Former Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak wanted Joseph, then the Bengals’ defensive backs coach, to be his defensive coordinator in Denver in 2015. Then-Denver general manager John Elway put in a slip to interview Joseph. Longtime Bengals head coach Lewis wanted Joseph to advance. But someone — as Lewis tells it — wandered upstairs to convince Bengals owner Mike Brown that Joseph was valuable enough to keep, and Lewis tried to convince Brown to no avail, and the Bengals blocked Joseph from leaving.

So a year later, Joseph left Cincinnati “because he was upset,” as Lewis said, to take the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator job. Another year later, Joseph landed the top job in Denver on the heels of Kubiak’s retirement and at the beginning of a transitional era.

The what-if, from Cincinnati’s 2015 blockade, is significant. Lewis was asked: If Joseph had already been immersed in Denver’s building for the two years before he succeeded Kubiak, would things have gone differently?

“It’s probably,” Lewis affirmed, “a really different outcome.”

Instead, the Broncos went 5-11 and 6-10 in two years before firing Joseph, sending him spiraling back down the rungs of an arbitrary NFL coaching ladder that is remarkably difficult to climb back up. The journey, since, has taken him back to Denver as a coordinator, in a remarkably humble move for a fired head coach — “no fear,” as Cowboys DC Christian Parker put it — only for the NFL to pass him up with each passing coaching cycle.

After he put together two straight seasons of top-three defenses in Denver, 10 head-coaching jobs came free this past NFL cycle. Five teams requested to interview Joseph. None of them chose to hire him.

As Joseph has built his resume, peers across the league point directly to him amid a troubling demographic trend across the NFL: it’s empirically difficult for Black coaches to earn a head-coaching job, and even more difficult to earn a second��job.

“The success he’s had the last couple years in Denver, having the defense like he’s had, and building the credibility, credentials that he’s had — not to get a shot or another shot, is unbelievable to me,” Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters at the NFL owners’ meetings in March. “So, something has to be fixed.”

Joseph declined to be interviewed for this story, and had no hand in supporting it. In June, he told reporters it was “OK” he didn’t get a head-coaching job this past cycle.

“My focus now is to get back in position, and that’s winning games for the Broncos and being a great defense again,” Joseph said then. “It’s a process that is different every single year. I can’t be concerned about the outcomes. Just keep pushing forward, winning games and being in position to interview.”

Coaches close to Joseph have told The Post he remains undeterred. Some speak with near-outrage on a hiring system that — since 2018 — has excluded him.

“I’m not an owner, not a general manager,” Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier told The Post at February’s Super Bowl week in San Francisco. “But how does that happen? I just don’t get it. His resume should speak for itself. Disappointed. I hope that things will change.

“But when there are 10 jobs, and there’s not one Black coach who anyone feels is qualified or capable of leading their team — just makes me scratch my head. It����ap just disappointing.”

—

There are several plain and possible contributing factors across the NFL for Joseph’s extended and incomplete climb back to a head-coaching chair. Cleveland’s Todd Monken, for one, is the only head coach (60) hired this cycle who is older than Joseph and hasn’t won a Super Bowl as a head coach. Franchises, too, have increasingly shifted in recent years toward targeting young offensive play-callers in the Sean McVay mold, as one prominent NFL coaching agent told The Post. And, of course, Joseph doesn’t have a long string of head-coaching victories as a second-chance hire.

The league’s static progress in head-coaching diversity, though — just three Black head coaches are set to helm NFL teams in 2026 — is hard for many to ignore.

“There’s not many of them anywhere,” said former Browns head coach Hue Jackson. “And the numbers get worse. The numbers are as bad as it����ap ever been, now.”

There is a stark historical disparity, too, in the time between second chances for Black and white head coaches. According to coaching data collected and analyzed by The Denver Post, there have been nine Black head coaches and 29 white head coaches who coached in the 2000s, were fired from a head-coaching job and rehired by a different organization.

The average number of seasons between top jobs for Black coaches is 4.2, compared to 2.7 for white coaches.

This known disparity in falling back down the ladder, Jackson believes, can influence decisions to even approach head-coaching jobs

“I think a lot of guys that I know — are personally afraid to do it,” said Jackson, who hasn’t been an NFL head coach since a 3-36-1 tenure with the Browns from 2016 to 2018. “Because you have success, and you get this opportunity, and let����ap say you get it. Where do you go when it����ap over?”

“I think people have had an opportunity to see firsthand that if you do step out there and take that chance,” he continued later, “this is what could happen to you.”

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’s discrimination suit against the NFL, filed in February 2022, has ignited years of debate about the role of race in the league’s hiring practices. So has examination of the league’s long-standing “Rooney Rule,” . But key��to this conversation, as several former Black head coaches spoke with The Post about, is the difficulty of Black coaches not only getting hired but��also being rehired.

“In this business, they want to know, did you win or did you lose?” former Browns and Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel told The Post. “And if you win, generally, you get a chance to stay. If you lose, now then – that becomes part of your resume, that you are a losing head coach. And so, when these people start looking for coaches, they aren’t crazy about hiring a black coach that����ap a losing coach.

“And so, that makes it tougher for a black coach to get rehired.”

—

Joseph began his football career as an option quarterback at the University of Colorado, where he overlapped with current Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy for a year. Both were members of Colorado’s chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and Bieniemy — who is still close friends with Joseph — said both still live by an old fraternity motto: “Humility With Dignity.”

“He’s an outstanding communicator, and he’s one of the top damn NFL defensive coordinators in this business right now,” Bieniemy told The Post of Joseph in July. “And he deserves a shot.”

Joseph’s head-coaching stint in Denver remains a stain, overseeing two years of sluggish Broncos offenses that fielded four different starting quarterbacks. But those in the building from that era, still, take up for Joseph. The franchise’s fatal flaw in those 2017 and 2018 seasons, as former Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Woods indicated — now the Raiders’ defensive-passing game coordinator — was not aligning expectations with an objective assessment of the roster’s talent.

Kubiak was gone, after a 9-7 slip in 2016 from 2015’s Super Bowl title. Peyton Manning was a year retired, and the Broncos had already whiffed on 2016 first-round QB Paxton Lynch. Pro Bowl staples like Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders were entering the twilight of their careers, and Denver’s vaunted “No-Fly Zone” secondary was losing altitude.

“Probably one of the main things from Denver that (Joseph) learned is that, just from an organizational standpoint, that everybody has to be on the same path in terms of what the outlook is,” Woods said. “When we were there, we were coming off, ‘Hey, we were just in the Super Bowl in ‘15, we’re a couple pieces away.’ But I think really, at that time, we weren’t.”

The 2017 Broncos started 3-1 under Joseph and finished 2-10, starting three different quarterbacks. Veteran Case Keenum wasn’t the answer at quarterback a year later.

And still, former Denver tight end Virgil Green calls Joseph a “football wizard,” and ex-Broncos great Von Miller said Joseph did “the best job he could do” with the tools at his disposal.

“It was a hangover there,” Broncos great Von Miller told The Post this spring. “It had nothing to do with VJ’s coaching, or perspective. We, as far as recruiting, we had a hangover there. We were behind the ball as far as scouting, and getting guys in there that really could change, like, the organization. And we had missed that whole mark for that whole time VJ was there, and then leading up to VJ getting there. So VJ, he really didn’t have much to work with.

“VJ did an incredible job, as far as his managing of the team,” Miller continued. “His managing of the offense, of the defense, our schemes. We won some games that we should not have won, with the team that we had. We had trouble at the quarterback position. We had trouble everywhere. We didn’t have the No-Fly Zone. It was all types of things that were happening, and VJ managed it well.”

And Joseph, as Lewis told The Post, has been able to watch Denver’s roster-building strategy under Sean Payton and understand the need to build around a quarterback.

“You give him Peyton Manning,” Miller said, recounting Joseph’s head-coaching years, “we’re going to the Super Bowl. You give him a Josh Allen, you give him one of these great quarterbacks, we’re going to the Super Bowl.”

In Denver, now, players almost universally praise Joseph’s ability to relay complex, aggressive defensive schemes. His units have produced two straight seasons of franchise sack records, largely due to creative packages that use inside linebackers and nickel blitzes. And he stepped in seamlessly for Payton for two days this camp, when Denver’s head coach flew to Canton, Ohio, for Drew Brees’ Hall of Fame induction.

At one point during Joseph’s brief time in charge, nickel cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian went up to Joseph and told him: “Head coach looks good on you.”

“He’s a leader of men – like, he checks every single box,” All-Pro defensive lineman Zach Allen told The Post at the Pro Bowl in San Francisco in February. “I don’t know what the teams are looking for. But for us, it����ap good news. So we’ll take it.”

When will another team take Joseph, though? Most everyone in Denver’s building and Joseph’s orbit — and Joseph himself — remain expressively optimistic he’ll get a second chance. But luck in the NFL is fickle, and proven leadership hasn’t worked on its own accord.

Lewis laid out a hypothetical situation in which injuries befall the Broncos’ offense in 2026, the wins stop coming, and Joseph’s overall defensive impact from two previous seasons is lost in the weeds.

“That is my worry,” Lewis said. “That, really, is my worry.”

Joseph will walk into another head-coaching cycle, now, only able to control a handful of factors in front of him. But those who know him ultimately present the image of a man who will control those factors as well as anyone in his profession.

“Was Vance ready?” Kubiak said, asked if Joseph was ready in 2017. “Yeah, Vance is ready.��I mean, he’s been ready for a long time.”

AT KANSAS CITY

6:15 p.m., Sept. 14, ESPN

A “Monday Night Football” opener at Arrowhead, (likely) Patrick Mahomes’ return and the propensity of Sean Payton’s teams here to start slow? That����ap a recipe for disaster, right? Well, Denver’s also been good against the Chiefs recently. Bo Nix gets off to a rollicking start, Vance Joseph continues to do good work against Mahomes and the Broncos hype reaches a fever pitch.

Prediction: Broncos 24, Chiefs 16

WEEK 2

JACKSONVILLE

2:05 p.m., Sept. 20, KCNC-4

Small market alert! The Jaguars are defending AFC South champions, and they’ve got a terrific young play-calling head coach in Liam Coen. They were the only team to win in Denver during the regular season last year. They will not, however, make it two in a row. This time around, J.K. Dobbins is a difference-maker and the Broncos more effectively limit — though not without some struggle — Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence. A barnburner would be fun.

Prediction: Broncos 30, Jaguars 27

WEEK 3

L.A. RAMS

6:20 p.m., Sept. 27, KUSA-9��

The dream start is dreamy until Sean McVay brings his team to Denver for a blockbuster (as far as Week 3 games go) Sunday night matchup. The Rams have depth, talent and one of the most daunting defensive lines out there with the addition of Myles Garrett. Matthew Stafford’s flanked by too much offensive talent. But what about a potential mid-February rematch on the Rams’ home turf?

Prediction: Rams 24, Broncos 17

WEEK 4

AT SAN FRANCISCO

2:25 p.m., Oct. 4, KCNC-4

What a year to draw the NFC West. And the Broncos get the entire division in a five-game span. That����ap a pretty wild schedule quirk. The Niners figure to be really good again this year unless their local substation causes a bunch of injuries again — Joking! Mostly joking! — and this will be a tall task. Christian McCaffrey puts the dagger in Denver with a wheel route called by Kyle Shanahan. Ouch.

Prediction: 49ers 20, Broncos 14

WEEK 5

AT L.A. CHARGERS

2:05 p.m., Oct. 11, KCNC-4

The Chargers lost defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, which is a big one. They gained offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, which is a big one. L.A. should be able to run the heck out of the ball, and they get two All-Pro tackles back from injury to protect Justin Herbert. This game is tougher because of the brutal stretch it falls in, though the SoFi crowd will be largely blue and orange. Wil Lutz’s first walk-off attempt feels right.

Prediction: Broncos 19, Chargers 17

WEEK 6

SEATTLE

6:15 p.m., Oct. 15, Prime��

Hey, the Broncos have made it through a rugged opening five weeks at 3-2. That’ll play. Now, the Super Bowl champs roll into town on a short week. What if Bo Nix hadn’t broken his ankle in January? These teams probably would have played in February. Maybe they’ll make good in 2027. In the meantime, Mike MacDonald’s team is going to be a handful.

Prediction: Seahawks 24, Broncos 17

WEEK 7

AT ARIZONA

2:05 p.m., Oct. 25, KCNC-4

Davis Webb and Co. use the bye week to spend a little extra time tinkering with their plans and decide more outside zone, under center and play-action game is the ticket. Will it hold up the whole season? Hard to say from here, but the hapless Cardinals take the brunt of a creative burst from the Denver offense. Nix has had some stat-stuffer games in his career. This one goes near the top of the list.

Prediction: Broncos 44, Cardinals 17

WEEK 8

KANSAS CITY

2:25 p.m., Nov. 1, KCNC-4

The Chiefs, perhaps not surprisingly, find their footing quickly after losing the opener to the Broncos. They roll into Empower Field on a roll. This rivalry, though, has turned on its head. Payton made the Chiefs one of his primary goals and now, suddenly, he’s got their number. If Denver beats Mahomes twice this year, there will be no discounting the season sweep. Come to think of it, that might be too much to ask. One last dose of Travis Kelce magic proves bedeviling.

Prediction: Chiefs 26, Broncos 24

WEEK 9

AT CAROLINA

11 a.m., Nov. 8, KCNC-4

It����ap kind of amazing that a road trip to a 2025 champion represents the start of the soft part of the Broncos schedule, but hey, here we are. Bryce Young has come a long way and the Dave Canelas/Dan Morgan regime has been a success overall so far. The Broncos, though, have too much pass rush and by this time will have a fully functional Nix/Jaylen Waddle connection rolling. Denver needs this game and gets it.

Prediction: Broncos 28, Panthers 17

WEEK 10

BYE

Normally a midseason bye is great, though the Broncos have benefitted greatly from having a later bye each of the past two years since they’ve been in postseason contention. A Week 6 TNF game and Week 10 bye is stacking the extra rest a bit early, though there’s more oddball game times to come. November, though, is too late for golfing in Idaho, so Payton gets a little R&R in Cabo instead.

WEEK 11

LAS VEGAS

2:25 p.m., Nov. 22, KCNC-4

Ah, at long last, the Raiders arrive on the Broncos’ schedule. This game would have so much more juice had Las Vegas hired Webb as its head coach. The only real question for the Silver and Black will be if No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza has taken over at QB for Kirk Cousins by this point. Either way, by the time this one is over, Mark Davis will wish he’d hired Webb. Or Vance Joseph. Or both.

Prediction: Broncos 27, Raiders 13

WEEK 12

AT PITTSBURGH

1 p.m., Nov. 27, Prime

Black Friday in the Steel City. This game will draw an absolutely massive number of eyeballs to Amazon on the biggest retail day of the year. Yay, corporate synergies! Last time the Broncos saw Aaron Rodgers, he was the New York Jets quarterback and they hit him a lot of times in the rain at MetLife Stadium in 2024. How about snow instead, three rivers instead of the Jersey swamp and probably a lot more hits on the by then nearly 43-year-old. One of them, like ‘24, will be a game-sealer.

Prediction: Broncos 21, Steelers 20

WEEK 13

MIAMI

2:05 p.m., Dec. 6, KDVR-31

When the Broncos made the playoffs in 2024, they did so with a whopping $89 million in dead cap. It was the biggest raw number of all time and just barely No. 2 by percentage of the cap ($34.8%). The Dolphins, as of this writing, have $179 million in dead cap. That����ap a shade under 60%. They have $112 million in actual player contracts on their roster. Preposterous. Waddle will score a pair of touchdowns against his own team and three if Miami at some point just runs out of players.

Prediction: Broncos 35, Dolphins 20

WEEK 14

AT N.Y. JETS

11 a.m., Dec. 13, KCNC-4

Don’t look now but the Broncos have won five in a row to get to 8-4 and right into the postseason mix. The Jets might as well be a division team at this point because they’ve ended up on Denver’s schedule nearly every year. This will be the seventh straight season they’ve played and the ninth matchup in 10 years. Payton’s team has won the past two, but they’ve been 11-10 (in London last year) and 10-9 in 2024. Is that a bad sign? This one could be ugly and still a relative breeze.

Prediction: Broncos 17, Jets 9

WEEK 15

AT LAS VEGAS

2:25 p.m., Dec. 20, KCNC-4

This one has all the trappings of a trap game. The Broncos are likely to be big favorites, it����ap in Vegas after playing on the East Coast before and it����ap heading into a short week before a titanic matchup against Josh Allen and Co. on Christmas Day at Empower Field. One of the hallmarks of Payton’s tenure in Denver, though? The Broncos have rarely lost games like this, where they’re clearly expected to win.

Prediction: Broncos 26, Raiders 14

WEEK 16

BUFFALO

2:30 p.m., Dec. 25, Netflix

If the season goes anything close to the way it seems primed to, this can be just a tremendous matchup. Standalone on Christmas Day. A rematch of a January postseason classic. Maybe No. 1 seed and almost certainly some form of postseason implications. Josh Allen. Bo Nix. Their mutual bestie Davis Webb. Sean Payton vs. protege Joe Brady. On and on and on. It has the chance to be so, so good. The bet here: This time, the kid from Wyoming does not turn the ball over four times.

Prediction: Bills 28, Broncos 27

WEEK 17

AT NEW ENGLAND

TBD

If there’s a game that will have some crazy travel plans scrambled by weather, this is the obvious favorite. Early January at Foxborough is just asking for a blizzard. Not just in the second half, either. Sorry. Buffalo and New England back-to-back down the stretch of this season might be vertigo-inducing, but so might the AFC playoff race itself. These teams fitted their third-year quarterbacks with A.J. Brown and Waddle this offseason. They know it����ap go time. They might even play again a couple weeks later.

Prediction: Patriots 23, Broncos 20

WEEK 18

L.A. CHARGERS

TBD

Man, back-to-back one-score losses to fall to 10-6 going into the final week of the season. After all the one-score magic in 2025, that would be enough to cause a little acid reflux. We’ve been calling for a Broncos Week 18 game where both teams need it for two years now. The third time is going to be the charm. Or, at least, that would be fun. With the way the AFC shakes out this year, 10-7 might be pretty bubble-ish. A team could get left off. In this case, it����ap at least for a playoff spot and maybe for the West division title. No pinky promises that J.K. Dobbins has played all 16 games, but he hammers home a winner late in this one. An 11-6 regular season. On to the postseason.

Prediction: Broncos 24, Chargers 22

Not the Super Bowl champs? Well, the Rams were already loaded. Then they traded for Myles Garrett, too. They should be a freight train.

2. Seattle Seahawks

Mike MacDonald’s team will have a ring ceremony at some point and they might not even be the favorites in their own division. Welcome to the NFC West!

3. Denver Broncos

A lofty position for Sean Payton’s team, but they’ve got continuity, they added Jaylen Waddle and Bo Nix is heading into a critical Year 3.

4. Buffalo Bills

Could this, at long last, finally be Josh Allen’s year? He was foiled at Empower Field back in January, but he’ll have a squad again this fall.

5. New England Patriots

Drake Maye and Co. took full advantage of a strange year and played in a Super Bowl … well, technically. A complete team in Year 2 under coach Mike Vrabel.

6. Baltimore Ravens

The bet here is that former Payton acolyte Declan Doyle will be good for Lamar Jackson, and that Jesse Minter will be an instant success as a head coach. They’ll be fun.

7. Philadelphia Eagles

Starting in 2022, the Eagles have won 14, 11, 14, and 11 games. You know what that means. Fourteen big ones inbound for Nick Sirianni’s team.

8. San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers went from afterthought to nearly capturing the No. 1 seed in the NFC last year. If they can stay healthy, they’ll be a force. Been a big if recently.

9. Los Angeles Chargers

The Mike McDonald and Justin Herbert pairing is one of the NFL’s most fascinating. If Herbert gets comfy, it can be a scary offense.

10. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags got hot last year and won the division. Imagine how much fun they’d have been with a healthy Travis Hunter. Hopefully 2026 is the year.

11. Chicago Bears

Caleb Williams started to look like a star in the making under coach Ben Johnson. The Bears are really back… and apparently moving to Indiana as well. The only explanation: Duh Bears!

12. Detroit Lions

The Lions went from Johnson to John Morton at OC. It… didn’t work. Drew Petzing should be a good fit for Jared Goff and Co., but Detroit����ap got to play defense, too, in a tough division.

13. Houston Texans

The Texans have perhaps the scariest defense in the NFL. They are an absolute hurricane under DeMeco Ryans. If C.J. Stroud finds his form, this will be an under-ranking.

14. Green Bay Packers

The Packers flamed out again, then extended everybody. At times, Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love look like a Super Bowl waiting to happen. Sometimes.

15. Dallas Cowboys

We know the Cowboys will score with Dak Prescott and those receivers. If former Denver assistant Christian Parker gets the defense straightened out, look out.

16. Kansas City Chiefs

This is destined to be a hilarious under-ranking if Patrick Mahomes quickly returns to form. He probably will. But, for now, questions abound around the all-timer under center.

17. Cincinnati Bengals

Every season Joe Burrow has played 16 or more regular season games, he’s thrown for at least 4,475 yards and 34 touchdowns. Let����ap do that again.

18. Washington Commanders

This team went to the NFC Championship Game in 2024, then Jayden Daniels’ follow-up season was scuttled by injuries. Here’s hoping for a healthy Year 3.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Bucs will get great play from Baker Mayfield, have weeks where they look like one of the best offenses on the planet and somehow end up 7-8 but in the hunt for the NFC South.

20. Carolina Panthers

Basically the same as above, but just not quite as good at quarterback. Bryce Young, though, has a division title under his belt and a chance to repeat.

21. Indianapolis Colts

Daniel Jones is supposedly going to be healthy at the start or early in the season. That����ap good. Probably. This team was so fun for the first half of 2025.

22. Pittsburgh Steelers

If nothing else, the Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers reunion will be tremendous theater. What if they actually make one more run together?

23. Minnesota Vikings

What a calamity for Minnesota to let Sam Darnold go after a terrific 2024. Now they’ve got a Kyler Murray/J.J. McCarthy situation that feels like a Kevin O’Connell cry for help.

24. New Orleans Saints

The Saints can win the NFC South. That����ap in part because it����ap a bad division but also because Tyler Shough has juice and New Orleans was cooking down the stretch last year.

25. New York Giants

John Harbaugh should bring some instant calm and respectability to the Giants. If he can get Jaxson Dart to take another step, the G-Men will have a bright future.

26. Atlanta Falcons

Kevin Stefanski and Matt Ryan are the new braintrust in Atlanta, but the Falcons have questions at QB and around the roster. They’re quite a way away.

27. Tennessee Titans

Titans��Cam Ward did some good things as a rookie and clearly has some moxy to his game. Now, can Robert Saleh help build the rest of it around the young QB?

28. Las Vegas Raiders

No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza (eventually) has fun weapons in Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty. Klint Kubiak is a talented offensive coach. It����ap going to take longer than a year.

29. New York Jets

Former Broncos asst. GM Darren Mougey has been wheeling and dealing. They’ve got troves of premium picks the next couple years. It’ll be fun. But those picks can’t play in 2026.

30. Cleveland Browns

Deshaun Watson said recently he’d be open to an extension in Cleveland. That����ap nice. Here’s betting the Browns think $230 million for nine wins (so far) will have been plenty.

31. Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals all the way through the coaching carousel this winter felt a bit like they had nowhere to turn. Eventually it was to Dial-A-McVay Assistant. Or, er, Mike LaFleur.

32. Miami Dolphins

Give the Dolphins credit for going all in on the teardown. But they’re paying $112 million to players on the team and charging $179 million in cap space to players who aren’t.

Here are the 20 best games to watch this season.

Week 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 2

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

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

Week 3

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

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

Week 4

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

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

Week 5

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

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

Week 6

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

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

Week 7

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

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

Week 9

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

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

Week 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 13

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

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

Week 15

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

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

Week 16

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 17

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

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

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

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

Buffalo Bills

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

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

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

New England Patriots

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

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

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

New York Jets

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

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

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

Miami Dolphins

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

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

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

The Broncos pair the top offense and top defense against each other for nearly every facet of training camp and, therefore, Singleton is lined up 5-10 yards away from Nix over and over and over again. Virtually every day.

Singleton isn’t a quarterback evaluator, but in many ways he’s uniquely situated to understand what Nix is doing, how he’s playing and what the opening weeks on the field have looked like for the Denver quarterback after six months of rehabilitating a pair of offseason ankle surgeries.

In Singleton’s mind, the answer is pretty simple.

“He’s playing out of his mind,” the 32-year-old linebacker said Monday.

In the four weeks since the Broncos reported for training camp, the evaluation of and attention on Nix has slowly shifted away from whether he looked like he was all the way past the ankle injury first sustained in January — he’s shown no limitations in practice or Friday against Green Bay — and more toward what kind of third season he may author.

It was almost exactly a year ago when now-offensive coordinator Davis Webb said he thought any quarterback improvement between Year 1 and Year 2 was more about consistency and that Year 3 is when elite quarterbacks make a big jump.

“That����ap just my experience personally and with my friends,” Webb said last summer. “Everybody talks about Year 2, but I think that����ap just the world rushing like we do with everything. … It depends on the situation you’re in, the village you’re around, the play-caller, your defense playing good, your O-line’s protecting you, guys are catching it and you’re executing.

“There’s a lot of domino effect there.”

As Bo goes, so do Broncos

The Broncos are betting that they have even more of those dominoes lined up than in previous years, particularly with Webb now calling plays and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle injecting horsepower into the offensive skill group.

Webb himself said earlier this month that Nix is “right on par with the other guys I’ve been around going into Year 3,” which is particularly notable considering Webb has pointed previously to the way Josh Allen exploded in his third season in Buffalo in 2020 when Webb was his backup.

The question that won’t fully be answered until the season is off and running, though, is just how big a jump Nix himself can take. It doesn’t have to be Allen-sized, but he will need to keep pushing forward if the Broncos are going to win a Super Bowl.

Certainly, Nix has won at a rate that puts him near the top of the heap in the NFL, leading the Broncos to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons. By many advanced metrics, he’s more middle of the pack. Several national outlets ranked him in the mimid-to-loweens when it came to the pantheon of current quarterbacks in the game.

Broncos players and coaches aren’t objective observers, of course, but the sense that Nix is set to turn in an eye-popping season is palpable in all corners of Broncos Park.

“I’ve been very impressed,” quarterback Sam Ehlinger told The Post this week. “Obviously, I was impressed when I first got here last year, but he’s been a lot more consistent this year and he’s just in a great spot. You’d never know he’d had an injury at all and that����ap not just on the field. In the building, there’s not extra stuff he’s having to do or make a big deal about it. He’s able to do everything.”

Coaches, teammates of various positions and more have expressed similar sentiments. Their reasons vary depending on perspective.

The QB whisperer

Webb’s ascension to play-calling duties certainly plays a role.

So, too, do what so far looks like cleaner footwork, better rhythm and more willingness to stay in the pocket from Nix. Webb talked, too, about trying to marry reads for Nix to more efficiently stay on his top target and then quickly get to No. 2 in hopes of helping alleviate the quarterback’s tendency to rush through his progression.

There’s just plain old comfort in the system. Nix had a new one every year of college and now has been immersed in this one for more than two full years.

“When you have a second-nature thought process and you know the play and you’re not thinking about operation, or emotion or a route concept or a handoff point, you can attack the defense in a little bit more of a strategic way,” Nix said. “So my eyes are up a little bit more. I just feel comfortable. It����ap like riding a bike for the third year as opposed to the first. You get up on it and it����ap just by memory at this point. I feel good. I feel like there’s a lot of growth to be had.”

Away from the huddle and the two-minute drill, Nix has had time to settle into his role as the clear leader and face of the franchise.

“I think he’s letting things that are out of his control not bother him,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey told The Post earlier this month. “I think, as a young player, you think you need to take on every challenge and take on all these different things. Bo is now learning, ‘Hey, that can be a waste of my energy but that isn’t.’ He’s learning how to pick his spots.

“He’s learning what to get fired up about, what to fight the things he doesn’t like and let the things go that maybe don’t really matter.”

There are no guarantees in the NFL and there haven’t been many grand proclamations from the Broncos so far in training camp, but add up weeks worth of practices and the tone consistently coming from teammates and coaches and it����ap clear the club thinks Nix is on the verge of a huge season.

“He knows the ins and outs of the offense, he’s comfortable with the offensive line,” Ehlinger said. … “He has a ton of reps. Add up how many reps he’s had in the regular seasons and that����ap a lot of ball. He knows all the receivers and all the running backs too. He’s making great decisions.

“He’s always been really talented as a thrower but you can really tell that everything’s lining up really well for him.”

But Payton’s admiration for Allen, in hindsight, could’ve completely tanked the Broncos’ fortunes in their first playoff win since 2015.

On Wednesday, Payton — the 62-year-old offensive wizard who occasionally fires a spell in the wrong direction — confirmed to reporters he did call a fake punt from the Broncos’ own 38-yard-line on 4th-and-11 on the first drive of overtime against Buffalo in January. That outlandish plan, as , was born from Payton’s sheer reluctance to give the ball back in any circumstance to four-time Pro Bowler Allen.

“This is a great sign of respect for, I think, one of the better, elite quarterbacks in our league,” Payton said Wednesday.

Of course, that fake punt never saw the light of day. On that 4th-and-11, Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw lofted a 55-yard beauty to pin Allen and the Bills at their own 7-yard-line. Nine plays later, Ja’Quan McMillian grappled with Brandin Cooks for . Denver mounted a game-winning field-goal drive. Ballgame.

Except Payton didn’t actually call off the fake punt. His . Payton revealed Wednesday he’d entered that Buffalo matchup determined to call a late-game fake punt rather than put the ball in Allen’s hands for a potential game-winning field-goal drive — and initially shrugged off an audible in that overtime moment.

“The front, six-man front, seven-man front, eight-man-front, was a little nebulous between six and eight,” Payton recalled, describing Buffalo’s defensive line as the Broncos lined up. “And totally saw the ‘can-it’ call. But, I felt real good about getting (11) yards … now, we canned it and punted it out at the (7), and it worked out.”

If it didn’t — if the Broncos gambled on a monumentally risky trick play and lost — the entire tenor of Denver’s 2026 training camp could look monumentally different, coming off two straight theoretical playoff one-and-dones.

Instead, Denver can chalk up its 2025 season as a Bo Nix broken ankle away from a Super Bowl.

Nix back and rolling

After months of strange messaging and public consternation around a pair of offseason ankle surgeries, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was a full participant on Denver’s first day of camp Wednesday. The third-year signal-caller took standard first-team reps in a seven-on-seven red-zone period and subsequent 11-on-11 team drills.

“I’m pleased with the shape he’s in,” Payton said Wednesday. “And the timeline, relative to everything we’ve discussed injury-wise, is falling into place.”

Payton and Denver’s staff played it conservatively with Nix throughout the summer offseason program, even as Nix asserted in June that he could be “full-go right now.” Nix’s trainer Ben Neill, though, told The Post that a follow-up procedure to remove bone spurs didn’t heavily impact Nix’s July offseason work, and the club now appears to have fully removed any reins.

Tight end Caleb Lohner was still absent Wednesday after missing Broncos OTAs and June minicamp with lower-body surgery. Undrafted-rookie cornerback Blake Cotton walked off alongside trainers late in Wednesday’s practice with an undisclosed injury.

Payton welcomes back Wilhoite

A day after news that the Broncos had rehired formerly fired assistant Michael Wilhoite to their defensive staff, Wilhoite was seen working with the team’s outside linebackers and defensive line on Wednesday.

Wilhoite’s official title in Denver is a “front seven coach,” a source told The Denver Post. Wilhoite previously served as the team’s outside linebackers coach in 2023 and 2024 before being fired in March 2025, after he allegedly punched a police officer in the face in the drop-off line at Denver International Airport.

After initially facing a felony assault charge, Wilhoite’s case was downgraded and charges were later fully dropped altogether,��although he still faces a civil suit from the officer involved in the incident.

“I’m a huge fan, and he, too, went through a long and lengthy process,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. “He was cleared and met with all of us. We felt real good. And I’m excited to have him back.”

On the roster (9): Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron, Kris Abrams-Draine, Reese Taylor, Jaden Robinson, Brent Austin, Sean Fresch Jr.

How many on the 53? 5-6

Most impactful offseason move: Placing a second-round tender on McMillian

This is a position where it����ap certainly possible the offseason’s most impactful move is still to come between now and the start of the regular season, as either McMillian or Moss could end up landing a lucrative extension. For now, it����ap ensuring McMillian, a restricted free agent, returned to the fold with a tender for 2026 valued at $5.77 million. Nickel is a premium position in today’s NFL and McMillian is one of the league’s best. He played 66% of Denver’s defensive snaps in 2025, picked off two passes, ran one back for a touchdown, forced two fumbles and recovered another, logged four sacks and five tackles for a loss, ran communications from his spot in the slot and, of course, made one of the defining plays of Broncos postseason history with his game-saving interception of Josh Allen in overtime of the divisional round. He’s not the best player on Denver’s star-studded defense, but in many ways he’s the heartbeat. And he’s the tie that binds the cornerback group, which is headlined by Surtain, the multi-time All-Pro.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Is there a major surprise around the bend?

From here, the best bet is probably not. It����ap difficult to imagine a situation, however, in which there’s a change in Denver’s cornerback group without it being a major one. Yeah, maybe Barron becomes the next man in on the perimeter over Abrams-Draine. But what if he beats out Moss? Or what if a team offers a Day 2 pick plus for Moss or McMillian? Denver’s in Super Bowl mode, so perhaps the front office rebuffs anything other than a completely ludicrous offer, but the odds of both Moss and McMillian landing big deals after 2026 seem unlikely, so there could be some sense in cashing in if the interest runs hot enough around the league. More likely: The Broncos roll with Surtain, the best cornerback in football and on a Hall of Fame track at 26 years old, Moss and McMillian across the top line and a deep No. 2 line behind them.

Battle to watch: Barron against… pretty much everybody

That����ap not to say the second-year man has to be antagonistic. He just currently occupies a unique airspace that speaks to the Broncos’ depth and talent but also could understandably be frustrating for him. The 2025 first-round pick is versatile enough to play literally any spot in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s secondary. There also happens to be an established starter in every one of those jobs in Surtain, Moss, McMillian and safeties Brandon Jones and Talanoa Hufanga. It����ap not exactly the most electrifying training camp goal for Year 2, but if Barron shows in August that he’s a better option at safety than Devon Key, a better option outside than Abrams-Draine and a backup-in-name-only in the slot, it shouldn’t be long before he’s playing major time for the Broncos… somewhere.

Under the radar: Abrams-Draine

Every time Abrams-Draine has been called into action, he’s delivered. It started his rookie season in a tilt-a-whirl “Monday Night Football” game against Cleveland. It����ap continued through periodic injuries to Moss and Surtain, too. Abrams-Draine has some of the best ball skills in Denver’s supremely talented cornerback group. He’d almost certainly start on at least a few teams around the NFL. It����ap a luxury not many teams possess that they can put him in a game if an upper-echelon player misses some time. Teams around the league have capable pro scouting departments, but it����ap also natural to wonder if, as former Sean Payton and George Paton personnel fan out around the league — think Darren Mougey with the New York Giants, Jim Leonhard in Buffalo, Addison Lynch with the New York Giants and more — some familiar face will call back to Colorado in August and inquire about Abrams-Draine.

This week, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix placed 18th in ESPN’s , compiled from anonymous conversations with various NFL staffers. Indicative, certainly, of league-wide belief that Nix has steps to take entering Year 3: he did finish 26th of 33 qualified quarterbacks in passer rating (87.8) and 28th in yards-per-attempt (6.4) last year, after all. But the mid-tier placement given Nix’s league-leading seven game-winning drives in 2025 and playoff win over Bills star Josh Allen.

Was such a ranking fair? Who knows. Probably a bit low. But we here at The Post are not here to speculate about league-wide hot takes; we��have��decided to speculate, though, about Broncos-specific hot takes that have been simmering in the back of our minds for an offseason since Denver fell to New England in last year’s AFC Championship.

With that in mind, Broncos beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Luca Evans have assembled individual lists of five sizzling predictions for Denver’s 2026 season (plus one completely off-the-wall take), a couple of short weeks removed from the start of training camp. Time for our own slightly informed think-piece. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: We are in no way advocating for these to come true or rooting for these predictions to take place. These are solely opinions and should be viewed as such.

Parker Gabriel’s takes

No. 1. I am less confident in the Broncos making the postseason this year than I was at this time last year.

To be clear, I think the Broncos will make the playoffs and will be surprised if they don’t. But the first-place schedule is no joke. The opening six games are brutal. The stretch run is no joke. Denver has been largely healthy in the regular season since Payton arrived. The changes on defense in both personnel and staff might be a bit underrated. Plus, when a team is so good in one-score games one year, there’s natural wonder about regression the next year. Plus, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson didn’t make the playoff field last year. Teams will beat up on each other, but 10-7 isn’t a sure ticket to the playoffs this fall in the AFC.

No. 2. Que Robinson will finish second on the team in sacks

Part of this, naturally, is because of the uncertainty around Jonathon Cooper’s future as he faces a felony assault charge stemming from June’s domestic violence-related incidents with his former girlfriend. Part of it, though, is because Robinson looks like a true breakout candidate going into his second season. Could Jonah Elliss get to 10 sacks with more playing time? Sure. Might Zach Allen set a new career-high and flirt with double digits? Certainly possible. But Robinson’s explosiveness and his ability to play in any down-and-distance situation make him an intriguing candidate behind clear team sack leader Nik Bonitto.

No. 3. The Broncos won’t trade a player who is slated to have a substantial role this summer, but they should

Nearly every move Denver has made this offseason has been about winning this fall. Certainly, they’ve done some long-range planning in how they structured contract extensions and they opted to let John Franklin-Myers walk even though technically they could have afforded to keep him, but by and large this looks like a team that����ap putting a lot of chips in right now. Makes sense with Bo Nix still on his rookie contract. We also know depth is paramount as seasons grind on. Still, if the Broncos are relatively healthy by the middle of training camp, there’s a decent chance somebody else around the league will want somebody on Denver’s roster. Is that Ben Powers? Riley Moss? Troy Franklin? Jarrett Stidham? The Broncos profited nicely by trading Devaughn Vele last summer. They can afford to do something similar this summer if a team comes calling in a similar fashion, and it’d be good business for the future.

No. 4. The next Broncos assistant to get a head coaching interview is Evan Rothstein and it will happen this winter��

Three Broncos assistant coaches got head coaching interviews this winter: Webb, Joseph and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, so they’re off the board. Rothstein isn’t an on-field coordinator like those three — his title is director of game management and assistant QB coach — but Payton holds him in extremely high regard. He’s instrumental in the building, even if he doesn’t get a ton of public mention by Broncos coaches and staffers. He’ll get some head-coaching buzz and will be a sneaky offensive-coordinator candidate in Denver if Webb gets a head-coaching job.

No. 5. Sam Ehlinger will win the No. 2 quarterback job in training camp��

Stidham has been the No. 2 for each of the past three years and is the favorite to win that job again. Webb, though, was really high on Ehlinger as a free agent last spring and the former Colt and Texas Longhorn impressed coaches in his first season with the Broncos. Let����ap say they’re about even through training camp. Do Payton and Webb carry on with the status quo? Or might a bit of a shakeup — with the possibility that Ehlinger’s mobility might be appealing in a short stint relieving Nix — be in order? In this situation, the Broncos probably keep all three on the 53 unless a trade partner materializes for Stiddy.

And one (crazy) extra: If the Broncos win the Super Bowl, Sean Payton will publicly muse about retirement but find the allure of a potential dynasty too much to pass up

One of the more hilarious nuggets in Seth Wickersham’s opus on the Broncos’ postseason run was Payton saying he wants to outlast NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by at least a year, essentially just so he could say he did. But if Denver wins a Super Bowl, Payton will have little left to prove. His Hall of Fame bona fides will be beyond doubt. There would be a post-Super Bowl Sean McVay-esque ‘will he or won’t he’ period fueled by Payton himself. Ultimately, though, the bet here is he’d decide he was about to win three more in the next four years.

Luca Evans’ takes

No. 1. The Broncos start the season 0-3, Myles Garrett sacks Bo Nix at least twice in Week 3, Sean Payton slowly inserts himself back into play-calling duties, and the Webb-Payton hybrid brain trust rides to a top-10 offensive finish.

Is the 31-year-old Davis Webb built to handle the natural ups and downs of his first full NFL season as a play-caller? Yes, if you ask him. Will the notoriously hyperactive 62-year-old Payton give him the full leeway to work through the bumps, in literally the first time Payton has ever given up play-calling? Hard to see. I keep thinking back to a text I sent former Saints running back Deuce McAllister in February before Webb was officially given the keys, on whether he could actually see Payton making the move.

“Hey Luca nice to meet you,” McAllister wrote back. “Sean’s not giving up play calling.”

Of course, Payton did. That text was still indicative of how tightly the coach has gripped his offense over the years, as central to not only his NFL identity but his identity as a person at large. Payton’s Broncos teams have started the season 0-3, 1-2 and 1-2 in his Denver tenure; these Broncos will now face a healthy Patrick Mahomes at Arrowhead on “Monday Night Football” to start the year, then come home to play a Jacksonville team that outplayed them last season, then play the arguable Super Bowl favorites in the Los Angeles Rams.

In this scenario, I think Payton quietly maneuvers for more play-calling influence after an early-season slump, a combination of tough love and natural acclimation steadies the ship, and a Webb-Payton hybrid attack puts the Broncos back in the playoffs as a middle-ish AFC seed.

No. 2. The Broncos trade Riley Moss by November’s trade deadline, and maybe sooner.

Moss has a near-perfect demeanor as Denver’s CB2 opposite Pat Surtain. But there is a wide set of factors working against his long-term staying power in Denver. Firstly, he’s a proven, productive cornerback who could hit free agency after 2026 and earn a few million more than the Broncos would be willing to pay him. Secondly, the Broncos may need to pick between an extension for him or nickel Ja’Quan McMillian, who’s arguably more valuable to coordinator Vance Joseph’s defensive system. Thirdly, the Broncos have 2025 first-round pick Jahdae Barron now likely set to compete with Moss at outside cornerback come training camp.

The Broncos are in a tricky spot here. If they start Moss, first-round pick Barron would likely play a reserve, situational role for the second year in a row. If they bench Moss, he will naturally lose trade value over the course of the year. The most logical option for the front office would be to either start Moss with the idea of moving him closer to the deadline or trade him sometime before the start of 2026.

No. 3. Rookie running back Jonah Coleman catches 40-plus passes in 2026.��

This isn’t really that hot of a take. Third-string back Tyler Badie saw 31 targets last season, and Coleman will likely play more than Badie did. He caught a bunch of passes during the Broncos’ summer program and had 31 catches for 354 yards in 12 games at Washington last year. And despite the heavy involvement of RJ Harvey, Payton’s offenses have long featured two running backs in the passing game: think Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles in 2013 (77 and 71 catches, respectively).

No. 4.��Que Robinson racks up at least eight sacks.��

Robinson is a high-upside pass-rusher who took time to develop as a rookie and finished with 1.5 sacks combined across the regular season and playoffs. There’s direct precedent here with the name ahead of Robinson on Denver’s depth chart: Nik Bonitto, a high-upside pass-rusher who took time to develop as a rookie and jumped from 1.5 sacks to eight in his second NFL season.

The Broncos already wanted to create more snaps for Robinson in 2026, and now face an uncertain situation at OLB, as starter Jonathon Cooper is facing a felony assault charge in Douglas County District Court that could lead to league discipline. Regardless of how Cooper’s legal process plays out, Robinson will see the field more in his second season and is poised to capitalize on snaps playing alongside Zach Allen and Denver’s interior pass-rushers.

No. 5. Payton convinces Taysom Hill to come out of semi-retirement midseason.��

Payton loves his guys. Hill, a quarterback-turned-something��who played a key part in Payton’s offenses late in his time in New Orleans, is one of his guys. He is also currently unsigned, and his NFL career might be over at 35 years old after a season averaging 3.3 yards per offensive touch with the Saints.

At least one interesting name seems to find its way into Payton’s locker room every season with depth necessities, though. Remember Marcedes Lewis last year? I have no idea what role Hill would play, or if he’d even get a snap in 2026. I’m just thinking it’ll happen.

And one crazy extra: Frank Crum accounts for at least three offensive touchdowns.

The world changed on Jan. 17, 2026, the day that reserve tackle Frank Crum became an eligible receiver. Crum’s goal-line touchdown in the Broncos’ wild-card win over the Bills was lost in the immediate emotion of Bo Nix’s season-ending injury, but should not be forgotten.

Payton loves gadget players, and the 6-foot-7-plus Crum is agile and versatile enough to legitimately handle a handful of short-yardage touches. Plus, longtime Payton ally John Morton gave him the idea for that Crum play, and Morton is now back permanently on staff. The cards are perfectly aligned for some Crum-mania.

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

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

Most impactful offseason move: Trading for Jaylen Waddle

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

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

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

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

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

Under the radar: Humphrey

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