. Turner impressed the Broncos so much at 2025’s rookie minicamp that he earned a contract, then earned a practice-squad spot in camp, then earned a full-time roster nod down the stretch; he’s a third-ILB candidate to watch.

Cornerback

CB:��Pat Surtain II, Kris Abrams-Draine

CB:��Riley Moss, Jahdae Barron

Nickel:��Ja’Quan McMillian, Reese Taylor

Here’s where the most eyes will fall in any defensive realm this August. Barron was the No. 20 overall pick in 2025’s draft, spent most of his season playing in dime and specific nickel packages, and left quite a few fans wondering about the Broncos’ long-term plan for him. The short-term plan, at least, seems clear: have he and Moss duke it out for a CB2 spot to determine who Denver could extend long-term between Moss and McMillian.

Barron couldn’t beat out McMillian as a rookie for Denver’s starting nickel job, though, and supplanting Moss to play opposite Surtain will be no easy task. The 26-year-old Moss went public plenty of times in 2025 for a variety of pass-interference flags, but also surrendered just a 58% completion percentage despite seeing a ridiculously high volume of targets. Barron would need to showcase a leap from an uneven rookie season to win Moss’s job, particularly after playing limited doses of outside cornerback in 2025.

McMillian’s hold on his nickel duties, meanwhile, seems ironclad after a standout 2025 season. Abrams-Draine is an interesting piece here, a rising third-year cornerback who would likely be good enough to compete for a starting job on a handful of NFL teams.

Safety

S:��Talanoa Hufanga, Devon Key

S:��Brandon Jones, JL Skinner

The Hufanga-Jones marriage landed on hiatus in December, when Jones suffered a pec injury that ended up knocking him out for the season. Year 2 of their partnership could prove even better than Year 1, with Hufanga’s nose for the ball and Jones’ ranginess in coverage. The one glaring caveat there: the two have missed nearly 20% of their cumulative regular-season games throughout their career, putting obvious importance on Denver’s third-safety position after veteran P.J. Locke signed with the Cowboys.

Veteran Tycen Anderson, signed away from Cincinnati, could be a contender for Locke’s vacant job. But Denver hasn’t had much recent luck with signing impact-special-teamer safeties on the open market in recent years, cutting Sam Franklin at the end of last year’s camp and signing-and-cutting former All-Pro J.T. Gray midseason. Instead, look to Key, who has earned widespread organizational trust after a franchise-great season as a special-teams tackler in 2025.

Skinner, meanwhile, has played all of 54 regular-season defensive snaps in a Broncos uniform after Denver drafted him in the sixth round in 2023. The 6-foot-4 safety, though, could earn a foothold in camp with Locke gone, and was trusted by Joseph to play deep in hyper-specific closing-game situations last season.

Special teams

K: Wil Lutz

P:��Jeremy Crawshaw

LS:��Mitchell Fraboni

If the Broncos had a 2025 playoff MVP, it might well be Crawshaw, who improved over the course of his rookie season in Denver and promptly deposited five of 10 playoff kicks inside the opponent’s 20-yard-line. The 2025 sixth-round pick could — relative to punting — be in store for a monster sophomore year.

Lutz, meanwhile, will serve as Payton’s kicker for a fourth straight season in Denver and 10th season overall. That takes a rare breed.

“I think (Stidham) had a tough go in there, but the elements (in the AFC Championship loss to New England) weren’t in his favor,” Ward, the Broncos’ legendary No Fly Zone enforcer who helped win Super Bowl 50, told me Monday by phone.

“You know, it was a tight game. The starting quarterback for the Patriots (Drake Maye), and didn’t play well. So I think (Stidham) gets a little pass for that, coming in for his first start.”

Actually, a few more little passes back in January would’ve gone a long way. Still, by all visual and whispered accounts, Nix and his ankle are good to go for the start of training camp next week. It’s just that “snow” and “Stiddy” still gives us night sweats. When last we saw Stidham leading a Broncos offense, he looked like a lifetime backup, an understudy corpsing on center stage — completing 17 of 31 throws for just 131 yards during a frustrating, frosty 10-7 defeat in front of a snowy, flustered Empower Field. If the worst would ever happen again …

“Is Stiddy still your guy?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Ward replied.

No. 43 in orange and blue is a NorCal dude based in SoCal these days. Ward still gets back to the Front Range four or five times a year, though. And, at age 39, he’s still got his finger on several pulses in the gridiron game, from preps to the pros.

In addition to hosting , the three-time Pro Bowler and former Broncos Super Bowl 50 champion safety is hosting . It’s the second camp in consecutive weekends for Ward, who on July 18 held a youth camp for players 8-15 last weekend at his old high school, De La Salle, in Concord, Calif., as part of the nonprofit founded by the ex-Broncos star and his brother Terron a few years back.

Saturday’s event, presented by Exos Sports and the Ward’s new management agency, kicks off with almost 300 prep prospects from Colorado and surrounding states at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus’ Campers will undergo official combine-style tests; position-specific drills and instruction; performance evaluations by Exos; and coaching on leadership and mentorship from Ward himself.

“That way they can take these measurements home, just like they would do at something like a combine,” Ward explained, “(and can) share with colleges and GMs and coaches to say, ‘Hey, these were my numbers. This is comparable to this player. And this is why you should give me a scholarship. (And) a salary.’ Now they’re giving (those players) a salary.”

Everybody gets a little something out of the moment. It’s a chance for Ward and his partners to be in front of local high-schoolers who want Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) guidance. And a window, in turn, for prospective college players to soak up advice from sage veterans such as Ward and polish skills in scenarios that replicate an NFL combine experience.

“I just love being around the kids,” Ward said. “I love being around and working with athletes, inquisitive athletes who want to learn and get better and understand the process …

“I tell them all the time, ‘Just because you’re here right now, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to stay in this position.’ And that goes negatively and positively. You could be playing terribly right now and in a few years, not be so good. You could be hurt right now and never get hurt again, right? You could never be hurt and then get hurt later.”

In a perfect world, that ‘hurt later’ part never comes for Nix, who boasts a 24-10 regular-season record in two seasons as the Broncos’ QB1 and was just voted as the No. 59 player in the league by his NFL peers.

“I think this year we’re going to see a free, an uncaged Bo,” Ward said.

“A lot of people talk about, ‘Oh, Bo had the most passing chances, but they were mostly check-downs or whatnot.’ And I think we’re going to see a lot more down-the-field passes, obviously, with (Jaylen) Waddle in there now. It’s going to clear the way for (Courtland) Sutton, and now we have a deep-ball threat. Really, two deep-ball threats.”

The only question is whether there’s a Plan B in the QB room, if pressed into duty again, who can get them the rock consistently. Unlike the tight margins the Avalanche are navigating, or the uncomfortable conversations in the Nuggets front office at the moment, the Broncos have some wiggle room to spend on improvement around the margins.

, the Broncos had $29.487 million in cap space to play with as of Monday — and after handing out a boatload of extensions to core pieces of AFC’s best regular-season team last fall.

If you’re curious about the market rate, Justin Fields is slated to get $11 million from the Chiefs this fall. Davis Mills is on track to make $7 million with the Texans, with geriatric Joe Flacco getting $6 million with the Bengals.

Stidham will make $6 million in 2026 while the camp’s presumed No. 3 QB, Sam Ehlinger, is slated to make $2 million. And he does things with his feet, even Bo-esque things, that Stiddy can’t.

“Well, it’s always a competition,” Ward mused. “No one’s job is safe, even the backup. I guess we’ll see this preseason, right?”

Speaking of the preseason, Ward’s trying to get back this way soon to check out the Broncos’ swanky new training digs in Dove Valley. Not that he’s jealous.

“Not at all,” Ward laughed. “Those guys (now) are going to be jealous of somebody else. What I’ve learned coming up in football (is), ‘The class behind you always gets more.’ We got more than the guys before us. And the guys after us are going to get more than us. And the guys after them are going to get more than them.

“When I went to Oregon, we had the best in the world. Three years later, they built on top of it. And now they’re building another one. Just when you think it can’t get any better, it keeps getting better. As long as I get to come back and do a few workouts, I’ll be all right.”

Pretty sure they can make that work, yeah. In the meantime, Stiddy as you go, man. Stiddy as you go.

“But I definitely think that (Jarrett) is a great backup for us,” Ward continued. “He knows the system. He’s been there. And he’s playing well. We’ve seen him play well. Yeah, give him another opportunity.”

With that, 43 laughed.

“Hopefully,” he chuckled softly, “he doesn’t get one.”

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

In Week 16, Jacksonville torched Denver for 34 points at Empower Field and put the Broncos on notice that they would not waltz through the rest of their regular season, let alone the postseason.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence engineered a quartet of red zone touchdown conversions against the NFL’s best group.

Early in the fourth quarter, though, Robinson, a rookie outside linebacker, made a stand.

On first-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Robinson ripped unblocked off Lawrence’s left side as the quarterback meshed with running back Travis Etienne. Earlier, Lawrence, on a similar call, had pulled the ball, got leverage on Robinson, and walked in for a 1-yard touchdown.

He tried again.

This time, Robinson crashed into the quarterback and dropped him for a 5-yard loss.

On second-and-goal, Robinson blew off the line of scrimmage, ricocheted off of Etienne, and into an inside spin move past tackle Cole Van Lanen. Hurried, Lawrence dumped the ball off for a 3-yard gain.

Then, on third-and-7, the Jags finally wised up. Lawrence motioned running back LeQuint Allen into the backfield and deployed him to chip Robinson, effectively double-teaming him. An incomplete pass meant Jacksonville’s lone red zone failure of the afternoon.

Robinson’s on-the-job training as a fourth-round rookie came in fits and spurts last fall. He dressed for only six regular-season games, but played regularly in rotation when he was in uniform. He made the most eye-popping play of his first professional season — a turbocharged sack of New England’s Drake Maye in the AFC Championship Game —��only after he was a gameday inactive in the divisional round against Buffalo.

Over the course of 162 defensive snaps and about the same on special teams, though, Robinson put himself squarely on the Broncos’ radar as a Year 2 breakout candidate. He did so long before fellow outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper ran into legal trouble that has clouded at least his 2026 outlook and potentially his standing with the club altogether.

Before Cooper’s two arrests in the span of one June week, Robinson was part of an interesting, productive young group of edge rushers that give Denver options and enviable depth behind star rusher Nik Bonitto. Now Robinson and that group may well be counted on in a much more substantial way for weeks or longer this fall.

Que Robinson starting to tap into vast ‘physical gifts’

George Paton is not prone to hyperbole.

The Broncos general manager is a scout at his core, and he talks about players in that manner.

Just after Denver’s AFC title game loss, Paton was asked about the progress of the team’s rookie class —��headlined by first-round pick Jahdae Barron, second-round running back RJ Harvey and also including third-round defensive lineman Sai’Vion Jones, whom the Broncos traded up to draft. Paton said it was Robinson, though, who “may have the most upside of anyone in our draft class, and you could see it the other day.”

The other day, in this case, was when Robinson started up the field against the Patriots, put his hands on tight end Hunter Henry to disrupt his route to the flat, then eliminated a 5-yard gap between himself and Maye in a blink for a 9-yard sack.

That����ap the kind of play that can launch a young player into an offseason and a second season brimming with confidence.

“It����ap huge. It����ap huge,” outside linebackers coach Isaac Shewmaker told The Post earlier this month. “Take the teaching. We talk about the upfield shoulder of the tight end to help you redirect to the quarterback. That kind of thing, when those little things start happening and then you get the results, just the confidence you feel. …

“That����ap just what helps you begin to play confident and grow.”

Robinson, listed at 6-foot-4 and 243 pounds, has long arms and a powerful frame. The Broncos loved his physical traits when they drafted him No. 134 overall last spring, but they didn’t know exactly how fast they’d start to see returns. After all, the former five-star high school recruit played just 370 defensive snaps in his four-year career at Alabama. That was hardly his fault. Robinson found himself behind the likes of future first-rounders Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner.

“Throughout the whole draft process, I liked what I saw,” Shewmaker said. “There were physical traits that I really liked. When he got here, same thing. He kept showing it. His thing is, just making him play with confidence. Giving him the confidence that, ‘you go out there and you play fast. Everything else is on me.’

“When he lets it loose, you see the physical gifts he has.”

Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph saw them when Robinson was on the field, but even more acutely when he did his annual postseason film review.

When Robinson’s name came up earlier this month, a smile creased the veteran coordinator’s face.

The Vance Jospeh smile when Que Robinson’s name comes up.

Said the second-year OLB looks like a player who “can be a future starter for us.”

— Parker Gabriel (@ParkerJGabriel)

“When Que played, he played really well,” Joseph said. “It looked like a guy who can be a future starter for us.”

Joseph uttered those words after Cooper’s first arrest but hours before his second.

The future typically arrives faster than expected in the NFL. For Robinson, there’s at least a chance it����ap arriving this summer.

Healthy Jonah Ellis, steady Dondrea Tillman and a wildcard

One of Shewmaker’s favorite sequences of the season arrived early.

When Marvin Mims Jr. muffed a Week 1 punt early in the fourth quarter, Tennessee and rookie quarterback Cam Ward were set up at the Broncos’ 22-yard line and trailing 13-12 with 11:43 to go.

That����ap not exactly game on the line, but it was a huge moment in a game teetering toward trouble for the heavily favored Broncos.

The defense trotted onto the field with Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman at outside linebacker instead of Bonitto and Cooper.

After a 2-yard Tony Pollard run, Elliss sacked Ward for a 16-yard loss. Then on third-and-24, Tillman won clean off the edge and forced Ward to spin away and into Zach Allen’s arms for another 11-yard backtrack.

From sure to take the lead to out of field goal range, largely at the hands of a pair of reserve edge rushers.

“That����ap what it is,” Shewmaker said. “There’s no one, two, three, four. There are the guys that are up for each game and let����ap go. … I’m not worried about, ‘Oh, I have to have one of those (starters) on the field.’ I’ve got full confidence in everybody else, so we’re going to try to keep everybody as fresh as we can.

“I don’t like playing more than three to four plays in a row and then we’re going to get the next guys in. And we’re just going to keep on that.”

Elliss and Tillman have been the primary reasons the Broncos have been able to play that way the past two seasons. Tillman, a summer signing out of the UFL in 2024, has nine sacks the past two seasons and has played in 25 straight games plus three playoff contests since November 2024.

Elliss burst out of the gate as a rookie with five sacks in 2024, but dealt with shoulder and hamstring issues last fall and never looked like he was really in top form.

Broncos staff praise Elliss’ versatility and the group pondered moving him inside this year, but “at the end of the day he’s a really good rusher,” Shewmaker said simply.

“Last year he got dinged up a little bit and it was hard to get into a rhythm,” he added. “But he’s a great player for us on the edge and then we’ll just try to find more ways to get him on the field.”

Drew Sanders has been more than dinged up and represents the wild card in the group this summer. The 2023 third-round pick didn’t play a snap last year after injuring his foot in training camp and missed 13 in 2024 due to an Achilles tear. That means Sanders has played in just four games the past two seasons after appearing in all 17 as a rookie in 2023.

Can he stay healthy? Can he unlock the potential that����ap so far sat idly in an athletic, explosive player?

For now, the Broncos have smaller goals for him.

“He can get the alignment, the assignment, all of that,” head coach Sean Payton said earlier this month. “There’s a young player that, knock on wood, we feel like is really talented. …

“He’s coming into this portion of training camp healthy, so I’m encouraged with that.”

The Jonathon Cooper question will need an answer eventually

The next date on Cooper’s court calendar is a hearing on July 24, four days before Broncos veterans report for training camp.

Cooper’s criminal cases have been consolidated into one that includes four charges, led by one for felony assault. They stem from two incidents involving his girlfriend, the first an argument that turned physical, including Cooper acknowledging to a police officer that he picked his girlfriend up by the neck, according to an updated arrest affidavit. Cooper participated in Broncos OTAs after the initial arrest but then was arrested again a week later, hours after Denver’s practice ended, after his girlfriend said he showed up at her apartment and pounded on the door for 5-10 minutes and also sent her 20 unreturned messages. He has not been with the team since and was an excused absence from the club’s mandatory minicamp on June 16 and 17.

If Cooper’s case goes to trial, it will almost certainly be well into training camp or even the regular season. That means the NFL and the Broncos could have to decide what, if any, punishment they will levy before the criminal proceedings play out.

The league’s personal conduct policy does not require a player to be convicted in criminal court to be subject to discipline and lays out a baseline six-game suspension for players found to have engaged in domestic violence, “with possible upward or downward adjustments based on any aggravating or mitigating factors.”

There is also the eventual question of whether the Broncos will consider cutting ties with Cooper altogether. He is the first player to be arrested since Payton arrived and since the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group purchased the team in August 2022.

After Cooper’s initial arrest, Payton said that the team had “a long visit” with him. After the second, the veteran coach spoke about the organization’s high standards and said, “We’ll consider all of that as we continue to gather the information.”

An eventual decision will undoubtedly be seen as a marker for how Payton and how the ownership group will handle such cases going forward.

Money is unlikely to be a driving factor, but it will become part of the equation if Denver releases Cooper.

The 28-year-old signed a four-year, $54 million extension in 2024 and pocketed $15 million of that money during the first two seasons. He’s due $12 million more this year.

Denver, though, could go after a substantial portion of that money if it wants to, following a potential release.

Only $1.7 million of Cooper’s 2026 pay is guaranteed. On top of that,�� more than $20 million of Cooper’s deal has been paid or allocated as signing bonus. Any of that bonus money allocated for 2026 or beyond — a total of $17.1 million — is eligible for forfeiture, multiple player agents told The Post. If the Broncos tried to claw back all or some of that money, a grievance would likely follow. If the club succeeded, it would gain salary cap credit for the money forfeited.

All of that is of downballot concern, but it could enter the picture at some point.

In the meantime, the Broncos’ young pass-rushers step to the fore. Robinson would have been a player to watch even without Cooper’s troubles. Now, he’s even more so.

“The strength and size he has, there’s not going to be many tight ends that can block him,” Shewmaker said. “Not many tackles that can block him one-on-one, either.”

They are the hunted. The reigning AFC West division champions and last year’s No. 1 seed in the conference.

They carry heavy expectations after coming just one win short of the Super Bowl.

They also already know they will play a rugged schedule, though the sequencing will not be fully unveiled until 6 p.m. Thursday.

What fun is waiting, though?

We know the opponents and the locations. We know how the story begins now that ESPN has announced the Broncos will open the season at Kansas City on Monday Night Football, a Sept. 14 capper to Week 1 in the NFL.

We don’t know the rest, but we are here to guess. It����ap time for The Post����ap most meaningless time-honored tradition where Broncos beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Luca Evans guess the schedule.

It says here that Gabriel nailed the Week 16-18 stretch last year of vs. Jacksonville, at Kansas City and vs. the L.A. Chargers — though the Chiefs date was announced ahead of time.

Good luck getting anything right beyond the opener this year, let alone three in a row.

Gabriel’s schedule prediction

Week 1: at Kansas City (Monday Night Football)

Mark it down. One for one. ESPN will hit a home run with this one as long as Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is on the field after tearing his ACL and LCL in December. If not, it����ap a mega advantage for the Broncos.

Week 2: vs. Miami

We know this game won’t be Buffalo (opening its new stadium Thursday night of Week 2) or the Chiefs. So, guessing should be easy, right? Well, not so much. Non-division home game feels right after the Broncos open on the road against K.C. The Jaylen Waddle Bowl arrives early.

Week 3: vs. Las Vegas

This would represent a chance for a hot start. The Broncos have to take advantage, given their overall rugged schedule.

Week 4: at New England (Sunday Night Football)

The rematch of the AFC Championship game arrives early and in prime time. Bo Nix and Drake Maye were in the same draft class, are friends and hung out at The Masters together this spring. Now they get their first matchup.

Week 5: at Carolina

The NFL gives head coach Sean Payton what he wants, putting two of Denver’s four East Coast road games back-to-back. Now the only question: A week at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, or somewhere else? Just a free thought, Sean: How about IMG Academy on Florida’s Gulf Coast, instead?

Week 6: L.A. Rams (Thursday Night Football)

A short week into a matchup between Sean Payton and Sean McVay. It would be almost a shame to get a matchup this good on Thursday night, but, hey. Dollars for the billionaires.

Week 7: at Arizona

Week 8: Buffalo

A midseason rematch of January’s AFC Divisional round classic. This time, if things are going well for the Broncos, there is no lurking ankle issue for Nix.

Week 9: at San Francisco

Week 10: Bye

Week 11: at Las Vegas

Week 12: at L.A. Chargers (Black Friday)

The Broncos, somehow, someway, are going to end up part of the NFL’s holiday scheduling. It feels inevitable. So, why not try something novel and slot them at SoFi — home of a Valentine’s Day Super Bowl, come to think of it — on Black Friday.

Week 13: Seattle (Sunday Night Football)

What a year for the AFC West and NFC West to square off. The reigning Super Bowl champs come to town in early December for what should be a terrific matchup. And a big, ol’ what-if for ����apountry given how close Denver was last year.

Week 14: at New York Jets

Week 15: Jacksonville

Big matchup, small market.

Week 16: L.A. Chargers

Week 17: at Pittsburgh

The final of four East Coast road games for Denver and one with potential postseason implications — especially if Aaron Rodgers A) actually signs with the Steelers as expected and B) is still upright as we ring in 2027.

Week 18: Kansas City

Why not? The Chiefs get the opener and the Broncos get the closer. Let this happen and let it be heads up for the division. Please and thank you.

Evans’ schedule prediction

Week 1: at Kansas City Chiefs (Monday Night Football)

Starting off with a bang. This one was cemented on Tuesday, and on the surface, kicking off the season at Arrowhead sounds less-than-ideal. But Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes is still somewhat up in the air for the start of the season after a late-season ACL tear in 2025, giving Denver a chance to see Mahomes with some rust and avoid this matchup later in the year.

Week 2: Miami Dolphins

The Jaylen Waddle revenge game. Is it revenge if Miami’s entire regime is different, with new head coach Jeff Hafley and new general manager Jon Eric-Sullivan? Not really. Still, an exciting early-season matchup with some extra motivation for the Broncos’ newest offensive weapon.

Week 3: at Carolina Panthers

Week 4: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Let����ap just copy-paste the 2024 East Coast trip here for funsies, when the Broncos just stayed on the other side of the country in between a Week 3 trip to Tampa Bay and a Week 4 trip to New York. That was this Broncos’ regime’s first introduction to Sean Payton’s beloved Greenbrier Resort, and the schedule could align again to give this Denver team another week of practicing and bonding up in West Virginia. The Greenbrier lies almost exactly in the middle between Charlotte and Pittsburgh. It����ap too perfect not to happen.

Week 5: Bye

Yes, this is early in the year. But Denver has learned its lesson from last season, when the Broncos didn’t call for a bye after an early-season gauntlet: a Week 5 trip to Philadelphia, an immediate trip to London to play the Jets, and no bye before a trip home to play the Giants. The Broncos started off brutally sluggish in that famous Week 7 game, before exploding for a franchise-record 33 fourth-quarter points. Here, they target an off week after the East Coast trip.

Week 6: Jacksonville Jaguars

Hop right out of a bye and right into a brutal matchup. Jacksonville played Denver as well as any team in the regular season last year, and snapped an 11-game win streak with a 34-20 win over the Broncos in December 2025.

Week 7: at Arizona Cardinals

A midseason reunion with Nathaniel Hackett, now Arizona’s offensive coordinator.

Week 8: Buffalo Bills (Sunday Night Football)

Of course, the league will want to platform the rematch of one of last year’s great playoff duels between Bo Nix and Josh Allen. How about a little late-October primetime action? This matchup becomes even more juicy in 2026, with former Broncos defensive staffer Jim Leonhard now in Buffalo as the Bills’ defensive coordinator and dueling with new Broncos play-caller Davis Webb, a former Bills backup quarterback.

Week 9: at New York Jets

Week 10: at San Francisco 49ers (Sunday Night Football)

This intra-conference clash seems primed for primetime treatment — and not on a Thursday night, when a short week of practice could stunt the potential offensive chess match between Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan.

Week 11: Los Angeles Chargers

Week 12: Seattle Seahawks (Thanksgiving, Thursday Night Football)

Let����ap set up a sheer defensive slugfest on a holiday. No way either Denver’s or Seattle’s offenses are at full operating power here. That’ll set the stage for the No. 1 defense in 2025 (Seahawks) and No. 3 defense to muck it up.

Week 13: at Las Vegas Raiders

Week 14: Kansas City Chiefs

Back-to-back AFC West slate here, as the divisional standings get tight late in the season. The Chiefs’ home matchup later in the year is considerably more favorable than a November or December trip to Arrowhead.

Week 15: Los Angeles Rams

Week 16: at Los Angeles Chargers

Back-to-back Los Angeles matchups, in two different settings. Rams-Broncos should be a dynamic showcase of offensive weaponry, and this Chargers Week 16 showcase could shift the entire tide on divisional standings.

Week 17: at New England (Christmas)

The NFL will want this AFC Championship rematch on the grandest stage possible. What better than Christmas? Nix and Drake Maye finally square off in a matchup that could have massive conference-seeding implications, and could feature a blizzard in Foxborough instead of a blizzard in Denver this time around.

Week 18: Las Vegas Raiders

Denver and New England’s whiteout matchup in the AFC Championship in 2025, though, brought back several degrees of recent history. Back to the days of Brady, and Peyton Manning, and the last time the stands at Empower Field rocked as loudly as they did this winter. Back to a Broncos group that knew quite well, as ex-Denver running back C.J. Anderson recalled, who they’d have to go through in the AFC to get to a Lombardi Trophy.

“It����ap interesting to see like — it����ap them two at the top of the apex,” Anderson told The Denver Post this week. “I think for us, it was like, we knew that we were going to run into Ben (Roethlisberger). Or we were going to run into Brady.”

History has repeated itself, a decade later. These Broncos have thrust their Super Bowl window wide open after a 2025 season where they came three points and a blizzard away from a trip to the Super Bowl last Sunday. They built a team to climb over the Chiefs and the Patrick Mahomes hump. They built a team to climb over the Bills and the Josh Allen hump.

Now, though, they’ll have to build for a future where they can topple the Patriots, a similarly young team that also employs a culture-changing head coach and a second-year quarterback still on his rookie deal.

“Denver’s a great team,” Patriots receiver Trent Sherfield said, sitting at his locker Sunday after New England’s loss to Seattle in the Super Bowl. “This team’s a great team. Like, you’re in the first year of a rebuild, and you get to the Super Bowl.”

“So,” Sherfield continued, “it’s gon’ be real competitive.”

Sherfield, of course, saw both franchises’ ascent firsthand in 2025, after spending half the year as the Broncos’ fifth wide receiver and the end of the season on New England’s practice squad. He sees a future where Denver and New England — who both went 14-3 in 2025 — will have to go through each other, once again. And where quarterbacks Bo Nix and Drake Maye go head-to-head across the future playoff runs.

“I think Bo’s arm talent, being able to run the ball, extend plays, turn a bad play into a good one — I think they have a lot in common,” Sherfield said. “I feel like that����ap gonna be, probably, an AFC Championship for a couple of years. Kinda like how Patrick Mahomes is always in it.I think that those two will be going at each other for a long time.”

Of course, the two quarterbacks have yet to actually face off in their NFL careers, after Nix’s fractured ankle heard ’round the world. And several Broncos made it quite publicly known that they believed they should’ve been in the Bay Area if a couple of factors had broken differently, as the Seahawks�� dominated the Patriots from kickoff to triple zeroes in a 29-13 win.

“This game is making me even more sick to my stomach that we lost,” safety P.J. Locke . “‘Cry me a river?’ Yes I am! Lol.”

Maye struggled mightily throughout the Patriots’ playoff run after an MVP runner-up regular season, posting an expected-points-added mark of -41.2 in the postseason — worst of any playoff quarterback, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Still, New England enters the offseason with just six players set to hit unrestricted free agency and an enviable $41 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap. Several key pieces beyond Maye, like left tackle Will Campbell and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, are also still on rookie deals.

For years, in general manager George Paton’s five-year Broncos tenure, Denver has structured its rebuild in part around toppling the Chiefs and Mahomes in the AFC West. The Broncos’ wild-card loss to the Bills and Allen in 2024, meanwhile, served as a direct wake-up call for areas of roster need.

Count New England and Maye, now, as the next conference foe that Denver will have to account for across the next few months.

“I would say that the league is in good hands,” Sherfield said.

Veen is bigger, dramatically so, telling friend that he weighs 245 pounds, roughly 45 more than he finished last season. Such gains draw suspicions in a sport haunted by performance-enhancing drugs. But Veen, a former Rockies top prospect, offered a plausible explanation.

He said he is no longer abusing marijuana and alcohol for the first time since 2021.

“I had a pretty big substance abuse problem for a few years. But I’m completely clean and sober. There were times last year where it was out of hand,” Veen admitted. “Looking back, a lot of my meals were smoke – and things that shouldn’t have been. I was smoking weed every day. If I couldn’t find any weed, I was drinking every single day. … Coming home in the offseason, I had to look in the mirror and make some adjustments. And I definitely got closer to God, and it made me want to be the best version of myself in every aspect.”

Veen, the ninth overall pick in the 2020 draft, finally reached the big leagues last April, and crash landed. He managed four hits in 34 at-bats with 14 strikeouts. He could not lay off a high inside fastball, struggled with routes in the outfield and ruined one one of his best moments by celebrating a double at Coors Field by pretending to take a bong hit.

I talked with Veen in May a few weeks after the Rockies shipped him back to Triple-A. The experience humbled him. He knew he had to change beyond replacing his purple and blond hair with a crewcut. He needed to develop power, but not until, it turns out, he gained control of his life.

An offseason spent in Florida with friends, former coaches and faith helped put him in a different place.

“I love his new look,” assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco texted The Post on Friday. “And where he is at mentally.”

Veen provides a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in idle time without discipline and direction.

In some ways, his journey, now that he has gone public, sounds similar to that of Josh Hamilton. Hamilton became an addict after an injury, leaving him out of baseball for three years because of drug suspensions.

Sobriety helped him reach five all-star games before injuries and relapses forced him to retire. Last May, interim bench coach Clint Hurdle invited Hamilton to speak to the Rockies hitters about his experience.

Hamilton was a generational talent, the first overall pick in 1999. Veen has only shown promise, alternating flashes of stardom with maddening displays of immaturity.

Veen understands he must regain the trust of the organization, of his teammates. Relying on a routine with a clear head can help him reach the big leagues, if not with the Rockies, then another team.

Perhaps that is naive. But he is just 24. Leave room for hope, especially for his life beyond baseball, now that he has shown the courage to get help.

F on Report Card: The NFL owners have great lawyers. So, perhaps it was no surprise that the league won its grievance against the NFLPA, banning the union from making public player report cards on organizations. The NFLPA was found in violation of collective bargaining language preventing “disparaging NFL clubs and individuals.” Fine. What it really means is that owners are thin-skinned. Those report cards helped produce meaningful change. The Broncos owners have received A grades in recent seasons, boosted by adding a new family room at the stadium. In the end, bad owners, like Woody Johnson, got their way. Fans at MetLife Stadium should change their “J-E-T-S!” chant to “S-O-F-T!”

May-Be He’s Not All That: It is funny how Patriots fans ripped Bo Nix, believing he wasn’t in the same stratosphere as Drake Maye. Good thing Maye did not win MVP honors based on his underwhelming Super Bowl performance. The only question after the Patriots’ loss was who was worse: Maye or offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels?

“Coach mentioned that as well, just how young of a team that we are,” Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw told me as we talked at his locker stall after the AFC championship. “So I think these guys, we kind of spoke about it, how (that learning is) going to fuel our off-season to be better for next year. I think everyone’s kind of on-board with that.”

Even the smartest guy in the room has to realize it ain’t rocket science. The last two NFL champions had at least three things in common: 1.) An amazing defense; 2.) a decently mobile quarterback who won’t make game-killing mistakes; 3.) a reliable No. 1 tailback who can soften up the opposition.

Sean Payton‘s already ticked the first two boxes. Why let your ego get in the way of the third?

Seattle QB Sam Darnold’s postseason completion percentage was a Bo Nix-like 61.5% this winter. His touchdown-to-interception radio was five-to-zip. Running back Kenneth Walker III did the heavy lifting in the Divisional rout of San Francisco (116 yards rushing) and in that Super Bowl stomping of New England (135 yards rushing).

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (5-to-1 TD/pick ratio in the ’24-25 playoffs) could lean on Saquon Barkley, who had at least 18 touches and at least 97 yards from scrimmage in each of Philly’s four playoff wins a year ago.

While the Seahawks were pounding New England, 29-13,

“Hope I get to experience football on this stage. Everything on the line. I’ll get there one day. I know it…”

Oh, my goodness. Ease his pain, George Paton. Free the man. The Broncos need a 1A back to pair with RJ Harvey’s 1B. A 1A who’ll actually be healthy in December and January. A bell cow to lean on when the next snow squall hits.

The Seahawks are just the Broncos with a better RB room, a better WR room, and no self-delusions as to who they really are offensively.

Seattle sacked Pats QB Drake Maye six times. Seahawks kicker Jason Myers drained a Super Bowl-record five field goals. The teams combined for 15 punts. Super Bowl 60 even felt like a Broncos game, other than the fact Seattle led 12-0 at the end of the third quarter instead of trailing. And that Seahawks coach Mike MacDonald elected to kick a field goal on fourth and short at the New England 23 to go up 9-0 just before halftime. When your defense can turn any pocket into a box of Kleenex, why get cute?

An offense led by Jarrett Stidham would’ve been a disaster against that Seattle front. But one led by a healthy Nix would’ve made for a fair fight. Would Bo have been running for his life? Sure. But not the way Maye had to. . Pro Football Network said New England’s hogmolies were 12th-best. PFF ranked the Broncos’ OL No. 1. PFN had them at No. 4. Per SumerSports.com,

Nix basically practiced against the Seahawks’ pass rush for months at a time. Part of No. 10’s superpower isn’t just avoiding outside linebackers. It’s his ability to keep the Broncos out of second-downs- or third-downs-and-forevers.

I mean, yeah, the Patriots earned the right to be there. They beat Houston in the snow at home. They beat the Broncos in a blizzard at Empower, becoming the first New England bunch to ever win a postseason game here. The Pats made some of their own luck. Some. But I’ll go to my grave assured that if Nix plays two weeks ago, and Stiddy doesn’t, the Broncos would’ve found a way. The way they almost always found a way.

Sunday reminded us that runs to the outside zone never get old in the Big Game. Especially if you’ve got the kind of offensive line that can pull it off. Payton’s already got the latter in-house. He just needs a healthy hammer to hand off to.

J.K. Dobbins, the Broncos’ offensive MVP for the season’s opening two months, is part workhorse, part tax auditor. His peak season only lasts about 11 or 12 weeks a year.

“What does this running back room need?” I asked Dobbins during clean-out day last month.

“What do we need …” Dobbins mused. “I mean, you tell me what you think we need.”

“A healthy you would be good,” I replied.

“I think so, too.”

“A big back would be good,” I continued.

“Big back?” Dobbins countered, musing again. “I think I could do both, though. Don’t you think that?”

“Well, I don’t know …”

“You can doubt me a little bit,” he laughed. “You can tell me, ‘Nah, I don’t think so.’ You’d be like, ‘Ah, you’d get hurt.'”

Nah. Don’t think so.

You might get hurt, dude.

Barkley hasn’t played in fewer than 14 regular-season games since 2021. Walker has appeared in at least 12 regular-season games in every season since 2022. Hall has averaged 16.3 games over the last three seasons. Dobbins has averaged eight games per season since 2022. He’s played in more than 13 regular-season games just once — all the way back in 2020, his rookie year.

If it’s about finishing drives as well as finishing seasons, Hall holds his own there, too. Since 2023, he’s averaged 3.0 yards per touch inside the opponents’ 19-yard line while accounting for 12 touchdowns either running or receiving. Dobbins over the last three seasons averaged 3.25 yards per inside-the-red-zone touch with 12 scores.

The last two NFL champs have led with incredible defenses, suffocated elite AFC passers, then ran out the clock. The Broncos are on the right track. They just need more beef in the boxcar.