Assuming Denver makes it through training camp and the preseason relatively healthy, here’s another safe bet: Sean Payton’s starting lineup figures to look an awful lot like the 11 that took the field for the first snap of Week 1 last fall against Tennessee.

There’s always the chance for a rogue opening formation to open offensive coordinator Davis Webb’s tenure as the Broncos’ primary play caller, but overall it����ap possible that the only change will be Jaylen Waddle in place of tight end Lucas Krull.

The other 10, in the form of the same starting offensive line, quarterback Bo Nix, running back J.K. Dobbins, tight end Adam Trautman and wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin all figure to have major roles again this fall for Denver.

There are, of course, twists and turns every summer. Injuries happen over the course of training camp. Last August the Broncos traded a potential starter in receiver Devaughn Vele. Sometimes a young player puts together such a strong camp that he snatches a job clean away from an established veteran.

Overall, though, Payton is betting that returning nearly every major contributor from Denver’s 2025 offense while adding Waddle and installing Webb as the play-caller is enough to elevate the Broncos’ offense away from the middle of the pack and toward the league’s upper echelon.

That means, on paper, there are not many starting jobs to be won. At most offensive positions, normal 53-man roster thresholds are met or nearly so before true competition for spots enters the equation.

And yet, there are many roles to be solidified and at least a handful of roster spots up for grabs as the Broncos near their reporting dates for rookies (July 22) and veterans (July 28). Here’s an early look at a projected offensive two-deep, with the obvious caveat that this represents a starting point ahead of camp’s outset.

Quarterback

1. Bo Nix

2. Sam Ehlinger

Starting point: The reality of life in the NFL: Much of what the Broncos want to accomplish in 2026 rests on Nix not just staying healthy for all or most of the season, but also on his game taking another step forward in Year 3, as well. Nix has a talented defense and an experienced, improved offense around him, plus Payton’s leadership and a new play-caller in Webb. He had played in every NFL game over his first two seasons until fracturing his ankle in the divisional round in January. Two operations and six months of combined rehab later, Nix and the Broncos say there’s no reason for concern. If they’re right, Denver’s in great shape. If the ankle issue lingers or comes back, that would be trouble.

Projecting Ehlinger as the No. 2 is perhaps a bit out on a limb considering Stidham has earned considerable equity with the front office, staff and locker room as he enters his fourth season with the Broncos. The notion that Ehlinger could beat him out is not rooted in Stidham’s performance in the AFC title game, but rather just in the staff’s excitement about Ehlinger a year ago, his mobility and a potential jump in performance in his second summer with the Broncos. Whoever ends up No. 3 might have the chance to be a No. 2 somewhere else at the end of August. That makes it basically a straight-out battle to be Nix’s primary backup. If there’s a way for Denver to keep all three — especially if the Broncos can get one to the practice squad to start the season as they did with Ehlinger last year —the club will almost certainly give it strong consideration.

Running back

1. J.K. Dobbins

2. RJ Harvey

Starting point: Dobbins is adamant he would have played in the Super Bowl after a November Lisfranc injury to his foot. He’s been healthy through Denver’s offseason program and enters camp as the clear lead back. Through 10 weeks last year, he was one of the most efficient runners in the NFL. The pecking order after him is likely to shape up more by role than anything else, unless Harvey takes a major leap in Year 2 – which, of course, the Broncos would more than welcome.

Harvey enters camp as the favorite to be second in terms of playing time and is the kind of player who, in Payton offenses, previously has racked up touches in the passing game. Rookie Jonah Coleman, a talented pass protector in college, looks like Denver’s third-down back right off the bat. That����ap a cleaner-fitting trio than last year if Coleman earns that trust right out of the gate. One interesting wrinkle here is what would happen if Dobbins were to get hurt. There’s a world in which Coleman might be a better lead back than Harvey; Harvey’s role stays about the same or expands some, and somebody else – a practice-squad Tyler Badie, perhaps — becomes the third-down back. The Broncos, naturally, hope Dobbins plays his first healthy season in the NFL and as long as the group stays on the field, it has the makings of a dynamic, dangerous trio.

Wide receiver

1. Courtland Sutton

2. Pat Bryant

1. Jaylen Waddle

2. Marvin Mims Jr.

1. Troy Franklin

2. Lil’Jordan Humphrey

Starting point: Waddle’s arrival changes this room in ways big and small. It goes from being one of the Broncos have seemed to like better than the industry does over the past couple of years to one that has a chance to be among the most dangerous in the NFL. They’ve got a dynamic pairing in Waddle and Sutton atop the room and they’ve got a myriad of skill sets behind. One of the most interesting questions of training camp is what the pecking order will look like behind Sutton and Waddle. The answer, at least early in the season, might be as simple as what the game situation is. The Broncos can mix up looks with Mims and even play him out of the backfield. They can be fast with Franklin on the field alongside Waddle. Or they can be big and physical with Bryant as the third man. One thing is certain: Denver is shaping up to play a ton of three-receiver and even four-receiver sets in Webb’s first season as a play-caller. The group is a clear strength on offense with Waddle’s addition.

Tight end

1. Adam Trautman

2. Evan Engram

Starting point: Engram, assuming good health, should easily lead the room in receiving targets again in 2026. Trautman, though, outpaced Engram in playing time by a wide margin last year (57% to 40%) and it would be a surprise if he didn’t do so again this fall. They are different types of players — Trautman more blocking with a bit of pass-catching ability and Engram essentially a receiver who is referred to as a tight end — but they are similar in the sense that Denver could have tried to replace either on the free agent market this spring and ultimately did not. What the Broncos did do, however, is use a pair of Day 3 draft picks to add players to the room who look like potential longer-term replacements. Fifth-rounder Justin Joly fits the Engram mold while seventh-rounder Dallen Bentley is more Trautman-esque. Payton spoke highly of second-year man Caleb Lohner and Denver also has Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull back on the 90-man roster for training camp. One of the positions where there are perhaps multiple 53-man roster spots up for grabs and where the Broncos hope the future of the position starts to come into focus this fall.

Offensive line

LT: Garrett Bolles, Matt Peart

LG: Ben Powers, Kage Casey

C: Luke Wattenberg, Alex Forsyth

RG: Quinn Meinerz, Alex Palczewski

RT:  Mike McGlinchey, Frank Crum

Starting point: The front five is set to return for a rare third straight season together unless a surprise trade pops up, injury hits or somebody like Palczewski can cleanly beat out Powers for a starting job. Above, the second line is essentially only placeholders except for Forsyth, who will have to fend off veteran Michael Deiter to retain his hold on the No. 2 center job.  “Palcho” could end up as the primary backup at both guard spots and right tackle. Or, he could be the next man in at guard and Crum at tackle, regardless of side. Either way, it����ap pretty easy to find nine for the 53-man roster here: The starters plus Palcho, Crum, Casey (a fourth-round pick this spring) and Forsyth. Denver not only has one of the best starting groups in football but also some proven, functional depth. It����ap not just going to be a task to make the 53 for anybody on the outside of that nine looking in, but there will be competition for practice squad spots, too. That could come down to choosing between veterans like Peart, Deiter and Calvin Throckmorton and younger players like rookie tackles Tyler Miller and Gavin Ortega or Nick Gargiulo.

No one gets motion sickness from watching the Broncos offense. Or from playing in it.

The Broncos ranked 32nd in pre-snap motion last season. Oh, they had movement. They collected 26 pre-snap penalties. But Payton has long created mismatches with personnel groupings, something former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi called a non-negotiable.

It is something to remain mindful of when recalling that the Broncos won more close games than anyone could imagine last season. They won in more ways, rallying past the Eagles, stunning the Giants, paralyzing the Bills, than anyone thought possible.

But they lost the offseason, acquiring one player with star power in receiver Jaylen Waddle. Which pales in comparison to what they could lose next: their status as an AFC bully.

For the Broncos to avoid the next-season fate of teams that led the league in one-score wins, they need a fix. They must improve significantly on first and second down, particularly early in games.

As impressive as their final record was — all praise for exceeding expectations with 14 victories — the offensive numbers were sobering. According to Warren Sharp Football, the Broncos ranked 23rd overall in early down efficiency. Which tracks since Denver finished with 75 punts, and the most three-and-outs of any of the final eight teams in the postseason.

But the deeper the dig, the worse it gets, like , only to reveal an empty bottle.

In first halves, per Sharp, the Broncos ranked 27th in drives that reached the red zone, 26th in scoring drives and 25th in points per possession.

It is no wonder they needed Bo Nix to sprinkle pixie dust with a league-best seven game-winning drives. How unlikely was the success? The Broncos became the first team ever to win 14 games when trailing in 15.

All together now, this is not sustainable. Never has been. And certainly won’t be with the 2026 schedule.

“Trying to win like that puts a lot of stress on the players and coaches,” said Super Bowl 50 champion and NFL Westwood One analyst Ryan Harris. “They cannot continue to wait to change during the season.”

Payton appears prepared to do something about it. He promoted Davis Webb to play-caller, who seems intent on simplifying the offense to make it more consistent.

At first, I figured his focus would be on verbiage. But for the offense to click, let’s be real, it must go far beyond that.

“Part of that is what I talked to Davis Webb about: core philosophies. What are your core run plays that you can run against anything? What will you stick to? Of those core plays, how many passing concepts can you have that look identical and put defenders in major conflict?” explained Mark Schlereth, a former Pro Bowl offensive guard and current Fox NFL color commentator and 104.3 The Fan morning host. “There needs to be a real philosophical shift.”

Think of it in terms of a restaurant. Is it better to feature 60 dishes or six entrees?

Going from a Waffle House play sheet to the In-N-Out menu could mercifully end the slow starts over the past two seasons.

“Running the ball is like saving money. We all know we should do it, but we never do it enough. I can’t blame Sean Payton when you look at how he put together a team that reached the AFC Championship in (three years),” Harris said. “But, right now, opponents look at their offense and believe they want to pass with Bo Nix. They have to prove they are going to run.”

From the outside looking in, there was confusion about the scheme. The offseason was used to introduce the wide zone. It was a topic of conversation during training camp. But the Broncos rarely used it during the season. Complicating matters, Payton has a pattern of never repeating run calls in the first half. So 12 rushing attempts could include 12 different concepts.

That is no way to establish a rhythm. And the production bore this out in the statistics of starter J.K. Dobbins (4.1 yards per carry in the first half, 5.6 in the second) and R.J. Harvey (3.5, 3.9).

Don’t want the Broncos to press their luck in nail-biters? Abandon the potluck run game.

“Mike Tomlin told me once that every play is not a smorgasbord. Dobbins realized that a physical 3-and-half-yard run is a freaking awesome play,” Schlereth said. “They have to get to a place where they are not trying to do everything. When we were winning a ton of games with (coach) Mike (Shanahan), we ran six plays. I would joke about it. But it was true. It’s the 10,000-hour rule. You have defended it 100 times. We have spent 10,000 hours on it, so we don’t care if you know what is coming, we are going to execute it.”

If Webb can take Payton’s offense and retool the run game mix, everything would feel different. The middle of the field would no longer be radioactive. Everybody talks about Waddle delivering 70-yard plays, but what the Broncos need are 15-yard gains against safeties in between the hashes before going deep.

“And that’s where Davis Webb can bring the player’s perspective to the calls,” Harris said. “Don’t run play action until we have run for two first downs.”

If the Broncos impose their will on the ground, nothing is off the table for this team.

Dobbins will become the Broncos’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Phillip Lindsay in 2019. Rookie Jonah Coleman, who has an appetite for contact, will reinforce the identity. Even Harvey might figure it out and stop trying to bounce everything outside.

Nix is fantastic in the clutch. On this, we can all agree. It did not happen by accident. He waved the fourth-quarter wand practically every week. He got good at it.

Run with purpose on early downs, and Nix will become more accurate, more consistent. Run with balance that opens first-half leads, and the defense will double its meager 14 takeaways.

Gaining horsepower sounds simple. It is not.

But if the Broncos improve early-down efficiency, their late-season run will end at SoFi Stadium.

On the roster (seven): J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman, Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie, Adam Prentice (fullback), Cody Schrader

How many on the 53-man roster? Four. Same number as in 2025, and no reason for change there. Dobbins, Harvey and Coleman will almost assuredly form some kind of three-man carousel, with McLaughlin or Badie as a change-of-pace insurance option. Prentice will likely start the season on the practice squad and find his way to the active roster once he runs out of elevations, as the Broncos have done with the Ghost of (Michael) Burtons Past.

Most impactful offseason move? Drafting Coleman.

Re-signing Dobbins — for a surprisingly high $8 million in guaranteed money — is the correct answer here. That’s boring. History, both old and recent, suggests the 27-year-old Dobbins will run like a top-10 running back in the NFL for anywhere between eight and 15 games and get banged up at some point in the process, as high as he is on himself for 2026. The real kicker here for Denver is drafting an injury stabilizer in Coleman, a fourth-round pick out of Washington who profiles as a capable runner and an instant upgrade over Tyler Badie for possible third-down touches.

“You ultimately have a three-headed monster in the run game,” Coleman told reporters after he was drafted in April.

The 5-foot-8, 220-pound Coleman looked ready for instant NFL snaps in OTAs and minicamp this summer, and could spell Dobbins for short-yardage touches in the early going and pick up plenty of slack if anyone in the room misses time. Don’t forget, too, that Badie played 17% of Denver’s offseason snaps last year and ranked seventh on the team in targets (31). Coleman could substantially juice that 17% in a season where Denver will try and improve on the margins to prevent regression to the mean in close games.

Biggest question to answer in camp: How do the Broncos change their run-game identity under new playcaller Davis Webb?

More scheme-specific than room-specific here. Last August, several players directly mentioned that the Broncos were emphasizing more of an outside-zone-heavy rushing attack, a scheme that pops with laterally quick linemen and running backs with good vision to cut back upfield.

“I think we’ve always wanted to be kind of an outside zone team,” tight end Adam Trautman said in 2025 training camp, “and we’re just kind of committing to it.”

They didn’t. According to rushing data collected from Pro Football Focus and assembled by The Denver Post, the Broncos finished with the second-lowest percentage of zone runs (42%) among all AFC teams in 2025. Head coach Sean Payton has repeatedly pointed to Webb’s promotion as a fix for Denver’s run-game consistency, which fell off a cliff after Dobbins’ injury in Week 10 last year. It stands to reason, then, that the Broncos’ general ground scheme could look drastically different come training camp.

Battle to watch: McLaughlin or Badie for RB4.

Scintillating! No, seriously. McLaughlin began the season as a healthy scratch and suddenly blossomed into one of Denver’s most effective per-touch skill players down the stretch after Dobbins’ injury shifted him into an RB2 role. With Coleman in the mix, McLaughlin’s path to a fourth straight season on Denver’s opening 53-man-roster looks dicey.

“Man, I’ve been out there killing myself in the weight room,” McLaughlin said at a charity event in June. “Spitting up a little bit, throwing up a little bit. But it’s been amazing, and I’ve been working my tail off.”

Badie, meanwhile, is trusted by the staff and Nix for his pass-protection skills and veteran instincts. Both Badie and McLaughlin beat out former fifth-round pick Audric Estime for a roster spot in last year’s training camp; they will now face a direct head-to-head competition this August.

Under the radar: Adam Prentice the Menace.

After trusted veteran Burton landed on injured reserve in training camp, the 28-year-old Colorado State product signed with Denver close to the start of the season and quickly filled an integral role as a run-blocker and pass-protector at fullback. Quietly, he played 19% of the Broncos’ offensive snaps last season and nearly half of their special teams snaps. He re-signed for a reason in March and could easily end up playing in all 17 games again in 2026.

Luca �������Բ�:��Well, one reality became abundantly clear from watching Broncos practices through OTAs and minicamp: Coleman is going to play right away. There’s a reason Denver drafted him in the fourth round, stemming from a longtime trust and friendship between Washington head coach Jedd Fisch and Broncos general manager George Paton. And Sean Payton should love Coleman, who doesn’t fumble, doesn’t drop passes and should instantly prove an upgrade from Tyler Badie’s lack of third-down juice last season. Harvey has faded considerably in fan discussion for some reason, but hasn’t faded whatsoever from the Broncos’ plans. He led all NFL rookies in touchdowns last season, for crying out loud. Coleman could just take some difficult touches off Harvey’s plate if (and likely when) Dobbins misses time.

Renck: Coleman is built like Dobbins. He runs like Dobbins. This is not an opinion, but the words of the Broncos after they drafted him. Impact is a vague word, though, don’t you think? I will take advantage of the elasticity in my prediction. Coleman will become a training camp darling and finish second behind Dobbins in rushing yards this season. How does 550 and five touchdowns sound for a prospect who also seems capable in pass protection? Does that mean Harvey blends into the bench? Not exactly. The Broncos had a joker last season; it just wasn’t tight end Evan Engram. You watch the film, Luca, and know it was Harvey.

�������Բ�:��Yes. Absolutely. Harvey is that guy with a truly special ability to simply bounce off contact in the open field. But as long as we’re talking pass-catching ability, don’t rule Coleman out from a 30-to-40-catch rookie season. Harvey didn’t have explosive receiving numbers in college, after all, and Coleman just finished with 31 grabs for 354 yards in 12 games in his final season at Washington. He caught a heap of passes through OTAs and minicamp, and don’t forget Badie had 31 targets in just 192 offensive snaps last season. Plus, Payton’s offenses — think Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles — have consistently been able to field two running backs as pass-catchers out of the backfield. Coleman could have a sizable contribution as a receiver and more of an impact on short-yardage carries this season than Harvey.

Renck: Harvey did not lack talent. He lacked direction. Too often, he ran east and west instead of north and south. He now understands what is required. The days of bouncing runs outside at the first sign of trouble are over. But as Harvey comes off labrum surgery, it presents an opportunity for Coleman to become Dobbins’ backup on first and second downs. That leaves third for Harvey. His work out of the backfield cannot be dismissed. He caught 47 passes for 356 yards, five touchdowns and 18 first downs. It is going to take three backs for the Broncos’ offense to reach its potential under first-time play caller Davis Webb. At season’s end, it will feel like Coleman was a bigger contributor, but Denver requires Harvey to shine as a receiver to become a Super Bowl contender.

���ܳ���:��I actually disagree with you that Coleman will spell Dobbins on first and second downs, although I think there will certainly be plenty of that. In my mind, third downs are now Coleman Central in Denver. Bo Nix threw 93 passes last season in third-down situations facing seven yards to go or more, and a majority of those reps will likely go to Coleman for his abilities in pass protection. Go watch Coleman’s on Sonny Styles for proof. Fantasy-wise, Harvey is the much safer bet for raw yardage and production. But in terms of sheer software updates — as you put it — Coleman’s addition can have a larger impact on taking Denver’s offense up another level.

Well before the sting of Denver’s loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game wore off, before anybody headed out of town to decompress and before, even, players had fully cleared out of the locker room, Payton paid a visit to offensive line coach Zach Strief in his office.

The topic of conversation: The need to run the football better and more efficiently than the Broncos did in 2025, particularly after J.K. Dobbins was injured in Week 10.

“I feel like we’re far enough along with the RPOs and some of that, but when we want to run it under center and control a game, we’ve been able to do it a few times, but not as much as I’d like,” Payton said Jan. 27. “That’ll be an important study. And with urgency.”

Nearly five months later, Payton, in some way, shape or form, has mentioned run game consistency nearly every time he’s talked with reporters. The Broncos must find ways to run the ball efficiently when they want to this fall, but just as critically, they must be able to do it when they have to.

The extent to which the Broncos are able to improve or fail to, of course, will not be known for a couple more months, and the full answer won’t come until January. There are pieces to the puzzle that will be critical, like exactly how Payton and new offensive playcaller Davis Webb develop their mix in the run game, that are still to be determined.

With only training camp and the preseason left before the 2026 campaign begins, though, there are already months of moves and tweaks that show how Denver hopes the puzzle fits together more completely this fall.

The Broncos are likely to rely on the same offensive line that powered the attack last year. Beyond that, virtually everything else will be at least somewhat different.

Start with the backs themselves. The Broncos re-signed Dobbins and have RJ Harvey heading into Year 2, but they also drafted Jonah Coleman in the fourth round. If Coleman is the pass protector the Broncos believe he can be as a rookie, then Denver has a cleaner-fitting set of three backs than it did last year, with Dobbins as the lead man, Harvey as a No. 2 and terrific pass-catcher and Coleman as a third-down back. They are also better fortified should Dobbins (or somebody else) miss time due to injury.

“I think it����ap important to stack that position,” Payton said Tuesday. “We drafted to a strength again.”

The Broncos found themselves short at the position last year when Dobbins sustained a Lisfranc injury in Week 10. They went from averaging 4.8 yards per carry and 128.6 yards per game over the first 10 games to 3.9 yards per carry and 104.5 per game in the final seven. Denver averaged 3.2 yards per carry and totaled 149 rushing yards across two postseason games.

The Broncos, though, didn’t just struggle in the second half of the season. Over the course of the year, they also ran the ball better late in games once they had established some rhythm.

Harvey’s average was marginally better (3.9) in the second half compared to the first (3.5), while Dobbins’ was substantially better, jumping from 4.1 early to 5.6 late.

Some of those marks could be driven by game situations — a rugged Broncos offensive line leaning on opposing defenses or the comfort of playing with a lead — but another possible factor is Payton’s preference to throw a lot of different looks and calls early in a game and then tailor from there.

If the Broncos can identify things that they can truly hang their hat on, perhaps Webb will get to them earlier and hammer them harder out of the gate.

“It����ap going to look a little different, obviously, there’s a different guy calling the plays,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Wednesday. “That’ll be a little different and I think that will be an advantage, especially early for us. We open up with a division opponent and they don’t have any tape on you, that����ap always helpful.”

Once the element of surprise wears off, the key will be how Webb approaches calling the run game. He said earlier this month he expects Denver’s approach will change throughout the year and noted that the Los Angeles Rams didn’t commit to playing with three tight ends so frequently until six weeks into last year.

Still, what Webb sees as the Broncos’ bread-and-butter should be clear before that. Is it the smorgasbord approach Payton’s taken? Is it more reliance on the outside zone principles the Broncos talked up last summer and never really fully leaned into during the season? Something else?

McGlinchey sounded like a guy who’d played in an outside zone-based system for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco the first five years of his career on Wednesday when outlining another key.

“I think having play(-action) pass work off of it will be a huge factor as well,” he said. “If you can make everything look similar, it makes it hard to diagnose what����ap about to happen. We’ve been working on those things wholeheartedly.”

A lot has to go right in order to have a consistently productive run game. The Broncos could certainly use better blocking overall from their receivers and tight ends. They need a Year 2 jump from Harvey, and perhaps nothing would go further than Dobbins staying healthy and playing the first full season of his career.

Time will tell on all of that. In the meantime, though, Denver has pieced together several changes that amount to a fairly substantial revamp. The Broncos have retooled the running back room itself, changed the offensive playcaller and appear poised to take a somewhat different approach schematically.

All of that must come together around a front-line group that has established itself as one of the best in the business.

“At the end of the day it����ap an attitude and I think we have that attitude,” McGlinchey said.

“Hey, GTD,” the fan told Dobbins, referencing the Broncos’ newly-adopted offseason slogan. “Super Bowl, you said it! You’re going to turn up the city. We’re going to turn up Denver for you.”

GTD: Go The Distance. Nobody on Denver’s roster, save its quarterback, can appreciate that message more than Dobbins. From high school ball in La Grange, Texas, to Ohio State stardom, Dobbins has won at every level, but he has never won a ring. And after a hip-drop tackle, he still has yet to play a full NFL season in a six-year career.

He knows. Quite well. As he eventually ducked out of the Aurora stadium Sunday on the final day of a youth-camp circuit across the Mountain West, Dobbins was posed a question before he climbed into a black SUV.

“What do you want to show this fanbase?”

“Well,” Dobbins paused, before reframing the question. “What I’m going to show is that last year wasn’t a fluke. Like, instead of being No. 3 in the NFL, I’ll be No. 1 this year. And there won’t be any injuries.”

Semantics, but Dobbins was actually No. 5 in the NFL in rushing yards (772) through 10 games in 2025 before the Lisfranc injury that ended his season. When healthy, he has consistently been one of the league’s best backs on sheer per-touch effectiveness since his rookie year with Baltimore in 2020. And his sheer self-belief and gusto enamored him so heavily to head coach Sean Payton that Payton met with Dobbins before this year’s free agency and told him he was his man at running back.

Dobbins’ return to Denver was far from a sure thing, though. As both the Broncos and Dobbins explored their options when free agency opened on the morning of March 9, Dobbins had a potential agreement lined up with fellow AFC contender Jacksonville that was essentially “done,” according to a source with knowledge of the process. Instead, Denver and Dobbins turned back to the well and hammered out a two-year deal with $8 million fully guaranteed.

On sheer average salary, Dobbins is now the 18th-highest-paid running back in the NFL, which falls in the vast and hazy range between the 27-year-old’s monster upside and deep floor. Internally, the Broncos simply believed that Dobbins was a better running back than anyone else available on the 2026 market — when healthy.

That single qualifier, just like last winter, could once again determine the entire health of Denver’s run-game in a Super Bowl window in 2026.

“We’re excited about where it����ap going,” Payton said last week of the Broncos’ internal ground-game evaluation. “And certainly, we understand how important it is, not only for the team but for our defensive success and time of possession, and all of those things that play a complementary role in playing good defense.”

To Payton’s point, there were two clear realities in a Dobbins and post-Dobbins world in 2025. The first: the Broncos averaged 4.8 yards per carry with Dobbins healthy, and 3.8 yards per carry with him out. The second: the Broncos’ defense surrendered 17 points and 271 yards per game with Dobbins healthy, and 19.8 points and 298 yards per game with him out. Denver’s inability to rely on rookie RJ Harvey and backups Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie for between-the-tackles productivity, too, led to a whopping 12 carries for Nix in January’s AFC Divisional win over the Bills — the game in which he suffered a season-ending fractured ankle.

Beyond the $8 million bet on Dobbins, though, the Broncos’ infrastructure around him is more stable than it was in 2025. Denver added an instant third-down upgrade in Washington rookie Jonah Coleman, who profiles as a more effective runner and threat in space than last year’s third-down back Tyler Badie. And second-year back RJ Harvey improved in every possible area of the game — save a glaring need for better interior vision — through a 12-touchdown rookie season.

Quietly, Harvey suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder in the Broncos’ season-ending championship-game loss to New England and had surgery to repair it in the offseason, multiple sources with knowledge of the injury told The Post. Harvey hasn’t done much team work in OTAs but has been practicing with the Broncos.

“Watching more film, watching other guys around the league, watching their film,” Harvey said in early June at UCHealth’s annual “Healthy Swings” home-run derby, asked about his offseason approach. “I’ve been watching a lot of film of Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker III, Jahmyr Gibbs, watching guys like that — just trying to see things they do on film, and try to help better my game.

“Year two in the system, I feel way more comfortable,” he continued. “And it’s only going to get better, from where I left off at.”

The catalyst and head of the snake, though, is Dobbins, the fallback reason why the Broncos felt comfortable enough to set a free-agency spending cap at running back. And on Sunday, that same zealous fan offered another affirmation that already burns in Dobbins’ gut.

“Hey, I’m glad the Broncos re-signed you, bro,” the fan told Dobbins, before he left the stadium. “You’re him, for real.”

“I appreciate you, fam,” Dobbins said.

As a PA announcement drowned out his words, the fan added — in some effect — that Denver wanted more, though.

“Yeah, I got you,” Dobbins replied. “I got you.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fast and smooth

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

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

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

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

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

Hufanga, though, defined it well enough.

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

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

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

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

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

Enter Waddle.

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

Low maintenance, high potential

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 if Thursday night on social media was any indication, ����apountry has indigestion.

At age 62 and a first-time grandpa, Sean Payton operates on the premise that everything that demands attention does not deserve attention. But even he must take notice of the Broncos’ buzzsaw of an opening schedule.

Who did Payton (bleep) off in the league office now?

In the first six weeks, the Broncos host five playoff teams from a year ago. The one that did not qualify? The Kansas City Chiefs. And Denver gets them on the road on Monday night to open the season.

How is that for a punch in the eyeballs?

In Payton’s first three seasons, the Broncos never faced more than two previous postseason qualifiers in the first six weeks, and played six total. They went 2-4 in those games.

Payton might as well puff on a Sherlock Holmes pipe, given how much he loves all the smoke. But this is a bit much.

It looks like the NFL put out a fraud alert on the Broncos, and wants to find out if 2025 really happened. You know the 14 wins, the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the ending of the Chiefs’ nine-year stranglehold on the division?

It is unfair. And it is perfect.

Payton never has feelings of inadequacy or insecurity. Give him a test, make him an underdog and he rallies players around the cause like Mel Gibson in “Braveheart.”

Remember the Chiefs’ game last season without J.K. Dobbins and Patrick Surtain? Or the smothering win at Tampa Bay in 2024 after an 0-2 start?

The Broncos’ first goal is to win the AFC West. That guarantees a home playoff game. Staying tethered early represents the biggest challenge to a second straight division crown, along with surviving the final three weeks against the Bills, Patriots and Chargers.

There is a strong chance that the Broncos will be better and win fewer games. You probably know this if you have gone through the schedule game by game and realized they face 10 playoff teams in 2025.

Thank goodness for the Jets, who have the league’s longest playoff drought, the Cardinals, who hired Nathaniel Hackett to run their offense, and the Dolphins, whose roster suggests they are not even trying.

By the morning of Oct. 16, we will know whether the Broncos are legit. That is the day after facing the defending champion Seattle Seahawks at home on Thursday night, one of five standalone games. If they navigate at the Chiefs, Jaguars, Rams, at the 49ers, at the Chargers and Seattle with a 3-3 record or better, they will be poised to reach the Super Bowl.

Anything less will be alarming and likely feature questions about Payton’s next contract and quarterback Bo Nix’s health.

So, let’s borrow Nathan MacKinnon’s goggles, flippers and snorkel and dive in:

Week 1 at Chiefs

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest annoyance index on scale 1-10: 7. The Broncos would have preferred this game at home. The Chiefs are 8-2 in their last 10 openers at Arrowhead Stadium, and it likely marks the return of Patrick Mahomes. But the future Hall of Famer is coming off ACL surgery, might lack mobility, and has a receiving corps that frightens nobody. Steal this game, and the Broncos will have a card up their sleeve all season.

Week 2 vs. Jaguars

Jazz Fest annoyance index: 6. The “smaller market” Jaguars delivered a big punch to the Broncos’ gut last season, snapping their 12-game home winning streak. Denver fears no one. But facing the Jaguars after the Chiefs and before the Rams is nasty business. Trevor Lawrence is willing to take sacks to make big plays. This needs to be the game the Broncos show how takeaways have become a top priority.

Week 3 vs Rams

Jazz Fest annoyance index: 3. Sean McVay is who Sean Payton used to be. The wunderkind continues pursuing a second Super Bowl title. Payton, who is close friends with the Rams coach, was 46 when he won his ring. He hasn’t been back since. McVay claimed his at age 36. He boasts the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford and weapons that conjure images of the Broncos with Peyton Manning. This could be the day where we find out if Davis Webb is really calling plays or the offensive coordinator in name only.

Week 4 at San Francisco

Jazz Fest annoyance index: 8. The music has died. But the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon takes over the streets, including a 5K and KIDS ROCK event on Saturday. If vice president of operations Chip Conway, a tireless worker in a thankless job, books the wrong hotel, he will likely be forced to run back to Denver. The good news? The 49ers are aging like Nick Nolte, making this a very winnable game.

Week 5 at Los Angeles Chargers

Jazz Fest annoyance ranking: 4. Forget the glitz. Los Angeles is a business trip. Jim Harbaugh has given the Chargers a jolt, but this isn’t exactly like playing Pete Carroll’s 2004 USC Trojans at the Coliseum. The problem with the Chargers in this spot is the physical games leading up to it. The Chargers want a rock fight. The Broncos’ ability to pull off the upset will depend on limiting penalties and multiple big strikes from Justin Herbert, who figures to improve under former Smoky Hill grad Mike McDaniels.

Week 6 vs. Seattle Seahawks

Jazz Fest annoyance index: 6. By my math, the Broncos are facing the league’s best two teams back-to-back. It was for games like these that Denver acquired Jaylen Waddle. You have to be able to keep up with the Rams, and deliver a few gash plays through the air (looking at you Waddle) and on the ground (hello, J.K. Dobbins) to stiff arm the Seahawks’ pass rush.

It definitely feels like something is up with this schedule set up. It is tilted with heavyweight matchups. And September has not been their friend. Payton is 4-7 in the first month as the Broncos coach.

If they can hold serve through mid-October, the next eight weeks offer a runway for a long winning streak or a 6-2 stretch.

The schedule matters more to teams with poor coaches and bad quarterbacks. That is no longer the case with the Broncos. They are equipped to get in the ring or an octagon.

But even for those who believe orange sunsets are an ode to the Broncos must acknowledge the challenge ahead. Those opening six games are straight out of the SEC. In all, they play six teams projected to win 10 games.

The Broncos will return to the playoffs. Mother Nature helped knock them out last year. The challenge this season will be avoiding a haymaker from September and October.

— Fred Waiss, Prairie du Chien, Wis.

Hey Fred, thanks for reading, as always, and thanks getting us going from the confluence of the Mississippi and the Wisconsin.

It����ap a fascinating question and the true answer is that there’s no clear answer yet, but city officials — particularly Mayor Mike Johnston — are really excited about the possibilities. In fact, when I talked to Johnston back in September as the Broncos finalized Burnham Yard as their preferred site for a new stadium, the mayor was equally excited to talk about the future of the current Empower Field site. He called it, “a once-in-a-century opportunity.”

“When will you ever get 80 acres of central Denver back, that the city owns, to be able to completely redevelop with community voice?” Johnston said then. “That����ap unheard of. It����ap just such a critical place where it����ap deeply engaged in Sun Valley and the identity of West Denver. It����ap also the connection to downtown. You can imagine how you could live right there on the old Mile High site and you could walk right under the bridge and you’re at the Auroria campus or you’re at Ball Arena or downtown.

“It����ap going to be an incredible opportunity for the West side of Denver.”

It, of course, will not be an incredible opportunity any time in the very near future. In fact, the city website says the planning process to develop a vision for what happens at the old Mile High site is set to kick off in “late 2027.” Then, if everything proceeds on time at Burnham Yard and the project moves forward, the Broncos wouldn’t start playing there until the 2031 season. Once the lease runs out after the 2030 season, then the city would take over control of Empower Field.

In general, though, there is a wide range of possibilities for what happens to the land, and part of what makes it unique is that the city owns it. There will almost undoubtedly be some community uses, such as parks, open space, and public facilities. But, in Johnston’s telling, the city’s stewardship of the land also means the potential for more affordable housing or creative development projects.

“If it����ap all owned by a private developer, we’re begging them to do a little more affordability here and a little more affordability there,” Johnston said back in September. “When we own the land, the people get to set all the terms for what happens there. That����ap unheard of. There’s not a place where we could afford to acquire that much land to be competing with private developers who would jack up the prices.

“This is a real game-changer for West Denver to have these two neighborhoods that will be places that are both incredibly exciting and attractive and can stay affordable. That����ap the big win for the city.”

There could also be some Denver Water presence in the area, given that the utility submitted a concept plan that includes using the current Lot M at Empower Field as part of its partial relocation from the Burnham Yard area.

So, the short answer to your question, Fred, is that there aren’t concrete answers or fleshed-out ideas yet. But it����ap something the mayor and city officials are already excited about the possibility of.

How does this current Broncos roster compare to last year’s team at this same point of the offseason? Better? Worse? Same?

— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Hey Ed, thanks for writing in.

With the caveat that we haven’t seen this group on the field and won’t in any meaningful way for a while, it looks like a better roster to me. There are certainly positions where you’re not quite sure exactly who fills a spot — John Franklin-Myers’ on the defensive line and P.J. Locke as a third safety, for example — but there are also upgrades and development to take into consideration.

At this stage of the offseason last year, J.K. Dobbins hadn’t yet signed. We didn’t know if Troy Franklin would take a Year 2 leap or what contributions Denver’s offense would get from rookies like Pat Bryant and RJ Harvey.

This spring, you retain the vast majority of contributors from last year’s team and add a fresh draft class to the mix. Oh, right, and also the mega spring trade for receiver Jaylen Waddle.

There are always twists and turns through training camp, and injuries always crop up, but this is going to be a really tough 53-man roster to make. Start with the quarterback and a crop of All-Pros and work your way through the depth chart. As a first-blush starting point, it����ap difficult to find more than maybe 8-10 spots up for grabs.

Hey Parker, my big question for you is: Have the Broncos done enough this offseason to win the AFC West again? While we were the best team last year, we had a lot of close calls. I love that we traded for Jaylen Waddle because he’s going to open up our offense, but we still need a strong No. 1 tight end. We need an answer at ILB to counter opposing tight ends. We need a better running game (J.K. Dobbins is good, but he’s fragile).

Tell me why this team will do well next year.

— Mike, Denver

Hey Mike, thanks for writing in and good question. The Broncos won the AFC West by three games a year ago and head into training camp feeling like they’ve got a roster that’s deeper and more talented than last year’s. Not a complete list, obviously, but you can look at the starting group and say they essentially lost John Franklin-Myers and gained Jaylen Waddle. They added a draft class that may not be asked to produce a ton right away, but running back Jonah Coleman and tight end Justin Joly have a chance to help solidify the depth chart right away and maybe push for time depending on how veterans who have dealt with injuries in their careers — J.K. Dobbins and Evan Engram, respectively — hold up through the fall.

The Broncos are widely considered to have few major areas of concern, assuming quarterback Bo Nix is fully healthy when training camp begins. They’re peppered near the top of outlets’ post-draft NFL power rankings (No. 3 on ESPN and The Athletic, as a couple of examples). However, the betting odds tell a little bit of a different story at this point. DraftKings, for example, has a tight AFC West race brewing but puts Kansas City (+160) and the Los Angeles Chargers (+190) ahead of Denver (+220) to win the division. BetMGM pegs the Chiefs’ and Chargers’ win totals at 10.5 and the Broncos’ at 9.5.

Part of that is Denver’s schedule being far more challenging than it has been in recent years. They’ve got 10 games against 2025 playoff teams and that, of course, does not include a pair against division-rival Kansas City. The Chiefs’ prospects in 2026 look a lot different, of course, if QB Patrick Mahomes (ACL), is on the field from Week 1 rather than missing the first few weeks. The Chargers won 11 games last year despite a slew of injuries, including to their terrific pair of starting tackles. Losing defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is a big blow, but gaining Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator is big, too.

The regular season always takes its toll, but sign me up for a stretch run where all three teams are right in it. That sounds like fun.

I feel like if Bo Nix didn’t break his ankle after the Bills game, we would’ve beaten the Pats and gone to the Super Bowl. Do you think the Broncos would’ve been able to beat Seattle? I think we’d put up a better fight than the Pats did.

— Tim, Golden

Hey Tim, thanks for writing. One of the most popular questions of the offseason and my answer is, I think, similar to what a lot of others would say. I do think the Broncos would have beaten New England and played in the Super Bowl. I don’t think anybody was beating Seattle. Would it have been more competitive than the game we all saw? Yeah, probably.

Alas, we’ll never know for sure.

Hey Parker, do you think Bo Nix will use his legs earlier in the season as he did in his rookie year, or will they try to make him more of a pocket passer in Year 3?

— David M., Denver

Hey David, thanks for writing in and good question.

The Broncos coaches and Bo Nix all believe that he can play and win from the pocket, but it����ap also clear when you watch him play that his legs are a big part of what makes him special. I’d be really surprised if Nix used the fractured ankle and two subsequent operations as a reason for being less aggressive running. If he were limited in some way, that’d be another story, but at this point, there’s no indication that would be the case by the time September rolls around.

More than the ankle, some of how Nix plays and the kind of running situations he’s put in will depend on whether we see any substantial change in offensive approach with offensive coordinator Davis Webb taking over as Denver’s primary play-caller. Will he be interested in dialing up the usage of the designed quarterback run game? Will he want Nix in the pocket more frequently? Obviously, head coach Sean Payton is still going to have a heavy influence on game plan design, but if Webb is calling all or most of the plays, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Nix’s usage — and the roles of other offensive skill players — change at least a little bit.