Instead, it went directly to representatives of Special Olympics Colorado — waiting to see if he’d be back in Denver so .

“Or else, I might’ve been having it in some other city,” Singleton said.

He spoke to reporters Friday very much present and accounted for in Denver, on-site at his second annual cornhole event with Special Olympics Colorado. Two months earlier, the Broncos captain received $11 million in guaranteed money on a new contract. The Special Olympics team got the green light. But for a brief period, this was all far from a certainty.

At February’s NFL Combine, Broncos general manager George Paton said point-blank they’d “love” to re-sign Singleton and fellow ILB Justin Strnad, both impending free agents. Words that drift through the haze of NFL contract negotiations, however, rarely equate to actions. Strnad told The Post on Friday that he “wasn’t nervous to go to the market.” Hours into free agency opening March 9, Singleton remained unsigned — and had a skeleton deal lined up with another NFL team in free agency if negotiations with the Broncos fell through, according to a source familiar with the process.

Paton’s word never wavered, though. Denver finalized multi-year deals with multi-year mainstays Strnad and Singleton, cut 2025 signee Dre Greenlaw, and immediately set the precedent for an offseason of unprecedented veteran retention.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton may hate the term “run it back,” as he said at the start of April. But his linebackers, for one, appreciate the sentiment.

“I think it’s everything,” Singleton said Friday. “Coaches say it all the time, like — ‘Ah, if we could just run it back, we could go be better.’ And then they let half the guys go, and sign all these free agents, and you’re just like, ‘Well, were they lying to us? What was the upstairs thinking?’

“But instead,” Singleton continued, “we’re in an organization right now that, what they’ve said is completely true. What Sean has said since Day 1 — he’s going to keep the guys here, they’re going to win football games for us — he’s done that. And now, we’ve had a year of winning where we got close. Instead of trying to fix something that isn’t broken with new pieces, we just kinda put together the band. And we’re going to see what happens.”

The heart of a defense that is the heart of these Broncos, then, is back to try to climb through a Super Bowl window everyone in Denver knows is open. Everyone across the NFL, too, if you ask Singleton.

“We’re not chasing targets anymore,” Singleton said Friday, asked about the team’s self-expectations. “We’re the target, now, I think, in the AFC. So we need to know that.”

Beyond a blockbuster trade for Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, the Broncos placed a rather massive offseason bet on retaining their own pieces to successfully dodge that target. That begins with Singleton and Strnad, two veteran buddies who’ve been handsomely rewarded for their efforts and will now be tasked with rewarding the organization’s faith.

For years, Broncos fans have argued across social-media keyboards that the middle of coordinator Vance Joseph’s defense is, in fact, broken. Joseph himself has acknowledged that opposing offenses have attacked his scheme with tight ends across the past two seasons, and Singleton and Strnad have both had spotty records covering TEs in space. The two, however, also happened to be the two best inside linebackers on the NFL’s No. 3 defense in 2025, and Joseph has attached Singleton to his hip as his on-field defensive play-caller.

The Broncos could’ve easily signed a different linebacker in free agency for a similar cost. They did not. They could’ve drafted an early-to-middle-round linebacker, even as Texas’s Anthony Hill Jr. was ripped away two picks before the team’s second-round selection in April. They did not.

“We feel really good about Alex and Justin,” Broncos assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt said post-draft, on evaluating draft ILBs. “And so, it wasn’t a gotta-have-it.”

Singleton’s floor and ceiling are both obvious: a 32-year-old captain who struggled in coverage situations but put together arguably the best year of his career against the run in 2025 (just a 7.5% missed tackle rate, according to Pro Football Focus). Strnad, though, may have another leap to take entering his first season as a clear starter.

Entering his sixth season as a Bronco, the 29-year-old Strnad has still only started 21 games. He filled in capably for the oft-injured Greenlaw in 2025, and made himself impossible to take off the field in obvious coverage and pass-rushing situations even when Greenlaw was healthy.

Strnad told The Post Friday, at Singleton’s tournament, that it was “awesome” to see the organization “take care” of him after years earning his stripes. And Singleton said he thinks Strnad will take a “huge leap,” now that his role is finally set.

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

The organization’s confidence in the locker room’s pre-established culture has even trickled down to offseason scheduling. At Payton’s behest, the Broncos will start Phase Three of its offseason program (organized team activities) later than any other NFL team, on June 2. Singleton, though, said Friday he believes the Broncos are weeks and months — if not years — ahead of “a lot of teams in the league.”

They’ll need to be, to reach Super Bowl heights.

“I don’t think we like, really get too caught up in the, like, whole ‘window’ thing,” Strnad said. “But I definitely think it����ap obvious that it����ap time for us to do what we want to do.”

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

They have, relatively speaking, very few question marks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OFFENSE (25)

Quarterback (3)

Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger

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

Running back (4)

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

Also: Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie and Cody Schrader

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

Tight end (4)

Adam Trautman, Evan Engram, Justin Joly and Caleb Lohner��

Also: Dallen Bentley, Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull

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

Wide receiver (5)

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

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

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

Offensive line (9)

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

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

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

DEFENSE (25)

Defensive line (7)

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

Also: Matt Henningsen, Jordan Miller and Kristian Williams

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

Outside linebacker (4)

Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman

Also: Drew Sanders, Johnny Walker and Dasan McCullough

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

Inside linebacker (4)

Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Jonah Elliss and Red Murdock��

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

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

Cornerback (5)

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

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

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

Safety (5)

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

Also: Tycen Anderson and Parker Robertson

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

SPECIALIST (3)

PK Wil Lutz, P Jeremy Crawshaw and LS Mitch Fraboni

Also: LS Luke Basso

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

And Denver, coming off a 14-3 regular season, will now have to stare down the concept of statistical regression to the mean against a true gauntlet of a 2026 schedule. The Broncos will play 10 games in 2026 against teams that made the playoffs last year, and that’s not even counting a Week 1 Monday Night Football opener against the Kansas City Chiefs in enemy territory.

“You always understand the next challenge,” Payton said at NFL league meetings. “We have a tough schedule. We don’t know when we’re playing these teams.”

They know now, as then NFL’s Thursday-night schedule release revealed both good news and significantly worse news on Denver’s 2026 outlook.��Let’s dive in.

The slate

Week 1, Sept. 14: at Kansas City Chiefs (Monday Night Football)

Week 2, Sept. 20: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 3, Sept. 27: vs. Los Angeles Rams

Week 4, Oct. 4: at San Francisco 49ers

Week 5, Oct. 11: at Los Angeles Chargers

Week 6, Oct. 15: vs. Seattle Seahawks (Thursday Night Football)

Week 7, Oct. 25: at Arizona Cardinals

Week 8, Nov. 1: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 9, Nov 8: at Carolina Panthers

Week 10: Bye

Week 11, Nov. 22: vs. Las Vegas Raiders

Week 12, Nov. 27: at Pittsburgh Steelers (Black Friday)

Week 13, Dec. 6: vs. Miami Dolphins

Week 14, Dec. 13: at New York Jets

Week 15, Dec. 20: at Las Vegas Raiders

Week 16, Dec. 25: vs. Buffalo Bills (Christmas Day)

Week 17, TBD: at New England Patriots

Week 18, TBD: at Los Angeles Chargers

Must-watch game: Sept. 27, vs. Los Angeles Rams

A lot of fantastic choices here, but this one could be a barnburner. Denver will head into Week 3 with a couple games to get their legs underneath them and for quarterback Bo Nix to get his ankle underneath him, and will face off here against arguably the most high-powered offense in the NFL. What can 31-year-old Broncos whiz-kid play-caller Davis Webb whip up against the NFL’s foremost whiz-kid in Rams head coach Sean McVay? There’s entire branches of offensive coaches spinning off from this coaching-tree matchup between Sean Payton and McVay, and this will be the first time the two head coaches square off since Payton took the reins in Denver in 2023.

Tune in at 6:20 p.m. on NBC for fireworks.

Tough-watch game: Dec. 13, at New York Jets

Yawn. This category was actually plenty hard, as there’s few gimmes on the Broncos’ schedule. The Raiders have Mendoza. The Cardinals have a new and potentially explosive offensive weapon in No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love.

The Jets have…um. Geno Smith?

The Denver-New York matchup is always somewhat interesting in the weeds, as former Broncos assistant general manager Darren Mougey heads into his second season as the Jets’ GM. New York had a pretty strong draft, anchored by No. 2 overall pick David Bailey, but the roster is still unsexy. And this matchup is a lot less interesting than it was in 2025, when these two teams met across the pond in London. This will be the fourth straight season these AFC teams have met — it’s probably time to wipe this off the slate.

Bring some popcorn: Sept. 20, vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Quietly, this whole matchup went down as one of the strangest matchups of the 2025 season. Let’s rewind. In game-week availability, Payton referred to the Jaguars — in a largely complimentary answer of their season — as “smaller-market.” Smartly, first-year Jaguars head coach Liam Coen weaponized that objectively true statement into a rallying cry for both his locker room and the city of Jacksonville at large. After snapping the Broncos’ 11-game win streak with a 34-20 victory last December, Coen fired off a shot postgame.

“A small-market team like us can can come into Mile High and get it done,” Coen said.

Multiple Denver players came away from that loss noting that they could see Jacksonville again in the playoffs. They didn’t. They will soon again, though, in Week 2. The Broncos’ locker room has often rallied around Payton’s messaging, and Denver’s head coach could weaponize the Jaguars’ 2025 response in turn a year later. This could get chippy.

Players’ revenge: Oct. 4 vs. San Francisco 49ers, Dec. 6 vs. Miami Dolphins

Publicly, there’s no hint of hard feelings from Denver toward inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who the organization cut after an injury-plagued season in 2025. Nor vice versa. But Greenlaw never found any kind of real rhythm last season, and admitted on a podcast appearance this offseason that he just “wasn’t happy” in Denver. He’s a ferocious competitor, and will likely bring some force to this inter-conference contest.

A couple months after that, the Broncos’ brightest offseason addition will get a chance to put his former franchise in the dirt at Empower Field. Star receiver Jaylen Waddle hasn’t taken any shots back at Miami, since the Dolphins traded him as part of a full-scale rebuild this offseason. But plenty in Waddle’s circle believe he was held back in two straight sub-1,000 yard seasons the last two years with quarterback and organizational instability. This could be a chance for him to tee off.

Toughest stretch: Literally the first six games of the year

The scheduling gods did Denver no favors here. The Broncos will kick off their season in primetime at Arrowhead Stadium, and that might be the easiest matchup they’ll get until late October. From there, they’ll play five straight teams that won at least 11 games last season. The worst of it all: two straight road games against the 49ers and the Chargers, rolling straight into a short-week Thursday Night Football matchup against the reigning Super Bowl Champions. Yikes.

That Week 6 game against the Seahawks will be delightfully ugly. The Broncos slogged through two TNF games last year, and took a ���ڱ�Բ���-�ɾ��Բ�-���󲹳��辱�DzԲ��󾱱����mentality in both. Now Denver will host the league’s No. 1 defense after coming off back-to-back road games. Time for the defensive line to step up.

Lightest stretch: Weeks 13-15 (Dolphins, Jets, Raiders)

Thankfully for the Broncos, after that early-season run, they’ll slide into a nice breather in December and a potential opportunity to make up some conference ground. After a Black Friday trip to Pittsburgh to play against a Steelers team that may or may not feature a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, they’ll take on the rebuilding Dolphins at home, travel to New York the next week and host Las Vegas Dec. 20.

Three teams with a combined 13 wins in 2025 — less than the Broncos themselves had last season. Denver has to hope to go 3-0 in this stretch, heading into a final-season run with Buffalo, New England and the regular-season finale against the Chargers.

The car belonged to 15-year-old Temple linebacker Taurean York. So Stewart, then Temple High’s head coach, asked York if the Sebring was having trouble. It was. But the car was always there, York explained, because he was training up on that field by himself each morning before summer workouts.

“Oh, (expletive), man,” Stewart told York, who was a linebacker at Temple. “I’m usually the first one here.”

“You’re not always the first one here,” York replied, grinning.

He drove the Sebring until the wheels fell off — literally, because someone wound up crashing into it in the school parking lot — and ran until his legs threatened to fall off those mornings, too. Sprints, dawn after dawn. York’s hip flexor flared up, and Stewart pleaded with him to stop running. The kid said he couldn’t. Not wouldn’t, but couldn’t. So Stewart called his mother to stop him from coming to the field early.

“Look, I need your support on this,” Stewart told Rebecca York, “and if I need to come whoop his butt at his house, I’ll do it.”

“Coach, you have no idea,” Rebecca responded, as Stewart remembered. “He does 538 sit-ups before he even comes to you guys.”

On April 23, 2018, a seventh-grade teammate won a Most Valuable Player award instead of York, and he decided then and there that he was going to dedicate his life to becoming a professional football player. In the eight years since, pure defiance has become sustenance. He is small for a linebacker, weighing 226 pounds and standing 2 inches under 6 feet.. Coaches have whispered about those 2 inches in recruiting meetings and draft rooms alike, touting the IQ but wishing he were just��a little longer, just��a little more athletic.

York has weaponized those 2 inches, in turn, into a kind of white-hot lava that his peers at Temple High and Texas A&M have never quite seen before.

“It is not a ‘Oh my God, I’m going to prove the world wrong,'” said Stewart, trying to explain York. “It is like — ‘I want to personify what you can’t measure.’”

Can a young man crack an NFL roster via sheer force of will? Denver is about to find out. York walked in as a three-star recruit at Texas A&M in 2023, seized a starting job as a true freshman in fall camp, started 39 straight games at inside linebacker over three seasons, and waited with family April 26 to hear his name called on Day 3 of the NFL Draft. And waited. And waited. And , pupils glassy, after 257 names went by and York agreed to an undrafted free-agent deal with the Broncos.

They were not quite happy tears.

“Honestly, it sucks to see a lot of guys get picked that I know I’m better than,” York told The Denver Post. “I’m going to keep it 100 with you. I keep things very transparent. But that����ap not up to my decision. The draft����ap out of my control.

“But what is in my control is how I respond, and how I work my tail off to go earn a job, and ultimately take a job.”

The bear has been poked. The measurables have defined York’s life with none of his own choice in the matter. Again. He is coming to Denver this weekend for rookie minicamp — and the coming months — to outrun those measurables. Again.

“�ճ�����’s zero doubt in my mind that he’ll play in the NFL,” former A&M linebackers coach Jay Bateman said, now Kentucky’s defensive coordinator. “�ճ�����’s zero doubt. I think the Broncos probably got a steal.”

Eventually, Rebecca York told Stewart why her son did exactly 538 sit-ups every morning. He’d once gone to a camp in San Antonio early in his Temple career to try and create recruiting exposure. A collegiate linebackers coach, there to evaluate talent, patted York’s belly.

“You’re a little fluffy,” the coach told York, as Stewart tells it, “to be a Division I linebacker.”

Every recruit at that camp wore a number on their clothes to identify themselves.��York was No. 538.

“So, by God, he did 538 sit-ups,” Stewart said. “And not because he was self-conscious. Because — ‘Screw you. Watch this.’”

No shortcuts, no flash

A day after York went undrafted and a video of his bittersweet Broncos signing went semi-viral, The .

“let’s (sic) do it,” York texted. “the world needs to know what I’m bringing to Denver.”

On a 30-minute call that followed, York rattled off most every dot on his personal resume, pieces of a football life that do little to solve the puzzle of how an SEC starting linebacker and two-time captain fell undrafted. He described this game as his “calling.” He called himself a “football savant.” He is quick to recount, unprompted, that he was named a starter at A&M as a 17-year-old freshman on the sixth day of his first training camp. He is quick to recount, unprompted, that he’s called defensive plays for every single game of his career at every single level he’s played.

He is also quick to recount the amorphous mass of faces that have deemed his size simply not enough. And this, he and others in his life know, is the ultimate reason he’s consistently slipped through the cracks.

“It����ap definitely only the size,” York said. “It����ap not character. It����ap not off-the-field issues. It����ap not injuries. It����ap not leadership, or lack of smarts. It����ap solely the (size). I have plays I wish I could get back, but so does every prospect in the NFL Draft and in the NFL currently. And so, I just laugh, because it����ap just like, really, you’re still doing this? After seven years of me showing you that I played at the highest level …”

His words crashed together, not waiting for one to leave before the next arrived.

“…6A high school football is the highest classification in Texas,” York continued. “Went against the best, did it in high school. Four years, scot-free on the injury slate, three-year captain, superlative awards. Go to the SEC, they said I couldn’t do it again. 17 years old, I did it again. Took a dude’s job, stayed injury-free, two-time captain, no off-the-field issues. High-character guy.

“They try and do it to me again, now. What do you think I’m going to go do? I’m going to do it again.”

A few minutes in, asked about his family, York turned to those sitting nearby for a question.

“What city did Grandma Mary move from, in Mexico?” York asked.

He sounds it out slowly: El Salitrillo, Aguascalientes, a village so tiny at less than 60. His is a blue-collar family, York said. Here, his voice swells.

Fifty-six years ago, York’s great-uncles and great-grandfather immigrated from Mexico to Temple, got jobs and a house and documentation for their family, then returned to Aguascalientes on Christmas Day with a U-Haul. Eight children, including York’s grandmother Rosalinda Rodriguez, packed up their belongings. They did not say goodbye to neighbors. They exchanged a few hugs, left for the United States, and spent weeknight evenings in Temple learning English and getting certifications in after-hours classes at their local elementary school.

No shortcuts, York said.

“We’re living the American dream, man,” he said.

York’s mother, Rebecca, carries their pride in her DNA and speaks of any slight against her son as if it were a slight against her as a mother. York’s father, Robert, does not carry their DNA, but has spent the last 20 years of his life working a day job at the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood military base and working a night job at his own barbershop. His dad, York says, sleeps in his work clothes and wakes up at 4 a.m.

“That’s all I know, bruh,” York says. “I’m not no flashy person. I never needed the flash. I never needed other people’s verification of myself. Like, I know what I have. And you can’t shake me.”

Before football, York’s first love was trains. His grandmother Rosalinda’s house sat a short distance away from the train station in Temple, and he grew up hearing their horns. When he was little, he’d tote around a backpack filled with toys from “Thomas the Tank Engine.”

Her son liked trains, Rebecca said, because they are loud, and big, and strong. Undeniable.

‘I’ve never sat on the bench before’

Throughout the pre-draft process, York’s agent told him that NFL evaluators had said he’d be a top-100 pick if his physical measurables were different. He finished with at least 70 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss in each of his three seasons at Texas A&M, and was graded by Pro Football Focus as one of the five best starting-level linebackers in the FBS in pass coverage in 2025.

But he is not very long or very tall. By Relative Athletic Score, which measures prospects’ pre-draft testing against every other prospect at their position since 1987, . Charles Davis, an analyst for NFL Network, told The Post he thought York’s “sawed-off frame” might have been a factor in him going undrafted.

“Which is cool,” York said.

His tone said it was not.

On Day 3 of the draft, York sat to watch picks come across the screen and began a mental analysis of each name called that wasn’t his.This guy will make it.��This guy might not be in the league in five years. Six picks before the end of the draft, the Philadelphia Eagles took International Player Pathway Program prospect Uar Bernard, a 306-pound native Nigerian who posted some of the most athletic pre-draft testing of all time but had never played a snap of professional football.

It was a pick, in every way, representing the direct antithesis of York’s profile. He knows it.

“Buddy might be the best thing from Nigeria,” York said, “but he didn’t play 39 straight games in the SEC.”

No. 538 can now become No. 257-and-counting in Denver. York’s belly still burns from that coach that patted it in San Antonio. Colleges that came through Temple during his high school career, Stewart said, would always ask if a young York was going to grow. Eventually, when a recruiter from Ohio State came to campus, Stewart stuck York in a separate room and had him listen over the office speaker to understand the truth: the Buckeyes had him as a lower-tier recruit simply because of his frame.

York accepted that. He had no choice but to. His response lay in his roots, growing up learning about his mother’s family and seeing his father work daily on four hours of sleep a night. As a sophomore at Temple, he texted Stewart at midnight repeatedly after Friday night games to ask where the game film was. Eventually, Stewart called his video assistant and asked him to send the tape directly to York once he finished uploading it to Hudl.

To do that, the assistant said, he’d have to label York as a coach.

“I said, ‘Then put him as a coach on there!'” Stewart recounted. “I started getting my ass chewed (out) by a sophomore in high school.”

When York first arrived at Texas A&M, coaches told him their vision for him was to be a third- or fourth-year starter, according to former Aggies receiver Micah Tease. Instead, York started running with the ones three months into arriving on campus. And York intends to do the same in Denver.

Borderline blasphemous, for an undrafted rookie. The leap from even the SEC to the NFL is immeasurable for a player already lacking in measurables. The Broncos have presumptive starters Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad locked in on multi-year deals.

York just knows nothing else.

“My entire career, I’ve started every game,” York said. “And I don’t plan on not starting. It����ap not like — in a negative way to the other guys. But that����ap all I know is, I’ve never sat on the bench before. Like, that����ap foreign territory to me. So, as soon as I get up there in Denver, man, it����ap go time.”

High football IQ

Tease thinks York can pull it off, for one, because of the apple.

Tease, a former receiver at Texas A&M who’s since transferred to Tulsa, moved in with York in 2024. Quickly, Tease noticed York did not waste any type of time. At night, Tease recounted, York would peel off a piece of paper towel and set out an apple and a bagel neatly on the counter, so it’d be ready for him to run out the door the next morning.

“He was somewhat, like, psychotic with his preparation,” Tease said.

When Tease would get burned out on watching receivers’ film, he’d sit with York and watch him break down defensive tape. The way that some musicians can innately pick up a rhythm, Stewart opined, is the way that concepts in football click in York’s brain. At Temple High, York had the reins to call out stunts for the defensive line and coverage checks for the secondary. At Texas A&M, later, York would flip blitzes and override stunts if he recognized pass formations.

In the Aggies’ meeting room, former linebackers coach Bateman told The Post that he’d sometimes tell every other linebacker to think about “good-looking girls in your class” so he could relay a few concepts to York.

“I would tell people all the time, ‘I’m teaching a 300 or 400-level college course, right?'” Bateman recalled. “But when he’s in there, and him and I are talking, man, it����ap graduate-level.’”

On several third downs in a 49-25 October win over LSU, Texas A&M didn’t even call a defense and simply relied on York to call different blitzes based on the positioning of the offensive line. In a 41-40 win over Notre Dame earlier in the year, Bateman said, York would point at the sky or point at the ground pre-snap to indicate pass or run solely based on how Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr was standing. , Carr checked a call at the line of scrimmage; York looked and pointed to his left at Notre Dame receiver Malachi Fields, isolated against A&M cornerback Will Lee III.

Carr pivoted on the snap, fired a slant to Fields, and Lee broke up the pass.

“The things that we were able to do on defense with him…are uncommon,” Bateman said. “And I think they’ll figure that out pretty quickly in Denver.”

York’s plan, Rebecca said, was always to enter the draft after three seasons at A&M. But multiple NFL scouts in the pre-draft process told York they hadn’t done much research on him. Bateman said he believed evaluators anticipated York would stay for a fourth season with the Aggies, and as such, didn’t have a full background.

The Broncos, however, were ahead of the curve, Bateman indicated. York said he heard consistently from Broncos national scout Deon Randall in the pre-draft process, and Bateman said Denver evaluators spent plenty of time on the phone questioning him about York.

“I just got a sense that they valued what he was,” Bateman said. “Like, they valued his process and his intelligence, his ability to run the room.”

Despite a wider view that Denver needed an inside linebacker this draft, the Broncos internally felt “really good” about Singleton and Strnad as starters and didn’t want to force an ILB pick, assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt said.��The��club still wound up with Buffalo’s Red Murdock at No. 257, and has youngsters Levelle Bailey, Jordan Turner, and Karene Reid returning.��Still, there’s as much opportunity for York to find a roster spot at ILB as anywhere on a loaded Broncos roster, especially after Denver cut veteran Dre Greenlaw during free agency.

It was easy enough to push York’s buttons at A&M, Bateman recalled. The linebackers coach would toss out jabs during game weeks when he could, sprinkles of lighter fluid atop an inferno.

Before they played Texas, Bateman would ask York: Did the Longhorns offer you?

Before they played Auburn, where York’s former Aggies coach, DJ Durkin, became the defensive coordinator, Bateman would ask York: Did Durkin offer to bring you with him?

“I had to be careful, now,” Bateman chuckled.

York needs none of that, now, entering rookie minicamp this weekend. Two days after he agreed to terms with the Broncos, York was sitting at home, complaining to his mother Rebecca that he was wasting time. Idle. Antsy. Not moving. He wanted the film. He wanted the playbook.

He wants a job, against the odds created for him.

“Don’t be fooled by the undrafted label,” York said, when asked for hi message to the Broncos’ fanbase. “OK? My resume, my history, is public knowledge. It����ap out there.

“If you have a question if I can play or not,” he continued, “just go look my name up.”

They provide context. A frame of reference.

After watching the Broncos essentially finish their offseason Saturday with the final day of the draft, it is clear they have identified a new equation to win.

Forget addition by subtraction, they have adopted addition by a little something, something. As in a very little.

When the Broncos line up for their season opener, there is a realistic chance they will feature only two new starters: receiver Jaylen Waddle and defensive end Sai’vion Jones or Tyler Onyedim.

Of the 53 active players in the AFC Championship Game, roughly 45 will be the same.

There is consistency. And there is monotony.

Last offseason the Broncos were a blast. They talked about becoming a contender and signed safety Talanoa Hufanga, running back J.K. Dobbins, tight end Evan Engram and linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Two of the four hit, Engram had a mild impact and Greenlaw was a bust. This spring, they talked about winning a Super Bowl, and traded for Waddle.

It has not been as fun. Or interesting.

It has been boring.

Boring can be good. keeps it simple. Almost never changes its menu. And business is booming.

Boring can also be dangerous.

The Broncos were the last team to add an external free agent this offseason, signing special teams safety Tycen Anderson (you receive a door prize if you remembered his name). The Broncos were the last team to make a pick in this year’s draft, selecting Onyedim.

NFL Draft 2026 tracker: Picks, instant reaction and more live coverage

They have preached patience. They will not disrupt the locker room culture. They are comfortable with stability.

But it is fair to wonder if the Broncos did enough to win a Super Bowl.

After the heart-in-a-blender loss to the Patriots, an outcome that would have been different had Bo Nix played, ����apountry wanted a tight end. Denver brought back Adam Trautman, a coach on the field, whom coach Sean Payton loves for his blocking.

The fans wanted a running back. The Broncos kept Dobbins, giving him a $5 million raise for playing in 10 games.

The fans wanted a playmaking linebacker known for his coverage skills. The Broncos re-signed Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad.

It is impossible not to like these players. They were part of a group that made the Broncos relevant, put them in the national conversation, turned them into AFC's top seed.

But Denver, if we are being honest, had luck on its side. The Broncos went 12-3 in one-score games. If they only play seven such contests next season, history suggests they are likely to go 3-4 or 2-5. They were redlining without an airbag.

No one is saying they will become Evel Knievel, bones sticking out of the skin from crash landings. But there is almost no chance they repeat last season's success in the clutch.

Again, did the Broncos do enough?

Based on the conservative offseason, it seems like they are satisfied with winning the division and not prepared to take a risk with an extra check to win the whole (darn) thing.

They put the brakes on offers to running back Travis Etienne once he reached $12 million per season, feeling he was always going to New Orleans. They never made a big play for linebacker Devin Lloyd.

They made the decision to trust general manager George Paton's process, to believe in Payton's vision for players and his coaches to develop them. It has worked. On this, let me be clear.

The question now is whether a virtually static roster can win a championship?

The Broncos, like the Avs and Nuggets, are a victim of lofty expectations. The only thing left is for the Broncos to deliver a fourth Super Bowl parade.

That was a motivating factor in Payton taking the job. He was not interested in hanging up division championship gear in his closet. He has a chance to make history as the only coach to win a Super Bowl with two different teams.

That is now a realistic goal.

But in pursuing it, the Broncos operated in a vacuum this offseason, unbothered by other contenders or a brutal schedule.

They were not concerned with the Rams, who added cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, the Bills, who addressed their receiving corps, the Patriots, who are expected to acquire receiver A.J. Brown in June, and the 49ers, who are trying to squeeze another Super Bowl victory from Mike Evans.

And there is no denying the improvement within the division. The Chargers will always Charger, but they are a sneaky team with healthy offensive tackles and Mike McDaniel calling plays for Justin Herbert.

The Chiefs signed running back Kenneth Walker and used three picks in the top 40 to bulk up a defense that could not get off the field on third down last season. Though to be fair, any game Justin Fields starts sets back their recovery process.

And the Raiders hired coach Klint Kubiak, drafted quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and overhauled their roster in free agency.

Fun offseasons are not always smart ones. What happens in March and April does not guarantee playing in February.

What the Broncos did last season hit all the right notes. But were they wrong to stay so loyal, so conservative?

Maybe Waddle -- and perhaps critical snaps from running back Jonah Coleman -- will help Nix and the Broncos cross the finish line.

It feels like they needed one more big addition. Then, again, maybe it's nothing.

He has already come further than anyone could’ve reasonably expected, a walk-on safety at Texas who molded himself into an All-American and legitimate NFL Draft prospect this spring. And Taaffe has existed, for two months, in the carefree limbo that comes with the utter lack of choice over his future. He’s done pre-draft training in Austin, Texas. He’s played golf. He’s hopped on countless calls with NFL teams. And his mind has wandered, naturally, to old teammates who could become new again.

Recently, after a pre-draft Zoom with new Broncos defensive passing-game coordinator Robert Livingston, Taaffe told Broncos cornerback and former Longhorns buddy Jahdae Barron that it’d be “awesome” to play with him again.

Barron, however, has learned such dreams are not so simple.

“He was like, ‘You don’t even know,'” Taaffe said, describing Barron’s advice. “Don’t even fixate on a team. Don’t even fixate on a round.”

Such is life, in particular, as a Denver draft target, as such targets are usually fairly unaware they’re actually targets. Numerous agents across the NFL landscape share similar stories of minimal pre-draft communication with this Broncos regime before their client suddenly received a call from Sean Payton. Take Barron, who told reporters on a post-draft conference call last year — shortly after Denver swooped on him at pick No. 20 in the first round — that he “truly didn’t know it was coming.”

Between Payton and general manager George Paton, the Broncos have built a particular reputation for holding pre-draft cards close to their vests. Their top-30 visits, where NFL clubs host prospects at their facilities to gather further intel, are often smokescreens. Predicting their draft leanings is often a fruitless endeavor, for the media and for players themselves.

Let’s try anyway.

Across the last two months, The Denver Post has spoken to hundreds of league sources to collect information on the Broncos’ draft process — visits, calls, needs, general leanings — and the countless flavors of prospects they’re coveting.��Welcome to “The Horse” — a Broncos-specific 2026 NFL Draft guide (and a play on ).

Coming off a 14-3 regular season and a blockbuster move for receiver Jaylen Waddle, Payton, Paton and company enter this cycle with no first-round pick and just seven choices in total. The Broncos still have plenty of flexibility to add key contributors; they’ll likely flip some capital to move up or back at some point once the festivities kick off this coming Thursday.

Here’s the breakdown.

The picks

Day 2, Friday:��No. 62 (second round)

Day 3, Saturday: Nos. 108, 111 (fourth round); No. 170 (fifth round); Nos. 246, 256, 257 (seventh round)

Fun fact: The Broncos can become the first NFL team to draft both Mr. Irrelevant and Mr. Slightly-More-Relevant since the seven-round modern era began in 1994. For the last three decades, no team has ever selected the last two picks of the draft back-to-back.

The needs, in order of importance

1.��Tight end.��Broken record here. The Broncos still view 2025 signee Evan Engram as a “key piece” and want to “add to his workload,” as Payton said in his pre-draft presser Thursday. But Denver explored potential upgrades or alternatives in free agency before the price got too high, and the 31-year-old Engram’s contract is up one way or another after this year. Denver desperately needs a young, athletic target for Bo Nix who can be a factor both as a blocker and as a receiver. There are quite a few such types in this draft.

2. Inside linebacker. Denver brought back captain Alex Singleton and ascending reserve-turned-starter Justin Strnad on multi-year deals this offseason, but cut Dre Greenlaw after an injury-plagued 2025. The Broncos are planning to deploy edge rusher Jonah Elliss inside, but that shouldn’t preclude Denver from dipping into a pretty solid ILB class. It’d make sense to take a high-upside ‘backer who can play behind and alongside Denver’s starting duo in 2026 while developing for the future.

3. Running back. On paper, the Broncos’ one-two punch of J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey is solid. The thing about paper is that it tears. Quite easy. Denver’s rushing attack cratered after Dobbins’ season-ending injury last year, and the Broncos can’t count on the veteran to play 17 games. They’ll be looking to add a third RB as either a change-of-pace upgrade from veteran Jaleel McLaughlin or a third-down upgrade from Tyler Badie.

4. Offensive line. As presently constructed, Denver will roll the same starting front out for the third straight year. That’s great for continuity. But the Broncos haven’t once pursued high-end draft talent on their offensive front in the Payton era, instead preferring to develop seventh-round picks and undrafted free agents. Starting left guard Ben Powers is entering the final year of his deal, and tackles Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey have both cleared 30.

5. Safety.��Here’s a sneaky one. Veteran Brandon Jones is entering the final year of his contract, and starter Talanoa Hufanga had been frequently bitten by the injury bug before playing in every game last year for Denver. Offseason signee Tycen Anderson profiles as more of a special-teams ace, and a young piece here would make a lot of sense.

The sinister six

At Thursday’s pre-draft conference, Paton offered an unusually forthcoming tidbit: Denver has “six players,” the general manager said, that it favors should they be available at No. 62. The Broncos have honed in on the crop available between roughly Nos. 40 to 75 on their board, Paton also said, to arrive at that determination.

Here’s a guess at those potential six, informed by learned intel and positional needs, that Denver could be favoring.

DT Caleb Banks, Florida

If Banks weren’t facing some very real injury concerns, he’d be a first-round pick. Possibly top-15. The��if��could drop Banks into the Broncos’ lap. He played just three games in 2025 with a foot injury, and . He also stands 6-foot-6, weighs 327 pounds, racked up 4.5 sacks from the interior in 2024, and . Risk. Reward.

OT Travis Burke, Memphis

A massive pre-draft riser. Literally massive. Burke measured 6-foot-8 and three-quarters at the combine, had an excellent season at Memphis in 2025, and has played at both right and left tackle in a five-year collegiate career. Denver’s done plenty of work here: meeting with Burke at his Pro Day and conducting a Zoom call with him. A source told The Post that multiple Broncos area scouts had a third-to-fourth-round grade on Burke, which could make this a slight reach at No. 62, but Burke would be off the board by the time the fourth round rolled in.

LB Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh

It’s wholly rare to find a linebacker who can capably hold their own in man coverage against tight ends or running backs. Louis, a safety-LB hybrid, can be that guy. He ranked in the top four at his position in every single speed and agility drill at the combine, and has proven ball production (six INTs combined between 2024 and 2025). The size — weighing at 220 pounds — is a slight concern against the run, but Louis could be an excellent, versatile piece in Vance Joseph’s defense.

G Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon

There’s no way Pregnon slides to Denver. Right? Probably not. The Oregon product has visited with a handful of teams who sit in the late-first-round to early-second-round range, and will likely fly off the board shortly after consensus top guard Olaivavega Ioane gets snapped up. If Pregnon — a Denver native — slides a bit into Day 2, though, the Broncos could look to move up. Denver did a top-30 visit with him, which raises the antenna on a prospect they seem to have little shot at with their current slot.

TE Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt

Stowers set the modern combine record for all tight ends with a 45.5-inch vertical, so let’s start there. He ran a faster 40-yard dash than first-round WR prospects Makai Lemon and Carnell Tate, and profiles more as a hybrid receiving weapon rather than a true tight end. Drafting Stowers could bring an end to Engram’s time in Denver, as Stowers doesn’t profile as a piece that Payton would trust to stay on the field in blocking situations.

RB Mike Washington Jr., Arkansas

One NFL assistant coach who spoke with The Post on this year’s running-back class described Washington’s 2025 season as a “tale of two halves,” but noted his size and speed — a 4.33-second 40-yard-dash at 223 pounds — “might fit” what Denver’s looking for in a third back. The traits are all there, and the consistency isn’t.

The top-30 visits

Here’s a run-through of every Post-confirmed prospect who’s taken a top-30 visit with the Broncos.

DT Caleb Banks, Florida:��As much potential as an interior pass-rusher as anybody at his position, but the foot injuries are tough to swallow.

DT Uar Bernard, International Player Pathway: Literally the most athletic defensive tackle in the history of the NFL pre-draft cycle. The issue: he’s never played a snap of professional football.

TE Nate Boerkircher, Texas A&M:��Classic blocking Y-type tight end who could have a tinge more receiving upside than he showed in college, with a career-best 19 catches last year.

RB Kaelon Black, Indiana:��A combine snub after a 1,060-yard rushing season for the national-champion Hoosiers. He’ll be 25 in October. A possible Day 3 fit.

OT Jude Bowry, Boston College:��High-ceiling, developmental, mid-round prospect who jumped 34.5 inches at the combine.

RB Jonah Coleman, Washington:��Steady, solid back who doesn’t wow but doesn’t make many mistakes. Denver might have to move into the third round to get him.

WR Omar Cooper Jr., Indiana:��This visit happened before the Waddle trade. Cooper will go somewhere in the first round.

ILB Kaleb Elarms-Orr, TCU:��4.47-second 40-yard dash, 40-inch vertical jump at 234 pounds. Phew. A potential fourth-round difference-maker.

G Josh Gesky, Illinois:��Underrated, productive left guard in college who ran a 4.94-second 40-yard dash and had a 33-inch vertical at Illinois’s Pro Day. Would be a seventh-round or PFA target.

TE Justin Joly, NC State:��Only 6-foot-3, but a productive receiver who had 49 catches and seven touchdowns in 2025. Could be right there in the fourth round.

DT Chris McClellan, Mizzou: Draft riser who racked up six sacks last year.

LB Dasan McCullough, Nebraska: Hybrid-type linebacker who never quite found a consistent role in collegiate football but has intriguing size (6-foot-5, 235 pounds).

DT Christen Miller, Georgia:��321-pound nose tackle who can be a consistent presence in the middle of an NFL defensive line. Might not be there at 62.

OT Gavin Ortega, Weber State:��Sleeper! A late visit this cycle, Ortega was terrific in pass protection at Weber State and should have some versatility at several spots at the NFL level.

G Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon:��24-year-old strongman who could be an instant starter, but probably won’t land in Denver.

OT Paul Rubelt, UCF:��Another skyscraper. Rubelt stands 6-foot-10, and the Broncos will have a good read on him from watching Harvey’s tape last year.

TE Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt:��Athletic marvel who could be gone well before Denver could grab him at the back of the second.

OLB Josh Weru, International Player Pathway:��A converted rugby player who’s studied tape of Nik Bonitto for a year and has been timed at a 4.45-second 40-yard dash. Obvious PFA target.

The larger-scale takeaways from all this: the Broncos are pretty intent on evaluating both top-end and sleeper talent across the defensive line, and are exploring high-upside offensive linemen.

The runners

Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love might just be the best outright player in this draft, regardless of position. After him, though, there’s an unusually steep drop to the next tier of running-back options, a glut that stretches anywhere from the back of the first round to the back of Day 3.

Payton said at league meetings in late March that running back was a position that “could get addressed, if the opportunity presents itself.” It will present itself next week, no matter how the chips fall. Washington, Coleman and Black have already been covered here; for more options, The Post spoke with an NFL assistant coach who’s done extensive work on this RB class for thoughts on the post-Love crop.

Jadarian Price, Notre Dame

Likely draft slot:��Late-1st, early-2nd round

Love’s complementary option for the Fighting Irish, Price carries lead-back NFL potential in his own right. His per-touch production over the last two years at Notre Dame has been ridiculous. Price, though, caught just 15 passes across three seasons and will need to develop three-down value.

Coach’s comments: “If you want to hand the ball off to somebody, I think Jadarian Price is just as good, if not better (than Love). So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if someone took him late-first.”

Emmett Johnson, Nebraska

Likely draft slot:��3rd-to-4th round

The testing wasn’t inspiring, as the 202-pound Johnson ran a 4.56-second 40-yard dash. The tape and the production, though, tell a different story. Johnson led the Big Ten in rushing last year (1,451 yards), and caught 46 passes in 12 games.

Coach’s comments:��“The more you watch that kid, the more he looks like LeSean McCoy at Pittsburgh.”

Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest

Likely draft slot:��Day 3

Huge pop here, as Claiborne ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash and has standout agility. He increased his yards-per-carry average every season of his collegiate career, but has less-than-ideal size at 5-foot-9 and 188 pounds.

Coach’s comments:��“Best speed-and-space back in the draft … can score from anywhere at any time.”

Kaytron Allen, Penn State

Likely draft slot:��Day 3

Allen, rather quietly, became Penn State’s all-time leading rusher this past fall, and ran for 1,303 yards and 15 touchdowns in a rough overall season for the program. The athleticism doesn’t stand out, but the motor does.

Coach’s comments:��“He was the most cerebral back I evaluated. He’s extremely smart. Football IQ is very high … that’s a guy that won’t get you beat, that you’d love to have on your team.”

The nuts and bolts

A young Joker? Clemson’s Adam Randall could be an incredibly intriguing fit in Payton’s offense. A receiver-turned-running back, the 232-pound Randall ran for 10 touchdowns last year and caught 36 passes in his first year playing full-time RB. In a best-case scenario, Randall could become a matchup-threat TE/RB hybrid from the backfield; Denver has enough interest in him that a coach flew out this past week to visit him, a source said.

QB options. Denver is set to roll its same quarterback room from last season into 2026, with Nix, backup Jarrett Stidham and QB3 Sam Ehlinger all under contract. But the Broncos have been active in evaluating young depth in this class. Quarterbacks coach Logan Kilgore has hopped on Zoom calls with Rutgers’ Athan Kaliakmanis, Illinois’s Luke Altmyer and Minnesota-Morehead (DII)’s Jack Strand. Denver also sees Georgia Tech’s Haynes King — a 6-foot-3 athlete who ran for 953 yards and 15 touchdowns last season — as a potential Taysom Hill-type, a source said.

Big-bodied targets. No matter how much WR depth the Broncos accumulate, Payton will always love big receivers. A few notable prospects Denver has called about or hosted Zooms with: Baylor’s Josh Cameron (6-foot-2, 872 yards, nine TDs in 2025); Texas Tech’s Caleb Douglas (6-foot-3, 846 yards, 7 TDs); SMU’s Jordan Hudson (6-foot-1, 766 yards, six TDs); TCU’s Joseph Manjack IV (6-foot-3, 579 yards, three TDs); St. Thomas’s David Hayes (6-foot-4, 790 yards, 10 TDs); and Michigan’s Donaven McCulley (6-foot-4, 588 yards, three TDs). Keep an eye on McCulley in particular, as a source said newly-crowned Broncos OC Davis Webb was on a Zoom with him — notably different from normal pre-draft calls with position coaches or scouts.

Local day? Denver hosted Wyoming QB-turned-TE Evan Svoboda and OL Jack Walsh at their facility earlier this week, among others, for what sources termed a “local day.” This, however, wasn’t open to anyone, as multiple prospects from Colorado and CSU weren’t in attendance. Svoboda is an interesting project who caught 11 passes for the Cowboys this past year.

Take a spin around the football internet these days and you will find yourself soaked by a deluge of mock drafts.

Make no mistake, though, NFL front offices do them, too.

Now, they are working with full scouting staffs, extensive visibility into injury and character questions, thousands of human hours of work put into setting the stage for the real thing later this month.

A year ago, perhaps not a single mock draft paired the Broncos and Jahdae Barron at No. 20. That led head coach Sean Payton to describe the wait as Barron fell through the teens toward them and, well, to mock the mocks.

“The mocks that you guys read for the last month, what do you want me to say?” Payton said then. “It����ap embarrassing sometimes, but it����ap entertaining.”

General manager George Paton last week said the Broncos had narrowed their list to seven or eight players they felt would be available at No. 30 before they traded that pick to Miami for star receiver Jaylen Waddle.

Projecting who will be there at No. 62, where Denver’s first pick now sits, is even more wide open.

That won’t stop us. And no apologies for any embarrassment caused, either.

Round 2, Pick No. 62: Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge

In the Post����ap last mock draft, we slid back a few spots from No. 62 and selected RB Jonah Coleman.

This time around, we decided to stick and pick.

The result is decidedly not flashy but also feels like a realistic outcome for the Broncos.

Rutledge is widely considered a Day 2 player and is one of the better interior offensive linemen in this class. He played right guard in college — the Broncos are set there long-term with All-Pro Quinn Meinerz — but should have the versatility to play left or even center. Essentially, if he didn’t win a job over Ben Powers or make Denver reconsider going into the season with Powers on the roster, he’d be in position to slide in in 2027 or potentially back up multiple spots along the interior.

Offensive line,��in general, is a sneaky need for the Broncos. They’ve got all five starters back from one of the best fronts in football, but general manager George Paton acknowledged at the combine that the team is wary of aging out too many players at the same time. Plus, all five players at the moment are on premium contracts.

Also considered: The dream was for tight end Eli Stowers to fall, but he went in the middle of the second round. Another tight end option and the pick at No. 62 in our first Post mock draft, Ohio State’s Max Klare, was still on the board. We passed to avoid too much repetition, but he looks like a potential fit in the second round. Also still on the board, among others: Arkansas RB Mike Washington and Mizzou linebacker Josiah Trotter.

Round 4, Pick No. 114: Oregon inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher

Trade: Broncos receive Nos. 114 and 197. Philadelphia receives No. 111.

The fourth rolled around and the Paton, sans ‘Y’, in the Post����ap drafting team emerged. We were hoping to move back from No. 108 to get an extra pick or two and, sure enough, found enough suitors to land a deal we liked. That trade with Green Bay involved moving back to No. 120 and the details are below.

Then the surprise popped up. Philadelphia wanted to move up and we felt good about sliding back just a handful of spots and still getting our guy. What was Howie Roseman thinking?

At No. 114, the pick is Boettcher from a school Denver is quite familiar with. He’s a physical player and a good leader who had 136 tackles for the Ducks in 2025 and contributed each of the past three seasons to one of college football’s stoutest defenses.

Denver’s had an active offseason at ILB, retaining Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad, releasing Dre Greenlaw and now moving Jonah Elliss inside. Still, here’s a young player who can be a special teamer early and a potential Singleton replacement down the line.

Round 4, Pick No. 120: Boston College offensive tackle Jude Bowry

Trade: Broncos receive Nos. 120 and 160, Green Bay receives No. 108

Is this draft scintillating enough yet? The Broncos have only drafted one offensive lineman on Day 2 in Paton’s five drafts so far — Meinerz in the 2021 third round — but now are up to two in this draft alone. Again, it����ap not an immediate need, but Bowry checks boxes the Broncos like.

Offensive line coach Zach Strief told The Post last fall, “We love guys that can anchor. If you don’t get bull-rushed in this league, you’re 80% of the way there.”

Bowry’s got good strength and he’s a good athlete. He’s got experience at both left and right tackle in college. Ideally, he doesn’t have to play right away.

In this scenario, though, Denver rolls into the summer with a pipeline that includes Rutledge and Bowry out of this draft, plus Alex Palczewski, Frank Crum, and Alex Forsyth. That����ap building to withstand the rigors of an NFL season and also preparing for a future in which the quarterback is no longer on a rookie deal and the front line must be cheaper — but not without some incubation time in one of the league’s best offensive line development programs.

Round 5, Pick No. 160: Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon

Now things are heating up at the offensive skill positions. Teams across football have found ways to identify tight ends on Day 3 that end up making a real impact. Not everybody can land George Kittle, of course, but there are going to be quality tight ends from this draft class that don’t hear their name called until Saturday.

Raridon’s got a chance to be one of them. He’s enormous at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds. He’s got a good blocking foundation to his game — though like most young players, he’s not a finished product — and he’s athletic enough to believe he’s going to be a good receiver, too.

Like it or not, Denver’s going to play Adam Trautman and Evan Engram a ton this fall. The Broncos trust Trautman and they’re hoping to get more from Engram as a receiver in his second season in the offense. Could a rookie tight end blow up that plan? In an outlier scenario, perhaps. More likely, a young player gets a chance to carve out a role as a rookie with the hopes that he blossoms late in the year, if injuries arise or in 2027 and beyond.

Round 5, Pick No. 170: Indiana running back Kaelon Black

Black fits the Payton running back threshold of “short but not small” at 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds. He’s a physical runner who was second on the national champs’ offense in carries at 180 behind Roman Hemby (230). Black averaged 5.6 per carry and, though he wasn’t used at IU in the passing game, he did have 44 catches and six receiving touchdowns his last two years at James Madison.

At Indiana’s pro day, Black reportedly ran 4.45 in the 40-yard dash and jumped 37.5 inches vertical. He’s taken a top-30 visit with the Broncos. Black isn’t a prototypical third-down back, but he could carry some of that load and would be an intriguing fit with J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.

Round 6, Pick No. 197: USC safety Bishop Fitzgerald

In looking for safety depth, the Broncos here lean on the connection to USC in new defensive backs coach Doug Belk. Belk had Fitzgerald, an undersized safety, in his room for one year after Fitzgerald transferred from NC State.

Checked into the combine at 5-11 and 201 pounds and ran 4.55 in the 40-yard dash. He produced takeaways throughout his college career, with five interceptions in 2025 for USC and five combined in two seasons at NC State before that.

Denver’s got special teamers galore in its safety room behind starters Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones. Fitzgerald could add to that and perhaps push toward more.

Round 7, Pick No. 246: North Carolina cornerback Marcus Allen

Round 7, Pick No. 256: Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson

Round 7, Pick No. 257: IPP outside linebacker Josh Weru

In the seventh round, as Paton said last week, teams are often trying to get a jump on post-draft free agency. If you don’t think you’re going to win a battle for a player or don’t want to risk a bidding war in the post-draft chaos, this is the time.

Denver’s had success recently in the seventh round, finding contributors in WR Devaughn Vele and OL Alex Forsyth, plus players with still-interesting development arcs in OL Nick Gargiulo and TE Caleb Lohner.

In this rendition, a trio of seventh-rounders begins with Allen, who is 6-2, ran 4.5 in the 40, and comes from a program now led by a coach Payton really respects: Bill Belichick.

Denver’s receiver room looks pretty darn full, but Henderson is a receiver plus a special teams asset. He’s a good returner — even if Marvin Mims Jr. doesn’t see an uptick in playing time, NFL teams have realized you need two good ones given the kickoff rule’s evolution — and can handle other duties, too.

Mr. Irrelevant? Try Mr. Freak. Weru hasn’t gone mega-viral like IPP classmate and defensive lineman Uar Bernard, but make no mistake, he’s a ridiculous athlete. The 6-4, 244-pounder reportedly ran 4.45 in the 40 and jumped 41.5 inches vertical at the HBCU showcase. He’s training with Javon Gopie, who also works with Nik Bonitto and trained Que Robinson last spring. Gopie told The Post recently, “I think he’d be a no-brainer fit in (the Broncos’ scheme).”

Most of all, though, his ex-Utah coaches believe he will succeed at inside linebacker in the NFL because of his DNA.

“I would never count any of Luther Elliss’ sons out,” said Freddie Whittingham, once Utah’s recruiting coordinator and now Michigan’s tight ends coach. “I would always bet on his sons.”

Indeed, the Elliss family is to tweener linebackers as the Manning family is to pocket-passing quarterbacks. Luther Elliss, the former Broncos defensive tackle and chaplain who’s helped raise a litter of 12 children, will swear he didn’t do anything special. But four Elliss brothers have reached the NFL, with one more, Elijah, in college. And most remarkably, fit the same profile: 30-year-old Kaden Elliss is an outside-turned-inside linebacker who just signed a $33 million contract with the Saints, and 27-year-old Christian Elliss is a larger ILB who just signed a $13.5 million contract with the Patriots.

23-year-old Jonah Elliss, now, will be the latest Elliss to try to make his money at inside linebacker. With a glut of edge options and further depth needed at ILB, Broncos head coach Sean Payton told reporters at league meetings earlier this week that Jonah Elliss will “take some snaps inside.” Privately, the move has been discussed inside the Broncos’ building since the 2025 season ended, multiple sources told The Denver Post at the February NFL Combine.

“Sometimes, that inside ‘backer position — one of the best in our league in San Francisco, Fred Warner, you saw him play more out in space, outside ‘backer,” Payton said in Arizona. “So, sometimes, you have to look at the skillset and then project where you think it can go.”

It’s a drastic shift. Jonah Elliss played just 3% of his snaps in three seasons at Utah (2021-2023) from the box, according to Pro Football Focus.

Quietly, though, the potential for this move has always lingered in his background, from his very bloodline to his maturation as a prospect.

“I’m excited to see how he functions there,” former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, now Michigan’s head coach, told The Post. “Because, like I said, he’s fully capable of it.”

A skill set that translates inside

Back in 2021, a then-210-pound Jonah Elliss committed to Utah out of Idaho, . At the time, the Utes weren’t sure if he’d step in immediately as an inside linebacker or grow into a defensive end, Kyle Whittingham said. Utah ended up moving him outside, where he racked up 12 sacks as a junior All-American, because of the scheme fit — not because “oh, he can’t play inside linebacker,” as Kyle Whittingham put it.

As Jonah Elliss went through the pre-draft process in 2023, there were “some teams” who were looking at him as an ILB, Kyle Whittingham said. Evaluators asked the former Utah coach how he thought Jonah Elliss could profile as an inside ‘backer, and he told them he simply played OLB at Utah because it was more valuable given their personnel.

“He’s certainly got the physicality to destroy blocks — block destruction is something he’s really good at,” Kyle Whittingham told The Post. “He’s also got very good just, flat-out speed … I think he’s got what it takes to be a very good all-around (inside) linebacker.”

Jonah Elliss has landed in a near-impossible path to starting edge snaps in Denver, as Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper have become one of the best OLB duos in the league. In two seasons since the Broncos drafted him in the third round in 2023, Jonah Elliss has shown plenty of flashes as a rotational edge rusher, but rarely played in any alignment except at OLB: 96% of his snaps came there in 2025, according to Next Gen Stats.

It’s easy to see his frame and downhill speed transitioning to ILB in Denver, if he makes a full-time switch. Bonitto has said previously that Jonah Elliss is a frequent winner of get-off timing drills in practice, and he’s missed just three tackles in two seasons, according to PFF.

The key to any success at ILB, now, will be his ability to cover in open space and read the middle of the field. The Post watched�� all 31 of Jonah Elliss’ regular-season snaps when dropping back into coverage last season; he struggled at times in the first half of the year with his assignment in match-coverage situations, but improved dramatically over the course of 2025 in blanketing multiple opposing tight ends in one-on-one situations.

Jonah Elliss improved a *ton* in coverage throughout '25. Can see ' ILB vision for him.

Clip 1: 3rd-down stop vs. GB TE John FitzPatrick in space.
Clip 2: Blows up screen to Travis Etienne.
Clip 3: Blankets TE Brenton Strange, takes away 3rd-down Trevor Lawrence's read.

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans)

Jonah Elliss also played substantial reps early in his Utah career on the Utes’ punt-coverage teams, and has done the same in two years in Denver. His stickiness there, as Freddie Whittingham told The Post, is a “pretty good indication” that Jonah Elliss can cover.

“As far as football intellect and also the discipline to get in the film room and watch tape and learn and understand assignments and adjustments, and everything that the linebackers need to be able to understand,” Freddie Whittingham said, “I think they’re going to be able to count on that guy.”

A hole to plug at ILB

The question: how much Denver wants to count on Jonah Elliss at ILB. He is a legitimate asset even in a rotational edge role, with 7.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits across his last two seasons. But Payton’s voluntary admission at league meetings suggests this won’t be just a specialty-situation role, which could influence the Broncos’ plans come April.

After the Broncos cut Dre Greenlaw, Denver has a clear hole at LB3 entering the draft. There will be a glut of options available at No. 62: Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, Cincinnati’s Jake Golday, and Mizzou’s Josiah Trotter are all potential young targets who could eventually grow into starters in Denver.

If defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and the staff like Jonah Elliss as a legitimate LB3 option who can also take some outside snaps, though, the Broncos could opt to go offense at the back of the second round — tight end, running back, offensive line — and sit on a linebacker like TCU’s Kaleb Elarms-Orr in the fourth round.

The move could also be a way to preserve Jonah Elliss’ body, as the 246-pound linebacker has an undersized frame for banging against opposing offensive tackles. He missed four games in 2025 with a variety of ailments, and Luther Elliss told The Post during the playoffs that Jonah is “really looking at how he trains” and could add “a little more finesse” to work on staying healthy.

It’s not the most lucrative option for his career, as the market for pass-rushers has exploded in recent years. But older brother Kaden Elliss just earned himself $11 million a season back in New Orleans — where Broncos head coach Sean Payton originally drafted him. And Jonah Elliss’ old college coaches believe he has the pedigree and profile to pull off the move.

“Athletically and mentally, if anybody can make that switch, it����ap a kid like him,” Freddie Whittingham said.

Asking for a friend. OK, asking for several thousand friends. The hockey wonks up in the Grading The Week offices are a superstitious lot, especially where playoff juju is concerned. And they’re starting to seriously wonder if the Avs’ Quebec Nordiques retro sweaters are cursed.

If once is a fluke and twice is a pattern, three times is officially a problem. Colorado’s puzzling 8-6 loss to woebegone Vancouver this past Wednesday was the Avs’ sixth game dressed as the Quebec Nordiques, and they’re now dropped three straight games while going retro — including two straight in regulation. That Vancouver shocker came on the heels of an even more stunning 7-2 loss at Ball Arena to Pittsburgh back on March 16, also in Nordiques blue.

Avs’ Quebec throwbacks karma — D

In the six games in which they’ve dressed in Quebec throwbacks, the Avs are 2-2-2 this season. And the results haven’t made anyone’s nostalgia grow fonder:

Oct. 23 vs. Carolina — L, 5-4/SO

Nov. 29 vs. Montreal — W, 7-2

Jan. 3 vs. Carolina — W, 5-3

Jan. 12 vs. Toronto — L, 4-3/OT

March 16 vs. Pittsburgh — L, 7-2

April 1 vs. Vancouver — L, 8-6

Coincidence? Maybe. Yet before visiting Dallas on Saturday afternoon, the Avs put up a record of 47-13-8 when dressed as — well, themselves.

For the year, Colorado’s been outscored 29-27 when honoring the Nordiques, an average setback of 4.8-4.5 per game.

More context: Take out the contests with the Nordiques look, and Colorado’s drilled everybody else by a margin of 253-158. The Avs have given up 18.3% of their goals this season in the six games in which they’ve worn Quebec throwback gear.

So … not boring, right? Not all that good, either. Especially when the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference holds more weight than usual this spring.

And because we know loyal GTW readers (love ya, Ma!) keep receipts, yes, we were positively effusive about those Nordique throwbacks this past fall when they were unveiled. What can we say? We love the old WHA. And many of the GTW staffers grew up with NHL trading cards and hockey sweaters from the early-to-mid-1990s. Names such as the ‘Diques and the Hartford Whalers will always hold a special place in what’s left of our hearts.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that most of those early-to-mid ’90s Quebec teams were no dang good. And once the franchise moved to Denver, and the newly christened Avs hit the ground dominating, it was as if all of Les Nordiques’ demons remained in the Great White North.

Now they’re back.

So, much as it pains us, it’s probably time for the Avs to nix the Nordiques. To quash the Quebec, once and for all.

Because we’ve got bad news on the sweater front — there’s still one more Nordiques throwback day left. Colorado is slated to kick it old-school one last time against Vegas at Ball Arena on April 11. After which, they should probably burn anything left in the locker room that’s got a Quebec logo on it.

The Dre Greenlaw Experience — C

The GTW crew wishes Dre Greenlaw would’ve worked out in orange and blue. But we could only sit and nod when the former Broncos linebacker told Terron Armstead on “The Set” a few days ago that, “It makes it tough when you pay a guy ($11 million) and he’s only on the field 50% of the time. It made it tough for me. It made it to the point where it kind of makes you not happy.”

East High assistant honored — A

Belated GTW tip o’ the cap to East High girls basketball assistant coach Celena Miller, who was recently named as the Women’s Basketball Coaching Association’s national Assistant Coach of the Year for the high-school level.

The WBCA award is presented annually based on an assistant’s commitment to their program, their student-athletes, and their head coach; on-court coaching impact; mentorship on other coaches; and professional manner and attitude.

As part of the award, the WBCA will donate $5,000 in Miller’s name to the Kaw Yow Cancer Fund. Miller just helped East and coach Carl Mattei complete a 20-7 season with the Angels, including an 8-0 in league contests.

“I feel like if y’all would have gotten a chance to know each other better, like, Sean Payton and how he operates,” former Saints left tackle Terron Armstead said to Greenlaw on his podcast, “if y’all knew each other, like, ‘Dre don’t need to be out here (practicing) Wednesday.'”

“Man,” Greenlaw said, with a wistful smile.

That single word said enough, on its own, about Greenlaw’s time in Denver. But the linebacker had — and implied that his adjustment to Payton and the Broncos’ intensive offseason schedule triggered the quad injury that dashed much of his 2025 season.

Two days after the Broncos’ season-ending AFC Championship loss in late January, Greenlaw told reporters that Payton was “old-school” in his methods and the “complete opposite” of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who Greenlaw played for for six seasons in San Francisco before joining Denver last offseason. Payton, Greenlaw explained, has his players practice six days a week. Shanahan, Greenlaw added, tries to keep players “fresh.” Different methods.

“It’s for good reasons, too,” Greenlaw said.

A tough start to a tough season

A few weeks after the Broncos cut ties with Greenlaw and he signed back with San Francisco, though, the linebacker went further in-depth on what went wrong in Denver. In March 2025, Greenlaw signed with the Broncos for three years and $35 million, coming off a 2024 season where an Achilles injury wiped him out for all but two games. And Greenlaw told Armstead that his trainer, then, told him he needed to ramp up his offseason training, because “the Broncos practice different than the 49ers.”

“Like, ‘you’re not going to be able to come in there, and just like — how you were with the 49ers, and they take care of your body, and this and that,'” Greenlaw told Armstead, recalling his conversation with the trainer. “‘The Broncos, they’re going to want you to go every day. They’re six days on. Their rehab is tough. All of this, and this.

“So I’m just like, OK, let����ap get it going. So we started picking it up, started picking it up.”

Then — exactly two days after he got to Denver, Greenlaw revealed — he strained his quad.

“Should’ve been just smarter about where I was going in, and training with them at,” Greenlaw reflected. “You go into a new spot, you want to get going, this and that and that. And basically just had some hiccups that I really felt like I had no control over.”

Greenlaw himself called Denver’s training staff “second-to-none” on Armstead’s podcast, despite the injury-riddled season. The Broncos told The Post that the organization — according to anonymized team data collected by the NFL and disseminated to all 32 franchises — ranked first in the NFL in fewest injuries (37) suffered and had the third-fewest regular-season games missed (23) due to injury among players on the 53-man roster.

The Broncos’ brass has repeatedly expressed confidence in vice president of player health and performance Beau Lowery, including an end-of-season presser by general manager George Paton.

“With Beau Lowery and our medical department, we feel really strong about their opinion,” Paton said. “And if someone’s been hurt somewhere else, maybe we feel like we can get them going. We’ll have a plan – not that other teams don’t – but we just feel really strong about our medical team, our sports performance team, where we can bring someone into our environment, and they can thrive.”

Greenlaw’s quad injury kick-started an extended rehab that featured multiple setbacks and flare-ups through training camp, as Greenlaw never saw the field in Denver until Week 7’s matchup with the New York Giants. He played much of the season on a snap count, missed two games late in the year with a separate hamstring injury, and returned for the playoffs in a time-share with inside linebacker Justin Strnad.

The 28-year-old linebacker wound up playing just 44% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps in the postseason and finished his cumulative 2025 season with 53 tackles in 10 games.

“It makes it tough when you pay a guy $11 million,” Greenlaw said on the podcast, “and he’s only on the field 50% of the time. So it made it tough for me, bro. And it made it to the point where — it kinda makes you not happy, you know what I’m saying?”

The frustration from that extended ramp-up process, Greenlaw said, even bled into a midseason suspension when the NFL ruled he’d “verbally threatened” referee Brad Allen after the conclusion of Week 7’s comeback win over the Giants. Greenlaw told Armstead he didn’t threaten Allen, but was trying to argue a pass-interference call on cornerback Riley Moss from the sidelines in the fourth quarter. Allen “gave me the side-eye,” Greenlaw recounted. And frustration boiled over, Greenlaw explained, because the Broncos were “already taking me in and out.”

So Greenlaw, indeed, chased after Allen and roared at him immediately after a game-winning field goal.

“I said, ‘Man, that was bull(expletive),” Greenlaw said on Armstead’s podcast. “‘You a (expletive) for calling that.’ And that����ap what I said to him, no cap.”

Moving on

Despite Greenlaw admitting he simply “wasn’t happy” in Denver, the linebacker said he didn’t regret signing with the Broncos. Payton, meanwhile, told reporters at league meetings in Arizona on Tuesday that it was a tough decision to cut Greenlaw.

“I would say, in my career as a coach, I’ve been lucky enough to coach a lot of passionate players that love the game,” Payton said. “And I’m always disappointed that didn’t work out. Because, I love that player. I love how he competes. And I love all the things he brings. And you feel somewhat responsible when it doesn’t work out.”

Payton defended the Broncos’ practice habits at his end-of-season presser in January, citing an injury-riddled 2022 season before he arrived as head coach, during which he said “there weren’t ever pads on” in training camp. Notably, though, the head coach implemented extended rehabilitation periods on Fridays for offensive and defensive linemen in 2025, and promised to further tweak his approach in 2026.

“Dre, Courtland (Sutton), Wednesday might just be a rest day,” Payton said in January, describing the mid-week practice approach for veterans. “I think I can be better in that area.”

The Broncos are taking an extended rest period this offseason after a deep postseason run in 2025, too. Payton said in Arizona that players won’t be back in the building at all until May, and won’t take the field for OTAs and minicamp until June.

All in all, Greenlaw made clear to Armstead there were no hard feelings. But he appeared, clearly, to be elated to be back in the Bay Area.

“I’m thankful for all of it — for Sean, and the Penners, everybody that accepted me into that organization,” Greenlaw said. “Teammates, and all.

“But, yeah, I’m excited to be a 49er.”