Head coach Sean Payton said the Broncos have excused Cooper��after the outside linebacker’s second arrest last Thursday on multiple charges that he violated a protection order after his initial arrest on June 4 following a physical altercation with his girlfriend.

“He’s taking this time, obviously,” Payton said. “The club is very much in tune to the league office, local authorities here, and we’ve had several meetings. Clearly from an ownership standpoint, head coach, organizationally — there’s a bar that we have, and an expectation that we have, that����ap very high. We’ll consider all of that as we continue to gather the information.”

In total, Cooper is facing five active charges in Douglas County District Court, including felony second-degree assault by strangulation, misdemeanor third-degree assault, misdemeanor criminal mischief, misdemeanor harassment, and misdemeanor violation of a protection order.

A source with knowledge of the situation told The Post that Cooper isn’t around the building in any capacity.

Payton acknowledged that “we all know the logistics” and declined to answer further follow-up questions about Cooper having meetings with team brass before his second arrest.

“I don’t think it’s my place to comment any more right now,” Payton said, “because, obviously, it’s a pretty significant issue.”

If found guilty of criminal assault in an NFL investigation, Cooper could face a baseline suspension of six games, with the number of games increasing or decreasing depending on the NFL’s findings. Payton’s mention of the organizational “bar” marks the first time any team official has hinted at potential consequences for Cooper since his June 4 arrest. The Broncos haven’t dealt with a similar legal case involving a player since owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner took the reins in 2022.

“I mean, he’s our brother at the end of the day, and we all rally behind Coop,” Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II said Tuesday. “And we just wish him the best with everything. But, just keeping him in good spirits.”

According to arrest affidavits, Cooper and his girlfriend got into an argument over allegations of infidelity at his Parker apartment on June 4. The felony second-degree assault by strangulation charge was added by the district attorney’s office following a forensic examination on Cooper’s girlfriend that same night by a nurse at Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora. The nurse concluded that Cooper’s girlfriend sustained “strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury,” and suffered “substantial risk of death.”

Cooper’s girlfriend was also arrested June 4 by Parker Police for her role in the incident on suspicion of domestic violence and a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief. On Tuesday, a Douglas County judge granted the DA’s office’s motion to dismiss charges against Cooper’s girlfriend.

The 28-year-old Cooper is set to make $12 million in 2026, according to OverTheCap, and has two more years remaining on a four-year, $60 million contract extension signed in November 2024. He played the ninth-most snaps of any Broncos defender in 2025, and finished second on the team in sacks.

Cooper has a hearing on advisement — where he’ll hear the total sum of charges against him — in Douglas County court Wednesday afternoon. His case is expected to proceed to a jury trial, currently slated to begin July 22.

Sean Keeler: Your humble colleague is a footie fan, full-stop, no apologies. Got bitten by the bug during USA ’94. Partied with Nigerian fans in Athens, Ga., as we watched the Super Eagles upset Argentina to win the men’s soccer gold in ’96. Denver is an amazing, fun, vibrant soccer town. FIFA? FIFA is as crooked as the Serpents Trail, my friend. When Colorado whiffed on its penalty kick with footie bigwigs during the bid process a few years back, I raged. “What does Kansas City have that Denver doesn’t?” I asked. Rooms that FIFA had booked in blocks — only to cancel at the last minute. Oh, and without any cancellation fees on the back end for KC to recoup. Because Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s fawning, making-up-trophies-to-give-world-leaders president? That’s how he rolls, baby.

World Cup 2026: Matches, scores, brackets, results and more

Renck: The running joke is if you want to watch a good shakedown, skip the mob movies and watch documentaries on how the IOC and FIFA choose host cities. The demands are outrageous and, in some cases, criminal. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 14 football executives for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. When Denver submitted its bid, it made a final offer. FIFA wanted assurances the city would cover all cost overruns, and make everything whole. So, I am not going to crush Denver for drawing a line in the sand. The reality is the timing stunk. Everyone knows how much Denver loves soccer (See Denver Summit FC and Lionel Messi appearance). But the city needed a savior in the Broncos owners, and the bid was submitted before the Walton-Penner group took over. Who knows if they would have stepped up to fill in the gaps like soccer AFLAC. History says they would have. In the absence of that help, Denver showed proper restraint, even if watching right now hurts.

Keeler: The Denver chapter might have had a different ending if Carrie Walton-Penner and Greg Penner were in the picture to soak up cost overruns. I don't blame the city for balking, though, given what's come out over the last 8-12 months. be built over Soldier Field -- and that the locals were on the hook to pay for it. The state of Missouri reportedly forked over $78 million and the state of Kansas $28 million for infrastructure, security, etc. No wonder Colorado took a pass.

Renck: It is OK to not get everything you want. We have become spoiled because of Final Fours, high-profile soccer exhibitions and having four major sports teams that we believe Denver should host anything of merit out of default. If it were just on private donations, it would be easier to have a problem with missing out. But at the time of the bid, the city did not have its Clark Hunt or Robert Kraft to push it through. Given the financial issues facing Denver, it would be impossible to rationalize the city increasing taxes to cover the open-ended costs. There is no doubt Denver deserves to host the World Cup. But there is also no shame in showing common sense, if not cents, and waiting to go all out to host the Women's World Cup in 2031.

Keeler: And it will. Or at least, it should. Summit FC got on a roll after May 9, and the powers behind the club want to keep those good vibes going. Did you see the way Can you imagine the juice those kind of travelers would give Coors Field during another sad Rockies summer? Denver deserves to walk on world soccer's biggest catwalks. But not by having to sell its shirt first.

In December 2023, Herman’s Osage Studios LLC bought a parcel of land at 1305 North Osage St. for $2.1 million. Herman, a designer, saw an opportunity to rehabilitate a couple of junk-car-storing warehouses into an interactive attraction at the northern tip of the abandoned Burnham Yard railyard. The dream for the site — bringing an immersive tiki lounge to Denver — was strong enough to shrug off a couple of purchase inquiries by legal representatives connected to the Denver Broncos, in the midst of a massive land grab just down the street. But actually designing such physical plans in a dilapidated area, Herman said, has been “an absolute horrorfest” of legal issues and property damage.

“There were days where I was like, ‘I’ve made a huge mistake,'” Herman said.

The Broncos have now become the most visible entrepreneur to identify Burnham Yard as a ripe pocket for redevelopment, continuing to march forward with the railyard as their preferred site for a new stadium district in Denver. Beyond a finalized agreement to buy the railyard itself, property records compiled by The Denver Post show the Broncos have been tied to at least $186 million in land purchases in the surrounding area, with the expressed goal to build out a mixed-use district around a new stadium. For now, unlike Herman and its neighbors, the organization does not need to concern itself with potential break-ins.

The Broncos’ path to a successful stadium-anchored development at Burnham, though, is fraught with larger-scale hurdles surrounding their planned stadium opening in 2031 — stemming directly from the same reasons they keyed in on the site in the first place.

“I’m so skeptical,” Herman said, “that they’re going to pull it off in time.”

A simple building remodel took Herman a year and a half due to city processes. People have broken into his warehouses on multiple occasions, and stripped the copper wire from his air-conditioning units. He has bled money on damage control. And on one occasion, he walked into his primary building at North Osage to find his window shattered and a man without any clothes standing in the middle of the room.

Herman has stuck it out, one of several owners who have poured money into new development around the railyard in recent years. Directly east of Burnham, The Refractory — — has seen interest from potential businesses ranging from a jiu jitsu gym to an indoor golf facility, broker Russell Gruber said. Directly adjacent to Herman’s property, Memphis Orion and Adam Lerner are leading a $27 million development of a wellness center dubbed Coba Bathhouse; they saw a “giant wave” in the area, Orion said , and felt they could surf it. And the Broncos are the latest to hop on, because of such tantalizing development potential.

The modern era of stadium construction has popularized the “stadium district,” a mini-neighborhood that relies on mixed-use offerings around the stadium itself to generate revenue outside of gamedays. The Broncos are buying up over 150 acres around Burnham to build out that concept in Denver, similar to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s plans at Ball Arena. But such a large-scale development in an area primarily zoned for industrial use has inevitably entangled the Broncos in a web of lengthy city processes, community-benefits-agreement negotiations with the recently established Burnham Yard Community Action coalition, and soon-to-be-costly negotiations with private landowners and the public utility, Denver Water, that have yet to be resolved.

And that’s just the first wave, as both the organization and the city will need an immaculately phased development at Burnham to justify the investment there.

“While our current focus is on the community-benefits-agreement process, the long-term goal is for Burnham Yard to contribute to a connected, mixed-use community to the La Alma Lincoln Park and Baker neighborhoods,” Broncos president Damani Leech told The Post. “In terms of selecting the Burnham Yard site, we think it’s important for the Broncos to remain in Denver.

“Though a project of this scope on a former railyard presents some challenges, it aligns with our overall vision to create Denver’s next great neighborhood, the future home of the Denver Broncos and a year-round destination that delivers meaningful impact for the city.”

Why the Broncos ‘have to make the mixed-use district work’

Twenty miles south, a 440-acre expanse of open dirt spills out below the intersection of East Lincoln Avenue and Interstate 25 in Lone Tree, the site that was — and could still be — the Broncos’ Plan B.

Over the last two years, the organization has done its due diligence on the Lone Tree City Center, a massive planned mixed-use sprawl that Douglas County has openly campaigned for as a possible home for the Broncos.

Lone Tree has already approved a sub-area plan for the Lone Tree City Center, and the area is zoned for large mixed-use development. The city “prides itself on being business-friendly,” Mayor Melissa Harmon told The Post, and aims to provide “clear expectations, timely feedback and response, and always a predictable permitting process.” And the alignment with the Broncos — or any other catalyst developer — is obvious: the city would make sure the integration was as smooth as possible, Harmon pointed.

“They have our phone number, and we know — I joked with Damani (Leech), I said, ‘You still say preferred, you know,'” Harmon said, referring to the Broncos’ current positioning at Burnham.

“But in all honesty, of course, we always knew that Denver and Burnham Yards was their preferred and No. 1 site for many reasons,” she continued, “and it was really such an honor to be able to have the conversations, but also really get national attention for this piece of property.”

To Harmon’s point, the Walton-Penner ownership group selected Burnham over Lone Tree or Aurora specifically to keep the franchise in Denver. And the specific location makes sense, as several real estate and development experts told The Post, because of the immediate proximity to higher-population-density neighborhoods around Denver that can therefore attract tenants and foot traffic alike.

“Obviously, like, the Broncos chose to be here instead of going to some suburban location,” said Ryan Meeks, founder of Denver-based Bosk Urban Design. “And so … they have to make the mixed-use district work, right?”

The appeal of building a stadium district at the ��lies in built-in historical and industrial aesthetics that the Broncos have highlighted since their very first Large Development Review pre-submission in November 2025. The organization has repeatedly cited the��refurbishment of the site’s locomotive shop as a key component of its initial design plans. In that vein, the Broncos are the largest piece of a greater transformation around Burnham; a slew of developers have bought warehouses to repurpose for non-industrial uses in recent years, commercial broker Gruber told The Post.

“It����ap a more challenging site, in some ways,” Broncos owner Greg Penner told The Post in September. “But we think it creates an opportunity to create something special.”

Those challenges, though, are substantial in the short term. Penner said in late March that the Broncos want to have “all of (their) ducks lined up” before officially shedding the preferred-site label for a Burnham development.

That calls for progress on a legally binding community-benefits agreement with the recently finalized Burnham Yard Community Action coalition, for one. That calls for progress on negotiations with Denver Water around the utility’s relocation, which has been further complicated by community pushback against the utility’s plans for a potential facility on Lot M of the existing Empower Field stadium site.

And that calls for progress toward a resolution with SRM Concrete, which owns a large concrete plant smack-dab in the middle of the Broncos’ stadium district plans.

Most important of all are the dominoes that’ll fall once the city’s Department of Community Planning and Development completes a small-area plan for the site, which a source with knowledge of the process said should be finalized late in 2026 or early in 2027.

The Denver Urban Renewal Authority will only begin work on an urban-renewal plan at Burnham once that small-area plan is finished, DURA Interim Executive Director Bill Pruter told The Post. That urban-renewal plan will determine��whether��tax-increment financing is approved for the Burnham development, which Pruter said he expects the Broncos will seek.

Penner and Denver’s brass have made clear the stadium itself won’t introduce any new taxes. But if the larger 150-acre site is approved for a TIF district by Denver’s City Council, the infrastructure around the stadium can be paid for in some capacity by borrowing against future growth in property taxes within that district — a form of tax break.

Essentially, the Broncos can wind up using the potential for a larger-scale stadium district at Burnham to actually pay for the stadium itself.

“This is incredibly typical in stadium ancillary development,” said Geoffrey Propheter, a . “You build the stadium first, and then all the non-stadium stuff that you’re actually using to try to convince lawmakers to support this — all of this comes in years 10, 20, 30. And they all come with a promise.”

“The track record for delivering on these promises by teams in development,” Propheter said later, “is shaky. And that����ap being super generous.”

Why the phasing and selection of district features matter

Fortunately for Denver, the Walton-Penner Group has built a considerable track record of delivering on its promises.

Look to Denver, for one, where Broncos owners Penner and Carrie Walton Penner have revitalized the NFL franchise and just invested significant capital into the Colorado Rockies. And look across the country to Bentonville, Arkansas, where has been transformed into a mini-metropolis at the Walton family’s investment.

Nelson Worldwide senior vice president Lamar Wakefield, an expert in mixed-use development who helped design The Battery stadium district in Atlanta, told The Post that he’s working on a current development in Bentonville for the Waltons.

“They really want to see a wide range of housing options,” Wakefield said. “And I was really pleased to hear that. They understand that if you can make it attainable, but the whole neighborhood itself has all these wide ranges — maybe that single mom with three kids raising them in that environment is a little bit different … so they embrace that. I was very impressed.”

The Broncos will likely focus, in the initial phase, on the stadium and surrounding infrastructure before a 2031 opening at Burnham, multiple experts in stadium-district development told The Post. Slow-playing other aspects of the district for too long, though, would do a “huge disservice,” nearby warehouse owner John Victor said, to both community and city investment in the development. And the Broncos will face the challenge of establishing a center of gravity where there isn’t one at Burnham — different from KSE’s task of developing a district around the nearby Ball Arena.

“That’s the secret sauce there,” said Matt Mahoney, KSE’s senior vice president of development, “when we’re talking about neighborhoods that just do not exist. I mean, both these properties — our property is a surface parking lot. We’re fortunate to actually have an arena already built.

“The Broncos have a much tougher, steeper hill to climb. Because they want to create a neighborhood, but they also have to build a new stadium at the same time of establishing a sense of place there.”

The organization’s initial infrastructure master plan outlines that the Broncos would complete vertical construction of an “entertainment zone” in time for the stadium’s 2031 opening. The key there is what mix of mixed-use development (housing, office, retail, dining, hospitality) the Broncos will prioritize within that specific zone. Wakefield, who helped design The Battery Atlanta — a gold standard of mixed-use stadium development that the Broncos’ brass toured while identifying stadium-district ideas — emphasized the initial importance of establishing residential units to build an on-site customer base.

Any dreams about the district’s makeup, though, will be clouded by the current Denver market. Ortiz said building hotels would be an initial priority. But hotel-occupancy rates in metro Denver still haven’t rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels, . RC Myles, a broker with Denver-based Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors, said he anticipates the Burnham district won’t prioritize much office development, as office vacancies in downtown Denver .

“There’s so many missing pieces to this,” said Carrie Makarewicz, chair of CU Denver’s urban and regional planning department. “I mean, they’re moving forward in the typical style of a private developer — you acquire low-cost land in a strategic location, you build the revenue generators first, you tap into as much public funding you can get … and then you work on the immediate surroundings for your project, but you don’t take into consideration the city and regional demand for retail, apartments and entertainment.

“Like, we’re cannibalizing all of our districts around the city.”

Demand for multi-family housing in downtown Denver has steadily ticked up, though, according to . And Myles pointed to Cherry Creek, which has dropped retail vacancy rates below 2%, as an example of a local destination for offices, families and businesses alike. Multiple real-estate experts noted to The Post that there aren’t currently many options for dining or support retail in the extended Burnham area — identifying a potential development focus for the Broncos.

“Colorado needs a big high five right now,” Gruber said. “And I think the Penners are helping do it.”

The Broncos, though, have yet to truly cement their investment in Burnham Yard, let alone a phased approach for an amorphous stadium district. And time is ticking, now a full nine months after their initial preferred-site announcement.

“If they can pull it off — I mean, dude, I guess money talks,” Herman said. “And they got plenty of that.”

Head-coaching buzz around 31-year-old quarterbacks coach Davis Webb had risen from sneaky whispers to verbal conversations in late January, and Denver had no obvious other options than to promote a hot commodity or risk him walking out of the building. So Payton — around the time Webb had interviews with Buffalo, Baltimore and Las Vegas for head coach vacancies — a source told The Post — floated the concept of play-calling duties to him. Webb had separate conversations with general manager George Paton and owner Greg Penner, too.

And once that concept became real, there was no other decision to be made, as Webb told reporters Thursday.

“I didn’t really know what the situation was going to be for me,” Webb said. “But, I mean, I pretty much signed immediately whenever they offered that.”

The question, as Webb himself outlined there: What, exactly, did he sign up for?

Even as he’s publicly inherited play-calling duties from Payton, Webb made clear to reporters Thursday that Denver is still operating under Payton’s offensive philosophy. Through OTAs, Webb has run the unit through practice similar to how previous offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi did in previous years. And Denver’s offensive style hasn’t looked markedly different through OTAs than it did in 2025, when the Broncos ran sizeable doses of screen and mesh concepts.

In his first offseason media availability Thursday, though, Webb offered a few glints as to how the Broncos’ attack will eventually function differently — and made clear he feels ready for the pressure of becoming the new face of Payton’s offense in Denver.

“Yeah, I think so,” Webb said, when asked if he feels he has thick enough skin to handle play-calling duties. “My dad was a coach for a long time, so I heard that. I was a backup QB for a while. Everybody likes the backup. It just, it is what it is. That kinda comes with it.

“Our whole deal is, ‘Let����ap score some points, let����ap have some fun, let����ap have a different attitude on offense. Let����ap get up with some excitement, celebrate with your teammates, no dumb penalties. And let����ap just play clean football.'”

Between the lines, those comments clearly pointed to a fatal flaw in Denver’s offense last season: operational speed. Webb largely played the wait-and-see card when asked how his own offensive ideals would fit into Payton’s scheme, noting that the Los Angeles Rams — as an example — decided to move to heavier personnel groupings midway through last season. But Payton himself acknowledged in February that a reason for passing off play-calling was “being quicker,” as the Broncos’ 14th-ranked offense alternated between pockets of up-tempo flow and sluggish starts amid constantly rotating personnel groupings.

On multiple��occasions in 2025, quarterback Bo Nix became��visibly frustrated with Payton for not getting play calls��from the sideline fast enough. That’s been an early emphasis of Webb’s planning in Denver, through OTAs.

“Right now, we’re just teaching the installations and making sure we get the bad football out of our system,” Webb said Thursday. “Break the huddle efficiently, get to the ball fast, and allow the QB to see the game.”

That can play to the benefit of the Broncos’ franchise quarterback, on simple precedent. Nix’s efficiency took a leap in both yards-per-attempt and quarterback rating in no-huddle looks in 2025, a situational comfort that’s played out since he began his collegiate days at Auburn.

In perhaps the worst year of Nix’s football life — a disjointed 2021 season at Auburn — Nix simply didn’t respect then-head coach Bryan Harsin and his offensive system “at all,” as former Auburn offensive analyst Kendall Simmons recounted to The Post. The saving grace in a 6-7 season came when Nix could simply see the defense and react without a play call in late-clock situations.

“You (could) just see the frustration on a normal play-call of, ‘OK, why are we calling this? Because the defense keeps presenting X to us, and we’re going all the way back to A, and it����ap not working,'” Simmons recalled. “And so when we went up-tempo and Bo could go with himself, you can see the confidence. And I almost felt like we should’ve done more of it, instead of calling plays — we should’ve done more up-tempo, and letting him get the feel and call things out.”

The same realization appears set to play out in Denver in 2026, in a much more stable situation. And Webb, now, will have a new toy to play with in receiver Jaylen Waddle, who has the physical tools to win matchups faster than any receiver Nix has had in two seasons in Denver.

“He’s good,” Webb deadpanned when asked about utilizing Waddle.

In 2020, Webb was a backup quarterback with Buffalo when the Bills traded for Stefon Diggs as a new weapon for a rising Josh Allen. Allen, in his subsequent third NFL season, promptly earned an All-Pro nod and a second-place MVP finish. And Webb drew a connection between the Allen-Diggs pairing and Nix’s partnership with Waddle in Denver’s offense — as Nix readies for his third season, himself.

“There’s some similarities of what����ap starting to happen here,” Webb said. “Doesn’t mean it����ap going to. We got a long way to go. But man, he’s good. And I’ve just enjoyed the person, and just watching him work. He is a blessing to be around. He is a multiplier. He is a thermostat.”

The heat, with Denver swinging on Waddle amid Super Bowl aspirations, has been turned up on Webb. He is no longer an idea, a hotshot offensive mind hidden behind a play-sheet; he is a reality, one of the most important figures in this Broncos offseason. And he’ll be directing traffic that’s still operating on Payton’s grid system, as the 62-year-old head coach just signed a new five-year contract Thursday and can yank back play-calling duties with one fell swoop.

But Webb said Thursday the “most attractive thing” about staying in Denver, ultimately, was leaning on Payton.

“I trust him, he trusts me, we think very similar,” Webb said. “I know how he wants the game to be played. It����ap the same offense for the most part. There’s some little tweaks here and there.

“But this is a Sean Payton-coached football team.”

He’s been putting pictures and other office items in boxes over recent days, preparing for the Broncos’ move across their practice fields to a gleaming new team headquarters, and wondering how long it will take to get used to the new digs.

That, though, is the only professional move Payton has to ponder any time soon after he and the Broncos agreed to a new five-year deal on Thursday.

“Sean Payton has led an impressive turnaround over the past three seasons, instilling a winning culture with high expectations,” Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner said in a statement announcing the deal. “I appreciate the close partnership he shares with George Paton along with the alignment and stability across our football operations.

“We’re thrilled for Sean to continue leading our team as head coach, building on our progress during such an exciting time for the Broncos.”

The contract runs through 2030, aligning the contract terms for Payton and general manager George Paton, who signed a new extension earlier this spring. Payton was believed to be one of the highest-paid head coaches in the NFL on his initial contract in Denver at around $20 million per year and almost certainly will continue to be, though his exact salary on the new deal was not immediately known.

“I’m super appreciative of that opportunity,” Payton said Thursday after Denver’s OTA practice. “I said this earlier, that triangle of ownership —��the Walton-Penner group, Carrie and Greg — and then George and working with him, I’ve been spoiled. I had a real good experience in New Orleans with ownership and (general manager) Mickey (Loomis). And to go two-for-two in this league is hard.

“I’m thankful they want me back and we’re going to do everything we can to keep winning.

The Broncos have done little else since Payton took over following a disastrous 2022 season that finished 5-12 and saw Nathaniel Hackett fired 15 games into his tenure.

Beyond just one calamitous year, Payton took over a team that had lost its way for nearly a decade since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50.

Denver went 8-9 in his first season but made the decision to take on a record $85 million in dead cap to cut quarterback Russell Wilson afterward.

Then Payton and Paton drafted Bo Nix at No. 12 overall in the 2024 draft and Payton engineered a 10-7 season that resulted in a wild-card playoff berth in Nix’s rookie year.

Last fall, the Broncos broke through with a 14-3 regular-season record, powered by an 11-game winning streak. They won in the postseason for the first time since their last Super Bowl year, beating Buffalo in overtime in the AFC Divisional round. Then Denver lost at home to New England in the AFC Championship Game without Nix, who fractured his ankle against Buffalo.

Now the Broncos are firmly back on the map. They believe they have a championship-caliber team, they have an ascending power in their ownership group, they have a new stadium in the works and they have Payton and Paton in place long-term atop the football operation.

“There’s always pressure and that����ap kind of the unique thing of sport,” Payton said, “especially at the professional level where you’re graded on each game and each performance and that����ap OK,. That����ap kind of how you prefer it. A place here with such traditions and expectations, that����ap a good thing.

“It����ap a lot better than hoping you can fill a stadium with fans or any of that other stuff.”

Payton is 32-19 in the regular season in Denver and 1-2 in the postseason. His 184 overall regular-season wins are No. 13 all time and second among active coaches behind only Kansas City’s Andy Reid (279). If the Broncos return to the postseason this fall, Payton will find himself in the top 10 in regular-season coaching wins.

Along the way, the Broncos have built one of the deepest and most talented rosters in football thanks in large part to Payton’s conviction on the types of players he wants and Paton’s ability to identify and acquire them. Payton called “aligning with George” on his contract term a critical component to the equation.

“We enjoy the process and coming to work together and going through this together,” Payton said. “I think we think a lot alike.”

Payton had two years remaining on his original deal, which ran through the 2027 season. The new pact, then, runs through 2030 and would take the veteran head coach through his 67th birthday.

Payton said he hasn’t given much thought to how much longer he wants to coach, but recounted a story from last season when Nix asked him that very question.

“Bo had asked me how long and I was like, shoot, plenty of time. Eight years, nine years, whatever,” Payton said. “And then we had one of those gameday moments (in Las Vegas) and I said, ‘well right now it feels like one year.’

“I’ve not really given any thought to the end game. I think I’ve got a lot of juice left and I enjoy what we’re doing.”

The agreement to purchase the 58.5-acre parcel for $45.8 million has been in place in general terms since the Broncos named Burnham Yard as the team’s preferred site for a new stadium in September. The finalization of the deal, which comes in the form of an option to purchase, is an anticipated step in the process and was signed May 21, according to the memorandum between the two parties.

“We are pleased to finalize a formal agreement with CDOT to purchase the Burnham Yard site with a closing expected this fall,” Broncos chief communications officer Patrick Smyth said in a statement provided to The Denver Post. “As this remains the preferred site, we remain optimistic that our collaboration with the city, state and community will keep everything on track for 2031.”

The deal was originally set to close earlier this month, but now is slated to close this fall.

“This is an eight-figure real estate transaction, and that’s not going to be as simple as selling your parents’ house,” CDOT communications director Matt Inzeo told The Post.

The agreement gives a limited liability corporation associated with the Broncos the right of first refusal to purchase the former railyard from CDOT and ensures the state cannot sell the land to anybody but the football club.

The option must be exercised by June 30, 2027, which is after the time the Broncos hope to have shovels in the ground as they begin Phase 1A of their stadium and district plan.

The state originally purchased Burnham Yard in 2021 for $50 million with an eye toward some form of public-private development project, but plans to use some of the land for transportation-related purposes, including to facilitate an Interstate 25 expansion, fizzled.

Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner first toured the property in February 2023, Penner told The Post last year, and “we fell in love with it almost right away.”

The $45,810,000 purchase price covers the remaining principal on the original loan taken by the to purchase the yard.

Earlier this year, Penner made it clear that all stakeholders involved had a lot of work to do in order to keep an “ambitious” timeline of playing in the new stadium for the 2031 season on track.

“It����ap an ambitious timeline that we have,” Penner said at that time. “And we won’t be able to accomplish our goals in terms of timing and getting in there just by ourselves. So it����ap not just something the Broncos are driving. We’ve got to have a lot of support from partners and others that are involved with the site.”

In September, the Broncos announced conceptual agreements to purchase the railyard and 25 acres of Denver Water property, and by that time had also completed a host of private real estate purchases in the area.

Going forward, though, there are still several complicated matters unresolved regarding the totality of the planned 150-acre development area. The largest is the partial relocation of Denver Water’s operations to several parcels in different parts of the city.

The Broncos are also still working through other potential private real estate transactions, including an approximately 10-acre parcel in the middle of the northern portion of the proposed project that is owned by SRM Concrete.

Denver Post staff writer Jessica Alvarado Gamez contributed to this report.

Sean Payton’s 2026 team is deep, talented and heads into its offseason program with perhaps as few pressing roster questions as any team in football.

Even with that continuity and talent, though, the Broncos are in for a rugged start to the regular season. That became clear Thursday evening when the NFL released its entire 272-game regular-season slate.

Denver already knew it was opening the year on “Monday Night Football” at Kansas City, which may mark quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ return from a torn ACL and LCL in December. It is the first time in Broncos franchise history the club has started the season at Kansas City.

The Chiefs, who won the division nine straight years and are widely expected to bounce right back to contention this fall, are almost the lightweight on the first third of Denver’s schedule.

After the division rival to open the year, the Broncos play five straight 2025 playoff teams, including a Sept. 20 home opener against Jacksonville — Liam Cohen’s team was the only one to beat the Broncos at Empower Field last year during the regular season — and a home Sunday night showdown Sept. 27 against the Los Angeles Rams.

That home pair is followed by back-to-back road trips to San Francisco and the Los Angeles Chargers before Denver returns home on a short week to host Super Bowl-champion Seattle on Thursday Night Football in mid-October.

The first six coaches the Broncos face this fall: Andy Reid, Cohen, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Macdonald.

By the time Payton’s experienced bunch hits a mini bye week ahead of a Week 7 trip to Arizona, it will be battle-tested and its true colors likely at least partially revealed.

The schedule isn’t easy from there, but it does present an opportunity to get hot. After a Week 10 bye, Denver faces Las Vegas twice, Miami and the New York Jets over a five-week span that also includes a Black Friday standalone game at Pittsburgh.

If the Broncos hit the home stretch feeling playoff vibes, they’re also going to catch a bit of deja vu. The final three games start with the club’s playoff opponents from January, in Weeks 126-17, in Buffalo and New England. Then the regular season closes just as it did a year ago, with Harbaugh’s Chargers visiting Empower Field.

The rematch with Buffalo is on Christmas Day, marking the fifth standalone game of the regular season for Denver. That is among the league’s best in terms of prime-time television slots and shows, and Denver, once again, is a premium placement for the league.

There’s every chance, given the NFL’s flex scheduling and the league’s policy of leaving the final two weeks of the schedule to be determined late in the season, that the Broncos could play in standalone windows a half-dozen or more times.

Denver plays 10 games against teams that were in the 2025 playoffs and two more against the Chiefs, who missed for the first time in a decade. The Broncos won the division by three games last year and, according to some betting services, have the third-best odds of winning this year behind the Chiefs and Chargers.

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the teams that are in our division. Everybody is trying to get better, and that����ap the biggest takeaway,” owner and CEO Greg Penner said earlier this spring “We’re never going to feel satisfied. We’re not going to feel like we’ve done enough, so we’re always going to be pushing for that next level and what it takes to get there.”

This regular season will be a gauntlet.

They are already slated to play on four different days: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and twice on Friday, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

They will have a target on their backs.

They start at Arrowhead and the road looks rough for quite a while after that.

They kick off in four months.

Let the countdown begin.

Preseason info.��The Broncos open the preseason at 5 p.m. Aug. 14 at Atlanta. They then host preseason games against Green Bay (Aug. 20-23) and Minnesota (Aug. 27-30), though exact dates and start times have not yet been announced. Preseason games will be broadcast locally by 9News.

Denver Broncos 2026 schedule

Now Paton has one of his own.

The Denver general manager agreed to a five-year extension that will keep him atop the Broncos’ front office for years to come. The team announced the agreement, which runs through the 2030 season, on Friday morning.

“We are pleased to announce a new five-year contract for George Paton that reflects our confidence in his leadership, vision and the overall direction of our team,” CEO and owner Greg Penner said in a statement announcing the deal. “As our general manager, George has demonstrated a strong commitment toward building a winning roster while forming a collaborative and supportive partnership with Sean Payton.

“I’ve enjoyed working with George over the last four seasons and appreciate the alignment we share in positioning the Broncos for sustained success.”

Paton was originally hired as the Broncos’ GM in January 2021 on a six-year deal, after rising through front-office ranks through years in Minnesota and serving nine season as the Vikings’ assistant general manager. 2026 would’ve brought the final season of his contract in Denver. And throughout the offseason, owner Penner made it clear that he wanted Paton running his scouting department long term.

Really, for the past 12 months or more, this deal has been one Penner was clearly going to make at some point before the 2026 season. He said as much in late March at the NFL’s spring meetings in Arizona.

“We want to have George here long term,” Penner said then. “He’s been a terrific partner for (head coach Sean Payton) and how they work together. I’m sure we’ll get that sorted out.”

A source with knowledge of the process told The Post that ownership “hammered out” the new deal with Paton over the past two weeks after the NFL Draft concluded, and that both Paton and Denver wanted to focus on the draft before intensifying conversations about the contract.

Due to his past ties with Minnesota and expiring deal, Paton was vaguely connected to the Vikings’ open general manager job since the organization fired previous GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in late January. An NFL source with direct knowledge of the process told The Post that Minnesota had definite internal interest in bringing Paton back as their general manager.

Paton, though, was never truly in danger of landing anywhere else and wanted to be back in Denver.

“It’ll happen when it happens,” Paton said of a new deal, back in February. “I’m not too worried about it.”

The Broncos’ ‘yin and the yang’

That relationship with Payton has proved key to Paton’s staying power in Denver, as��both those inside and outside the Broncos’ building privately worried that��Paton’s days might be numbered once the Broncos traded for the former Super Bowl-winning head coach in early 2023. Payton, of course, wields significant organizational influence and has long held a reputation for hand-picking those he trusts to surround him. And their partnership at Denver’s mast started off on shaky ground, with Paton coming off a rocky first two seasons with the Broncos.

The general manager excelled in the draft early in his Broncos tenure, landing future All-Pros Pat Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz, plus seventh-rounder Jonathon Cooper in 2021. A year later, though, Paton missed on the hire of first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett and then took a huge swing in trade capital and dollars to acquire quarterback Russell Wilson — just as Penner and the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group finalized their purchase of the franchise.

The Broncos fired Hackett late in a 5-12 season in 2022. And after two disappointing seasons as the Broncos’ starting QB, Denver ate a then-record $85 million in dead cap charges just to cut ties with Wilson and reset. By the end of the 2023 season, despite a promising foundation under Payton, Paton was not particularly popular in Denver.

“You grow,” Paton told The Post at the NFL combine in February, for a previous story diving into his tenure in Denver. “You grow from the experiences, some of the decisions, maybe, you made. You grow from some of the good decisions, bad decisions. And I think that helps you go through the tough times.

“I mean, I never flinched. I never was — always figured we would turn it around. And we did. And I’m not surprised. And it’s not about me.”

That last point, too, is vital to the Broncos’ renaissance and stability with the Payton-Paton duo across the last two seasons.

“They’re complementary with each other in terms of their personalities,” a source with knowledge of the Broncos’ building previously told The Post. “Like, you have the (expletive) tornado — which is Sean — and then you have George, which is just this, like, calm. It����ap like the yin and the yang, almost.”

They’ve found alignment, too, in a shared love of scouting and player evaluation, with a demonstrated knowledge of each other’s preferred player profiles: high-trait, high-character, high-IQ, tough. In their first offseason together in 2023, they landed a future All-Pro returner in Marvin Mims Jr. and steady CB2 in Riley Moss in the draft, and signed foundational pieces at the lines of scrimmage in defensive lineman Zach Allen, right tackle Mike McGlinchey, and left guard Ben Powers. They’ve since largely trimmed expensive and underperforming veterans from the locker room in favor of rookie-deal contributors and solid market-value pieces — and hit on their franchise quarterback in Bo Nix in the first round of 2024’s draft.

Since 2024, too, Paton has extended a whopping 14 Broncos on long-term (three years or more) deals, drawing generally high marks from players and agents for his handling of contract negotiations. Players graded Paton as an “A” on the NFLPA’s 2026 team-by-team survey, . In March, returning to a trade that he’d poked around on since the 2025 trade deadline, Paton swung a first and a third-round pick to the Dolphins for star receiver Jaylen Waddle, elevating the Broncos’ offense coming off a 15-2 season and berth in the AFC Championship Game.

Paton and Payton have become so publicly buddy-buddy, too, that Payton said at the combine he’d already advocated to Penner for a new deal for the general manager.

“It����ap overdue,” Payton said then. “I say that respectfully to the process, but he and I have a great working relationship. So my job wouldn’t be as fun or as exciting if he wasn’t a part of it. That should be something that gets handled quickly.”

It was officially handled, indeed, a little over two months later. And Paton’s now entrenched as the Broncos’ primary front-office decision-maker for years to come, as Denver attempts to leap into a wide-open Super Bowl window.

Or, at least for the Broncos, the 2026 offseason program kicks off Monday.

This is in many ways the start of the long march toward September and the start of the season, though players and coaches still have a five-week break to look forward to this summer.

Denver head coach Sean Payton decided to start this spring’s program later than usual and later than everybody else in the NFL, citing a Broncos 2025 season that lasted until late January.

Payton is also a longtime believer that running and lifting are more important this time of year than getting on the field for football-related activities.

So, players start the voluntary part of the offseason program Monday, but outside of a rookie minicamp May 8-10, Denver will abstain from on-field work until the first week of June.

“All of May will just be weightlifting,” Payton said earlier this year. “You’ll see us on the field in June. We’ll have two weeks of OTAs and a week of mini camp, but I don’t want them to feel like they were just here.”

Payton has also said in the past that he doesn’t want his players feeling like they’re going to football practice in the spring.

Still, Monday morning will feature the Broncos’ first 2026 team meeting, the first messaging about starting over and building toward a title run this fall. It’ll feel like the start of something in the building.

With that in mind, here are four questions about the coming months in ����apountry.

When will Broncos QB Bo Nix be back in action?

The likely answer now: Not for a while. Nix will likely still be around��for Phases 1 and 2 of the offseason program over the next several weeks, but he’ll be rehabbing from the��recent clean-up procedure on his surgically repaired right ankle rather than doing the full lifting and running regimen his teammates will be on.

OTAs and minicamp are still a month-plus away, but from here, sources expected Payton and Denver’s medical and training staffs to be cautious with Nix through those weeks. The start of training camp is still nearly three months away. Having Nix back to full go then is the new priority for the staff.

There is still no clear understanding of what the recent procedure entailed for Nix, but sources indicate the cleanup work was going to have to happen at some point — if not now, then likely after the 2026 season. Nix’s rehab from the initial fracture repair in January went well enough that Dr. Norman Waldrop III, Nix and the Broncos decided they had a window to get it done now. It will cost Nix most of the early stages of the offseason program, but in return, he enters the year without the prospect of another procedure hanging out there somewhere on the horizon.

Could Denver add a veteran free agent of note?

It����ap always a possibility.

Denver signed RB J.K. Dobbins in June last year. In 2023, the club signed OLB Frank Clark around the same time.

For a time, the Broncos looked like they could perhaps use a veteran defensive lineman. Then they used their top draft pick, No. 66 overall, on Tyler Onyedim. There’s a long way to go to late August, but right now Denver looks like it could again easily take seven defensive linemen into the season: Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach, Eyioma Uwazurike, Onyedim, Sai’Vion Jones and Jordan Jackson.

If there’s a spot to add a Dobbins-esque veteran, what about outside linebacker and what about Cam Jordan? The 37-year-old has a decade of history with Sean Payton, he’s still playing well even after 15 years in the NFL and, while the Broncos are by no means short at outside linebacker, they don’t have huge numbers there after sliding Jonah Elliss inside. Now, Denver’s top line is among the best in the business with Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper. The club is high on Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman provides quality depth. Denver could always kick Elliss back outside if it needed. But Jordan had 10.5 sacks a year ago and, critically, is hardly a situational pass-rusher. He’s still a force against the run and could be used creatively both on third down and early downs. The Broncos have one of his biggest fans in Payton and also a New Orleans native in Vance Joseph as their defensive coordinator.

Are there any big contract extensions on the table?

Not like last year, where the Broncos had a laundry list of mega deals to do with cornerstone players like Courtland Sutton, Allen and Nik Bonitto.

The biggest decision to make is in the secondary, where nickel Ja’Quan McMillian and corner Riley Moss are each entering contract years and 2025 first-round pick Jahdae Barron is waiting in the wings.

Other starters and key players entering the final years of their contracts include safety Brandon Jones, left guard Ben Powers, receiver Marvin Mims Jr. and tight end Evan Engram.

Overall, there’s far less certainty about who from that group will end up in Denver long term than there was a year ago, when it seemed all but certain that the big three would get deals done eventually.

Denver typically has done offseason extensions closer to training camp (Quinn Meinerz in 2024) or during (all three last year and Pat Surtain II in 2024) rather than in the spring.

What else is on the spring cleaning list at Broncos Park?

A handful of other projects. Now that the NFL draft is in the rearview mirror, an extension for general manager George Paton moves closer to the batter’s box. CEO and owner Greg Penner has made it clear Paton’s wanted long-term and has essentially said a deal is a matter of when, not if. Most front office movement of all kinds comes after the draft and into the summer. On a related note, Paton’s front office is highly regarded and has been raided repeatedly over the past two offseasons, so more movement on that front cannot be ruled out.

Denver also has a major move ahead in June, when the club relocates from its current headquarters to its new building across the practice fields, which is nearing completion.

It’s accounts that scramble from hashmark to hashmark, depending on the week and the narrator, looking to buy more time. Only the offseason’s pocket — the Broncos’ four-month window to refresh, reset, renovate, resuscitate and reload — is collapsing fast, and Bo Nix still can’t plant hard on his right foot.

Allegedly.

NFL recovery timelines are fluid, historically, as personal and unique as a fingerprint. Yet recovery narratives typically aren’t. When it comes to Nix’s surgically repaired right ankle, we don’t know whom to believe, do we? Or whom to trust.

In January, Broncos coach Sean Payton said this:

“What was found was a condition that was predisposed — they always find a little more when they go in. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.”

Only Nix turned right around and replied with this:

“Nothing predisposed, nothing that was there originally. That might have gotten confused. (It was) just a simple step with my foot up in the air, my body weight came down on it, sort of got twisted up.”

Payton: “When you look at the play and you’re trying to evaluate it — the operating surgeon said that this was going to happen sooner than later. Now, you go about the rehab, proper orthotics, all those things.”

Nix: “I don’t think (Payton) really should share how many surgeries I’ve had in the past, to be honest with you — he doesn’t even really know that. But it’s going to be good to get back, get back to work … Nothing really that concerns me, nothing that scares me moving forward.”

On Jan. 27, insiders said Nix’s full recovery would likely take 12 weeks.

On April 28, they said it would take … another 12 weeks.

Nix recently underwent a second ankle procedure in Alabama to clean up some issues, sources told The Post’s Parker Gabriel.

This little news dump came after Payton had said the following just this past Saturday:

“(Nix) had a recheck that was scheduled … He’s doing great. We’re excited about his progress. Nothing to report. These guys will be coming in here. He’s here.”

So why chew on a nothing-burger? Because the meat’s still mooing. And moving. Right along with the goalposts.

Look, healing timelines are fluid. The most important thing is Nix’s mobility being close to 100% by mid-August. Not mid-July. Or late April.

It took how long to find another franchise quarterback? The Bo Show is 24-10 over the last two regular seasons. This defense is good enough to carry the Broncos to the AFC Championship, but Nix is the key that unlocks that final door, that trip to the Super Bowl. Discretion is the only path.

The concern is the degree to which the Broncos, from the top down, have been driving on both sides of the road — while talking out of both sides of their mouths.

This was CEO Greg Penner on Nix in March:

“He’s attacked his recovery in the same way that he attacks preparing for games and has just done a terrific job. He’s ahead of schedule. No concerns at all for OTAs and (we) go forward from there.”

He will not.

This was GM George Paton on Nix, also in March:

“He’s ahead of schedule. He’s done a great job. He’ll be ready for OTAs.”

He is not.

The Broncos say one thing. Bo does another.

Again, it’s not the ankle. It’s the theme. If the Broncos knew in February and March what they know now, they should have hedged publicly and not set a deadline as hard or as optimistic as May or June. Don’t say O-T-A if you don’t mean it.

And if they didn’t know in March what they know now, that’s an even redder flag, hypothetically.

Nix’s rookie contract, one of the best bargains in Front Range sports right now, is up after the 2027 season. The going rate for the average annual value of second contracts for star AFC quarterbacks is roughly $50 million to $65 million. If the Broncos and Nix aren’t singing from the same page on recovery times now, what kind of harbinger is that for extension talks that could well define this franchise for the next decade?

Will there be scars from the back-and-forth/he-said-he-said between Nix and Payton? You don’t get to the point of coach and QB1 barking at each other on the sidelines if those wounds haven’t already been ripped open privately first. The more layers of the onion you peel, the more it feels as if offensive coordinator Davis Webb isn’t just optimal for Nix-Payton to work here. He’s essential.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Let’s put it this way: For years, there was a lot of smoke coming from Ball Arena when it came to Michael Malone and Calvin Booth, even as both tried their darnedest to play nice in front of the cameras. Management eventually had to put its worst internal fire out by blowing everything up.

Nobody’s saying this is a like-for-like. But you wonder. If any kind of Bo-Sean disconnect deepens, and the Penners don’t pick a side, history will happily do it for them.