“You guys are really lucky to play for the Penners,” the former Broncos safety, enforcer for the Super Bowl 50 champions, told me recently. “You know your owners are personable when they come up (and say), ‘Here’s my email. If you need anything, hit us up.'”

So he did.

“I met them a few times, actually,” Ward said of Carrie Walton Penner and her husband, Greg Penner, the first family of ����apountry. “They were great. Great couple. Great family.”

And you wonder why we want them to buy the Rockies?

Happy Week 1, kids. The Broncos’ defense of the 2025 AFC West title begins next Monday night in Kansas City. Bo Nix looks fine. Davis Webb is calling plays without Sean Payton calling him names (so far).

Thanks to Jonah Coleman, the orange and blue suddenly has more good tailbacks than carries to feed them. The Sack Pack is back, Jack, even if John Franklin-Myers isn’t. It’s Super Bo or bust.

Lombardi Trophies are usually won from the top down. Smart owners set the bar, then leave the football people alone to try and clear the blasted thing.

Look closely at the last 10 Super Bowl winners. Judy Allen in Seattle. The Hunts in Kansas City. Jeffrey Lurie in Philadelphia. The Kroenkes in Los Angeles. The Glazers in Tampa. Robert Kraft in New England.

With the Penners, the Broncos aspire to have the best of everything — team offices, training facilities, stadium–  in order to be the best, every year. That stuff trickles down. It permeates.

“Oh, 1,000%,” ex-Broncos safety Justin Simmons noted by phone. “I came in, unfortunately, when Mr. B. (former Broncos owner Pat Bowlen) was declining in his health. But I could feel the family vibe. I felt included. I felt a sense of importance in 2016, and it wasn’t just because I was a draft pick.

“As the years went on and we were trying to figure out ownership, and all the things in between, it got messy at times. Some of those things got lost in the (ensuring years).”

Simmons, 32, retired this past spring after a nine-year NFL career, eight of which were spent with the Broncos (2016-2023). No. 31 was a darn good player, and an even better dude, stuck with trying to help carry some forgettable teams. During his Dove Valley tenure, Simmons was named an All-Pro four times and selected to the Pro Bowl twice. But until the Penners arrived in August 2022, what rested above him on the corporate chain of command, at times, really stunk.

The former Boston College star played for six different coaches, including interims, over his eight seasons here. What Simmons didn’t know when he was drafted in 2016 was that the Broncos were careening into The Wilderness Years. He didn’t know that winning a Super Bowl with an injured Peyton Manning and peak Von Miller in 2015-16 convinced management that anybody could quarterback the orange and blue as long as Miller and the No Fly Zone remained intact.

They were, to be kind, badly mistaken. A merry-go-round of “meh” signal-callers and blah coaches followed, and the Broncos averaged 9.9 losses per year during Simmons’ tenure with the franchise.

But No. 31 could also tell you exactly when that spinning slowed down and eventually came to a dead stop. Not long after the Walton-Penner Group purchased the Broncos four Augusts ago, the safety and Broncos punter Brandon McManus, two of the most tenured members of the locker room, were called into new CEO Penner’s office for a meeting.

“Hey, give me a rundown … you guys are longest-tenured players here,” Penner told Simmons and McManus in 2022. “Give me a list of things that people have complained about.'”

For starters? Small locker room. No family room. No individualized nutrition plans. No sauna.

“(Penner) said, ‘This is so helpful,’ didn’t give us any backlash,” Simmons recalled. “I’m super-appreciative of that conversation to this day.”

The proof is in the buildings. Broncos Park Powered by Common Spirit, the team’s brand-new HQ, features a state-of-the-art training room with pools, sleep pods, a hyperbaric chamber — and a sauna.

“In their first year, (the Walton-Penner Group) put in a whole new grass field at the end of the season, and we weren’t even in the playoffs,” Simmons marveled.

“You could just tell the type of people they were. You always see success as an organization, in my opinion, when you have people who lead like that.”

The best NFL franchises almost always are the ones that get it right at quarterback and at head coach first. But the perennial contenders are also the ones that don’t skimp on the margins. Or to accountability.

From 2018 through 2022, the Broncos were an NFL club locked in a contentious custody battle, rotting at the summit. The Battlin’ Bowlens, heirs to Mr. B., schemed and leveraged against one another as if tussling for

Meanwhile, The Bowlen Trust — a trio of former CEO Joe Ellis, team counsel Rich Silva and Denver attorney Mary Kelly — ran the Broncos like a committee of substitute teachers. Underwhelming signal-callers came, failed, and went. Uninspired coaching hires did the same.

Most ownership groups come in and take big swings. Great ownership groups are the ones that can course-correct swiftly, and efficiently, when those swings are obvious misses.

Bad NFL clubs — the Browns of now, the Bengals before Marvin Lewis showed up — are reluctant to move off of whiffs at coach and QB. Not here. Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson quickly gave way to Sean Payton and Bo Nix, despite the costs.

“You see how some of these owners deal with their players,” Ward continued. “As commodities. Or capital. (With the Broncos), you have owners that treat you like people, are empathetic to what you’re going through — not only as a person, but maybe your family, all those type of things.

“Yeah, they want to win. Everybody wants to be successful. But there’s a certain way you treat your people, treat your employees. And I think that creates better business, at the end of the day, to get better players to want to come in and play for you.

“I grew up a Niners fan. And at the time (they were owned by) the DeBartolos, (and) they treated players completely different — and that’s why, at that time, they were winning. You start operating like that, providing the best resources for your players, the best training, the best facilities, travel — that stuff results in wins. If you try to shortcut everything and treat your players like items on the shelf, you’re not going to be very successful.”

Justin Simmons played as a rookie in 2016. Cornerback/nickel back/who-the-heck-knows back Jahdae Barron appeared in 30% of Denver’s snaps as a rookie last fall.

So, yeah, it’s safe to say that our old friend No. 31 has seen this movie before. It gets better. He promises.

“It’s very similar to me,” who retired earlier this year after nine seasons in the NFL (2016-2024), told me when I called to ask about Barron. “I’m not trying to compare myself (to him), but when I came into the NFL, I was playing behind the No Fly Zone …

“I had to sit and learn. Even my second year, I didn’t do that well. My third year is when I started to figure it out. The only way to know is to see him and watch him play. I know the coaching staff and (teammates) have confidence in him. And if you ask me as a fan, I would like to see more of him.”

I’ll second that, especially after the stink bomb the Broncos left on the porch last Friday night against the Packers. Sean Payton already knows what he’s got in Riley Moss, who was playing with his hair on fire this month before being removed from the Green Bay scrum with a rib injury. Same for Patrick Surtain II outside and Ja’Quan McMillian inside.

It’s too early in the film to call Barron, who was selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, an orange and blue bust. Simmons played on 92% of the Broncos’ snaps in his second season, 2017, and his comfort level only accelerated from there. The only way to truly smooth out No. 23’s rough edges is with game reps. And you’ve only got one game left that doesn’t count.

With Moss leaving on Green Bay’s first series last weekend, Barron logged 50 snaps during Week 2 of the preseason. Some were, to put it kindly, stronger than others. The former Longhorn made a nice ankle tackle, only to miss another on Pierre Strong Jr. There was a big hit on Packers QB Tyrod Taylor. Yet with 3:07 left in the first half, the game tied at 10-10, the Green Bay signal-caller got the last laugh.

Faced with a third-and-goal from the Denver 2, Taylor took a shotgun snap. From the left slot, Packers wideout Will Sheppard, the former CU Buff, gave Barron a shove with his right hand as he fired off the line, creating enough separation to gain inside position on a short “out” route toward the near left pylon.

Taylor dropped back three steps and arced a jump ball into the corner over Barron and into the mitts of Sheppard, who appeared to scrape both toes along the turf before the Broncos’ stopper shoved him out of bounds. In hindsight, it was a heck of a grab to finish off a near-perfect lob. And yet while Sheppard looked every bit his listed 6-foot-3, it also made Barron appear a little smaller than the 5-11 in your game program.

“(I can work on) just the tools and learning certain things and adjusting to certain things,” Barron told reporters after the Broncos’ 33-13 defeat. “Just, again, small things like tackling, leveraging, stuff like that.”

It’ll come. On the other hand, the Broncos are in a different place than Simmons found when he’d arrived in Dove Valley. The Super Bowl 50 champs were fading slowly in ’17 and ’18, a franchise in denial, drifting without an owner, direction or accountability. The Broncos of now, by contrast, are on the ascent, a Super Bowl contender trying to cash in on the tail end of a star quarterback’s rookie contract.

“It’s not like Jahdae has been playing bad,” noted Simmons, “He’s playing well. Like, really well.

“J-Mac is playing (like) one of the best nickel backs in the NFL. Riley is getting targeted because he’s got the best corner in the NFL (Surtain) alongside him — but that doesn’t mean Riley is playing bad; You do want to take away the P.I.s and holding penalties, though.”

Besides a pick-6 off a tip in Atlanta two weekends ago, Barron has yet to show in a game that he’s more reliable on the outside than Moss or Kris Abrams-Draine. Or that he can play as angrily and instinctively as McMillian, who’s becoming to nickel corners what Zach Allen is to defensive ends. PS2 is PS2. The only way to find room in this inn is to break down a steel door.

Simmons’ advice?

“Stick to what you know,” he replied. “You look at the guys in front of him — Moss didn’t start off just getting first-team (snaps) … even Pat, and Pat’s the best corner in the NFL, and Pat was splitting reps (with the first team) his first couple of games. J-Mac (McMillian), the same way.

“Just because you were drafted high and other people are going to put expectations on you, you don’t have to live up to anything. Jahdae, from what I saw (in 2025), is a really good player — super-athletic, and has made impactful plays. I would say, ‘Don’t feel like you need to (try) to reach for anything out of the ordinary, and X, Y, Z.’ I would tell him to keep staying the course, man. There’s nothing wrong with being in a loaded secondary.”

Amen. In the big picture? Barron’s got time. The Broncos don’t.

J.K. Dobbins has promised to be healthy, and if not, there is an MRI machine on site. Evan Engram’s key card permits him to leave witness protection on Sundays. Ben Powers’ foot is surgically repaired. Brandon Jones has his biceps back, and his bare feet are more calloused for the journey ahead.

The Broncos are not fighting recent history — of no winning seasons, of zero playoff victories. They are poised to make history.

They broke the Bills. And they would have punked the Patriots had their starting quarterback or running back played.

Two days into the 2026 training camp, the Broncos have their doubters, especially from sportsbooks who believe they will finish with nine wins and miss the playoffs.

None are inside the 320,000-square foot headquarters.

In coach Sean Payton’s fourth season, the Broncos are positioned to win the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl.

Watching practice, two reasons why emerge on loop: Bo Nix’s brains and Jaylen Waddle’s feet.

The Broncos boast a championship-caliber defense, steeped in familiarity. There will be one new starter at defensive end for the departed John Franklin-Myers, with Malcolm Roach and Eyioma Uwazurike capable of filling the void.

It is the offense that has held the Broncos back. It still sounds weird to say about a Payton team, but the truth is obvious. The Broncos were terrible on early downs and early in games last season.

It is why they were chasing more than limes after tequila.

They are not going 12-3 in one-score games again. They will likely play only eight, needing five victories.

For the first time since Peyton Manning started, the Broncos will be dynamic, explosive.

It traces back to Nix. He looks better physically than at any point of his career, his right ankle fixed, and lingering college injuries a distant memory.

Feel good, play better. And faster.

While focus remains on Nix’s feet — he is already making plays off script — it is his head that matters. There is a point in a quarterback’s career where he becomes focused on the defense, not his own personnel.

Nix has reached this intersection.

He is not Manning changing plays at the line of scrimmage, but he is more equipped to audible because he knows what he is seeing. Davis Webb getting the calls in more quickly will also help Nix diagnose with roughly 10 seconds on the play clock.

All those exotic sub packages and third down defenses will no longer look like a foreign film without subtitles.

“Those can be a little more complex and it begins to slow down a little bit when you get into year two and year three. You begin to not get fooled as much,” Payton said. “And in that area he is a lot further along.”

Nix will go from making sure he didn’t turn the ball over as a rookie to making a star turn as a 26-year-old. He is entering his prime as the Broncos’ championship window opens wide and says aaagh!

“You have a second-nature thought process. You know the play, so you are not thinking about the operation, the motion, the route concept or the handoff point. You can attack the defense in a more strategic way,” Nix said Saturday. “My eyes are up a little more. It’s by memory at this point.”

The next two seasons — before an expected huge contract extension for Nix kicks in — are the time to win at a level not witnessed in more than a decade.

When the Broncos claimed their last title, it was more oil can than Vatican. But lost in the No Fly Zone’s gravitational pull and Von Miller’s matrix bend around the edge, the offense had weapons.

Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders eclipsed 1,000-yards receiving. There was also balance. C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman combined for 1,583 rushing yards and 78 first downs.

The Broncos fell far too short of those numbers last season.

Dobbins is trying to speak 17 games into existence. Even if he gives the Broncos 13, they will be fine.

It is Waddle who will be the catalyst.

There is no reason the Broncos cannot have a pair of 1,000-yard targets (Courtland Sutton and Waddle).

Waddle is what Nix needed. A player who can pile up yards after the catch, a trash talker who can break ankles on slants and beat corners deep.

It is not a coincidence that Nix’s first pass in 11-on-11 drills keeps going to Waddle. He is the hack. The shortcut on long gains, a receiver capable of winning from hash mark to hash mark.

“Middle of the field, outside, vertically, behind the line of scrimmage. Anywhere — we are going to utilize him,” Nix said.

It has been on display in the limited sample size. Waddle does not look like the other receivers, other than Marvin Mims Jr. Payton has a type, and it is 6-foot-3-ish and 210 pounds. Waddle measures 5-10, 185.

But he is tremendous and amphibious, breaking free of the prototype because “he is one of those players who can walk on water,” Payton said.

Already in camp, he has scored on deep strikes and made a one-handed grab in full sprint that dropped jaws.

“He might be faster than when he was in Miami, and I didn’t think that was physically possible,” said safety Brandon Jones, who was Waddle’s teammate with the Dolphins. “He brings a different type of juice. He is a guy that can line up anywhere, catch any ball on any route.”

The Broncos have not talked about a receiver like this in more than a decade. It happened in 2015 when the Broncos overcame the odds.

This looks similar. It feels like that.

This Broncos offense should go from the turtle to full throttle.

Nix will throw 30 touchdown passes and reach 4,000 yards. Holding leads longer will free the defense to create more turnovers.

This team is almost identical to the group that was a Jarrett Stidham turnover and a Payton brain freeze on eschewing a field goal from going to the Super Bowl.

Now Nix is wiser, and Waddle is better.

Walk through the new facility, which houses 300 employees, features 95 underground parking spots, a golf simulator, a locker room with a sunken lounge, and a cafeteria with a chef making everything from salmon to bison burgers, and nothing is spared.

This season, the Broncos, if healthy, should win the Super Bowl.

There are no excuses or Bo excuses.

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

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

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

“Is Stiddy still your guy?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Ward replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With that, 43 laughed.

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

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He was a winning player on losing teams.

Through a cracking voice and watery eyes, Simmons retired from the NFL on Wednesday. At 32, he is done playing and no apologies are necessary for how his career played out with the Broncos.

Simmons experienced one season with a winning record, his first in 2016 as a probationary member of the No Fly Zone. He never reached the playoffs. He came close in 2021 before the Bengals’ Khalid Kareem stripped quarterback Drew Lock, a fumble that sent the Broncos into a predictable season-ending death spiral.

Understand one thing: Simmons excelled through adversity.

Take Super Bowls XXXII and XXIII off the loop, lose the violent vision of the safety position, separate the man from the ownership and coaching mayhem, and reality kicks you in the gut like Thunder’s hoof.

Justin Simmons is a Ring of Famer.

“I don’t know about all that,” Simmons said after a 40-minute press conference defined by gratitude and humility. “I didn’t deserve all of this.”

Simmons was referring to the classy exit provided by the Broncos with a press conference, farewell video and introduction by Hall of Famer Steve Atwater. Simmons reached out a few weeks ago and wanted to know if he could swing by headquarters and sign a one-day contract to retire as a Bronco.

The Broncos wisely told Simmons his departure was worth more than a photo op and social media post.

His eight seasons cemented his status as a franchise legend. Yes, it is hard for some to reach this conclusion because of all the losses.

His case demands nuance. It calls for an understanding of the period in which he played and how he overcame the dysfunction around him.

Simmons became a star when groans were the franchise soundtrack. He played for four coaches. He watched a floundering offense use 13 starting quarterbacks. And none were Bo Nix. The Broncos rarely won.

That was not because of him.

His teams didn’t dominate anything, but Simmons defined his position.

Despite revolving coordinators and a carousel of teammates, Simmons became the NFL’s finest ballhawk. No safety had more interceptions than Simmons from the time he entered the league through 2023, his final season in Denver.

He finished with 32 picks, 30 with the Broncos, including four from Patrick Mahomes.

“To me, he’s the best safety in the deep part of the field in his era,” said Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Broncos assistant coach Christian Parker. “I think the interceptions speak to that.”

For those who do not believe Simmons’ play rises to the level of a pillar outside the stadium, consider his All-Pro honors.

All-Pro still means something. It is the best of the best. And when considering Ring of Fame status, franchise context is relevant.

Simmons earned second-team All-Pro four times. No other Broncos safety can match that. Atwater (two first team, one second) and Billy Thompson (one first team, one second) are the only other Broncos’ safeties to receive multiple All-Pro nods. They are Ring of Famers.

From 2012 to 2023, only five Denver players made All-Pro more than once. The list includes Von Miller, Peyton Manning, Chris Harris Jr.,  Demaryius Thomas and Simmons. Manning and Thomas are in the Ring of Fame. Miller will join them. And Harris has a strong case.

And consider this bullet point. When it comes to the most Broncos’ All-Pro honors, Simmons sits tied for sixth, behind only Miller, Rick Upchurch, Randy Grandishar, Shannon Sharpe and Champ Bailey. Simmons is knotted with Karl Mecklenburg and Riley Odoms.

Do I need to tell you what all those players, save for Miller and Simmons, share in common? They enjoy immortality outside the stadium.

Miller will go in after the five-year waiting period, if he ever retires. Simmons’ clock has started.

It would help him tremendously if the logjam loosened. That seems unlikely, as the Walton-Penner group prefers to make the Ring of Fame even more exclusive.

How much narrower does the funnel need to be? It is already as selective as Stanford’s admissions office, with only 33 players, three coaches and two owners honored in 65 seasons.

The hope is that over the next few years, Gary Kubiak, Joe Collier, and Al Wilson will gain entry. They are all deserving.

Simmons has no Super Bowl ring. He doesn’t even have an AFC West Championship cap. I get it. But he became the light during arguably the darkest period in Broncos history. They posted seven straight losing seasons, topped only by the nosedive from 1963-72. Those archaic teams did not have lofty expectations like the ones that featured Simmons.

Performing great with a stream of new coaches, coordinators and underwhelming quarterbacks is, in many ways, more difficult.

Simmons admitted Wednesday that he felt like he let ����apountry down, unable to lead the team to the postseason. It was not his fault that the team stunk.

He did his part on the field and in the locker room. No player was more accountable during this stretch than Simmons. Trying to articulate what went wrong during Nathaniel Hazmat’s abbreviated tenure alone is worthy of the Ring of Fame.

Then, there is the off-field involvement. Character and community work are not part of the Ring of Fame debate. But in Simmons’ case, an exception should be made.

If there is any doubt, Simmons’ impact should break the tie. He was a three-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.

Through his foundation, he mentors kids, supports their education, and provides hunger relief. That is the macro.

At the micro level, I have witnessed him surprise families with Christmas trees and maintain relationships with them. I have seen him walk around stores for hours picking out Christmas gifts for underprivileged kids. He supported teens NaShara Ellerbee and Naja’Ray West as they created the March for Peace, a 5K run/walk and community event in the Montbello neighborhood.

And he has been such a regular at the Broncos Boys & Girls club that the students don’t see him as a professional athlete, but just as Justin, a guy looking to shoot some hoops.

What does it say about Simmons that he was the team’s best player during its worst time and he never hid from a camera, never shied away from interacting with fans? It is a level of professionalism that must be weighed.

His case is complicated by the lack of team success. It is also strengthened by it.

That he posted his resume under these circumstances, not surrounded by great players, is exactly why he should be a Ring of Famer.

Like Wednesday’s ceremony, he deserves it.

Keeler: Hey, I’d love to see David Wooderson in the flesh at Empower. But let me ask you two things: First, other than that early Jones-to-Watkins connection in Santa Clara (and that was a heck of a throw), what exactly has McMillian done to lose his spot as the No. 1 slot corner? Second, and more to the point, what has Barron done — at camp or over two preseason games — to stake his claim? Yeah, Jahdae has been flying all over the place. He’s got a higher ceiling. And higher expectations. You’ve got to earn that path to the starting 11. It’ll come, but Barron’s not there yet.

Broncos podcast: Breaking down Denver’s toughest roster decisions

Renck: Sean Payton is fond of telling rookies that it doesn't matter how they got to Denver, it is what they do when here. It is a motivational reminder for longshots and late-round picks alike that their resumes will be considered. That is how McMillian worked his way into a starting spot. He represents a heck of a find as an undrafted free agent. McMillian is good, but his mistakes are costly. Barron is better. It is not on display every day. But it is there. Defensive boss Vance Joseph has given Barron reps at nickel and outside, and it should not surprise anyone if he comes on a safety blitz. Joseph raves about his football IQ. Moving Barron around has prevented linear progress on purpose. Joseph wants him to learn from mistakes in camp, not games. But given his length and tackling ability, there's no reason to delay moving him in with the 1s in Week 1.

Keeler: Love the idea of Barron as a defensive joker — a lengthy, fast, stealthy weapon who's just as dangerous crashing the box as he is dropping back. . He doesn't just make you better. Like Evan Engram and Marvin Mims on offense, he allows you to get creative with how you use his skill set. The only limit is your imagination.

Renck: The addition of Barron and progress of Kris Abrams-Draine give the Broncos' their deepest secondary since the 2015 No Fly Zone. The NFL is becoming a position-less league defensively. Barron represents the next wave. He is Bo Nix at quarterback: a terrific athlete with a bloated college resume known for his intelligence. McMillian will get snaps in packages, but Barron's future is now.

Keeler: Fair point, but you also don't have to force it, either. You know who had to wait until Week 2 of his rookie campaign to make his first NFL start? Only the best defensive player in the dang league. Pat Surtain II was "eased in" on nickel/dime packages during his pro debut at MetLife Stadium against the Giants in Week 1 of 2021. PS2 got 16 snaps, according to , as Uncle Vic Fangio doled out most of the cornerback snaps to Kyle Fuller, Ronald Darby and Bryce Callahan. We all know what happened next: Darby got hurt in Jersey, PS2 moved up, and the rest is Broncos history. Just because Barron might not start against the Titans doesn't mean he won't become a Front Range fixture. You've got time. Even better, you've got options. Darn good ones.

The Broncos locker room was wildly joyous late Sunday afternoon, shouts and laughter reverberating off the walls in Club Dub as the smoke machine, strobe lighting and music created quite the scene.

The Kansas City Chiefs turned the Broncos into reluctant organ donors, ripping out their hearts. And the Broncos rebounded like Dennis Rodman against the Atlanta Falcons.

Yeah, this team is different. And it is time to believe it.

For starters, the Broncos have their franchise quarterback in Bo Nix and they are going to the playoffs. The last time we said that around here Peyton Manning was under center and the No Fly Zone — guests at Sunday’s game — was making Cam Newton miserable.

The Broncos are back. The players know it. And they showed it.

One play encapsulated why a 6-5 record this season feels significantly better than 6-5 last season. All the talk about grit, toughness and selective amnesia coalesced into an unforgettable run. On second-and-4 from the 14-yard line with 7:03 remaining in the first half, Javonte Williams took the handoff and burst left.

He found a hole — Atlanta’s defense has more than Life Savers — and raced toward the end zone before colliding with safety Justin Simmons at the 5-yard line. If this team was not invested, if this team did not care, if this team was still burnt over the latest K.C. barbecue, how do you explain what happened next?

Williams leaned on Simmons — “It was a stalemate,” he admitted — and was joined by Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, Devaughn Vele, Quinn Meinerz, Ben Powers, Mike McGlinchey and Courtland Sutton. Did I miss anyone?

The touchdown shoved the Broncos ahead 14-3. Any doubt that this is Sean Payton’s team, his guys, was answered at this moment.

“That����ap a culture play right there. That����ap what culture is. You can’t draw up plays like that. It����ap organic. You can say that you have the right culture, but it is what the guys do,” explained defensive lineman Malcolm Roach, who played for Payton on the Saints. “When our offensive line got behind Javonte, it just turnt everybody up.”

The Broncos spent the previous six days telling us they were invested. But it rolls eyes without a deposit. Then comes a snapshot that demands playing to the whistle, and requires uncommon effort.

The Broncos’ fight or flight included both.

“My feet were no longer on the ground and I was still moving,” Williams said. “I was in the air.”

The Broncos’ response to their season threatening to collapse was to plant the Falcons and their good friend Simmons into the turf. A Bronco for life, Simmons rallied his new teammates before kickoff by declaring, “I want to go to the postseason. That����ap what this (bleep) means. In front of their home crowd, (Bleep)’ em.”

The Broncos dispatched Simmons with the kind of impersonal contempt that is totally welcome for a franchise that has been a welcome mat for muddy feet for far too long.

“Right when I saw it, I was was like, ‘Oh yeah, I am getting involved in this,’ ” said left guard Ben Powers, a smirk creasing his face. “Quinn and I watch film and judge others when they don’t get there. I was sprinting my tail off.”

Even better, this attitude is becoming a defining characteristic. When an Atlanta Falcons defender refused to let go of Nix’s legs after a third-quarter pass, Garett Bolles shoved him and provided a head butt for good measure. He drew an unnecessary roughness penalty, but this is the price of doing business. Just like Williams’ run, it sends a message: Don’t Screw With Us.

“I can’t get a penalty, right? I know that. But he wouldn’t get off him,” Bolles said. “And that����ap our quarterback.”

About Nix. He delivered his best game, completing 28 of 33 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns. He is not just the Broncos’ franchise quarterback — I told you all that last week — he has a strong argument as the NFL’s top rookie quarterback, his stats nearly mirroring those of Washington’s Jayden Daniels.

“That is definitely not an overreaction,” ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano said. “It is something we are going to be talking about.”

The Williams run, the Bo Show, the nastiness, it proved Payton’s point. The Broncos are no longer pushovers. They can take a haymaker and punch back. It does not hurt that Payton remained on a John Wick revenge tour against the NFC South, outscoring Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Carolina and Atlanta 88-23 in four wins.

“I could say something smart,” Payton said. “But I won’t.”

He did not have to. Sunday spoke volumes.

For once, it is easy to make sense of these Broncos, of their quarterback, of their gnarly defense. And if confused, just follow Williams’ path to the end zone with your feet off the ground and head in the clouds.

The Broncos are back. Get used to it.

“You look around and realize we finally have dawgs in here. We have developed that mentality and love for one another,” Bolles said. “We never wavered. We are a tight, tight team. Everybody wants to play for each other. And you combine that with a relentless attitude, it makes us hard to beat.”

The Broncos defense is not the 2015 Orange Rush. Let����ap get that straight.

“I love the way they are playing. I am proud of them. They are off to a great start,” said former All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “But avoid comparisons with us until we get through the season.”

Harris is right. It is not fair to the 2024 Broncos. The 2015 group was vicious, proving a perfect antidote to the finesse image that saddled the franchise after a humiliating Super Bowl 48 loss. Those defenders played with confidence and excess, stealing chains and crushing dreams, melding with the masterful coaching of coordinator Wade Phillips.

“I don’t think people realized how good we were at the time, but I did. For me, it is a top-10 defense of all time,” said Phillips from his home in Houston on Thursday. “It may have been one of the greatest playoff runs ever.”

The current Broncos symbolize a resurgent team, awakening echoes of their bloody knuckles past when they punched first, celebrated second and asked questions later.

After seven straight losing seasons, the Broncos defense boasts numbers through seven weeks that demand attention. It leads the league in pressures, ranking second in sacks (28) and third in overall defense. Coordinator Vance Joseph inspires loyalty not seen since his mentor Phillips. Both coach with humility and accept responsibility for mistakes, allowing players to operate with freedom. Want to know how much they appreciate this and care? Stop the film and watch how many players are around the ball then and now.

“It is something you don’t normally get, but I see that with Vance’s group. It����ap a want-to thing,” Phillips said. “It����ap hard to teach that. You can tell how much pride they have in what they are doing.”

The Broncos’ most notable improvement has come up front with the additions of Malcolm Roach and John Franklin-Myers, who have thrown down spikes and punctured tires on runners. Through seven games last season, Denver allowed a league-worst 167.3 yards per game on the ground. That number has shrunk to 111.7 this season, ranking 10th. They have delivered 10 takeaways.

“The good thing about this defense, something I love, is that everyone eats. You don’t know whose day it is going to be,” said reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week Cody Barton. “Everyone makes plays and everyone has the chance to eat. It����ap a lot of fun.”

The 2015 defense made life miserable for opponents. Forget eat, this group devoured opponents, leaving knockouts and concussions in their wake. With apologies to the 1977 Orange Crush, no one stacks up against them.

There were three potential Hall of Famers — DeMarcus Ware is in, Von Miller will join him, and Aqib Talib has a case — menacing disruptors (Malik Jackson and Derek Wolfe), athletic linebackers (Danny Trevathan and Brandon Marshall) and a No Fly Zone secondary that has forever set the standard. The 2015 Broncos began the season 7-0, and the defense ranked first in yards per game (261.1) and points per game (16.0), and fourth against the run (89.3). The current Broncos are 4-3 and allow 282.4 yards (third) and 15.1 points (third).

And after they maul the Panthers — Carolina quarterback Bryce Young is 0-9 on the road — the whispers about the defensive numbers will grow louder. The ’24 group does not sniff the ’15 unit����ap talent. It features one first-rounder (star cornerback Pat Surtain II) and a future All-Pro (defensive end Zach Allen), fueled instead by players who were overlooked and underappreciated.

But like the 2015 defense, the chemistry is palpable. Players are driven to prove critics wrong and not let their teammates down.

“We want to be good. We have a lot of guys, including young guys, who want to make a name for themselves. We give effort. We run to the ball,” Roach said. “At the end of the day, VJ is calling great plays and we are playing for each other.”

For this Denver defense to rank as one of the franchise’s best, it will have to move up in weight class. Through no fault of their own, the Broncos have faced forgettable quarterbacks, their most impressive wins over Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and a washed Aaron Rodgers.

In their first seven weeks, the 2015 Broncos logged wins against Joe Flacco, Alex Smith, Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr and prime Rodgers. By season’s end, the Broncos went 7-1 against potential Hall of Famers (Tom Brady twice, Philip Rivers twice, Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger and Stafford) and left MVP Cam Newton in the fetal position breathing through his nose during Super Bowl 50.

Want to start a barstool debate on where the ’24 group ranks? The Broncos have to show up and show out against Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Joe Burrow.

“Sooner or later you have to go against a great offense and a great quarterback and make a statement,” Phillips said. “They will get that chance. I am pulling for my friends VJ and (linebackers coach Greg) Manusky. I really like the way they are playing. I like how aggressive they are. What I loved about the (’15 defense) is that it didn’t matter who we played.”

But this isn’t about what has happened or what might, but how it feels. And everything about this 2024 defense feels right.

“If you want to be talked about among the best, you have to be consistent and do it with more on the line against top quarterbacks. There’s no tricking them,” Harris said. “But I love their intensity and how VJ is creating pressure. You can definitely say right now that they have potential to do something special.”

The worst thing is the rock. Or in this case, the Rockies. They are playing baseball so poorly that there is a growing suspicion that they might do it worse than any team in the modern history of the sport. For 62 years that honor has belonged to the 1962 Mets.

With the Rockies, it is not some dramatic failure. They are mundane in their awfulness. They don’t pitch particularly well, they don’t hit particularly well, and if that doesn’t undermine them, they run the bases like they are being chased by bees.

The Rockies woke up Saturday with an 8-24 record. They are on pace for 40 wins. The Mets finished 40-120-1. That was an expansion team. What is the Rockies’ excuse? They consider themselves a draft-and-development organization, but they don’t draft or develop well. Brendan Rodgers is their best domestic player drafted since 2015. And he’s hitting .237 with one home run.

The Rockies make up for their lack of power by striking out too much, third most in the league. They average 10 Ks per game, making opponent pitchers look like a blend of Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.

Colorado ranks last in ERA (5.79), hits allowed, and batting average against (.288). So, it should come as no surprise that the Rockies were the first team ever to trail in each of their first 31 games, a streak snapped Friday. Outfielder Jordan Beck and pitcher Chase Dollander, both terrific prospects, cannot be counted on to save them from the indignity of history.

The Rockies say things about playing with heart and working hard. These are phrases uttered by high school and college teams. As former manager Clint Hurdle was fond of saying, MLB is “not a try-hard league. It is a do-good league.” The Rockies are not good. How bad can it get? It����ap time to start tracking them with the ’62 Mets.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley needs a long suspension from the NBA for his actions Thursday night. Twice he threw a basketball into the stands, once hitting a fan. Then he declined to answer questions from a reporter postgame because she did not subscribe to his podcast. Maybe Beverly can translate his pod to Chinese because that’s where he should be playing until the All-Star break next season. …

Congratulations to former cornerback Chris Harris Jr. on his retirement. He was the charter member of the No Fly Zone. Next stop? How about the Broncos Ring of Fame? …

The Avs set a record for goals in a five-game series by grounding the Jets. They are more explosive than the Fourth of July. If Alexandar Georgiev remains viable, anything is possible. …

After the Nuggets dispatched the Lakers, Darvin Ham talked like a coach who knew he was going to get fired. He was right. Ham is not Erik Spoelstra, but does anyone look at the Lakers roster and believe they are better than a 47-win team? Former NBA 3-point whiz J.J. Redick is being floated as a possible replacement. I am sure it has nothing to do with him doing a podcast with LeBron James. Total coincidence.

The NFL schedule should be released late next week. Rooting for the Broncos to open the season vs. the Steelers. You know, just because.

MAIL TIME

So are we all just assuming that Javonte Williams is cooked (with the drafting of Audric Estime)?

— @esp1371, via Twitter

Running back Javonte Williams made an inspirational return from his knee surgery last season. But his early return and rehab took its toll, in my opinion. He averaged 3.2 yards per carry over the final 10 games. To form a one-two punch with Estime, Williams needs to regain the burst that allowed him to run with violent intentions.

Now, he feels like it’s time to look forward to better things. The former Broncos cornerback officially announced his retirement Tuesday after 12 seasons in the NFL.

“I just felt it����ap time to close that chapter,” Harris told The Denver Post. “I got a lot of opportunities coming up and I just wanted to focus on the next phase of my life.”

Harris spent nine seasons in Denver, where he played in 139 games, totaling 518 tackles, 86 pass breakups and 20 interceptions. Harris, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2010s All-Decade team, was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and named first-team All-Pro in 2016.

Harris was a prominent member of the “No Fly Zone,” which is considered one of the best secondary groups in league history. Harris, alongside Aqib Talib, Darian Stewart and T.J. Ward, frustrated offenses, especially in 2015 when the unit played an integral role in the Broncos winning Super Bowl 50.

“It was nothing like it, man,” Harris, 34, said. “We probably had the best chemistry for a secondary. You could’ve put us up there with the Legion of Boom. The only way we were going to win games was if the No Fly Zone was going to come out and make plays.”

Following Harris’ time with the Broncos, he spent two seasons with the Chargers and played in 10 games for the Saints in 2022. As a free agent for the last two years, Harris kept his options open in case a team needed a veteran cornerback or safety.

“I felt like I could still play (and) wanted to make sure I still gave myself a chance,” he said.

Harris said he has no regrets about what he accomplished during his time with the Broncos. He hopes the franchise can return to its glory days.

Harris believes head coach Sean Payton can get the Broncos back on track, calling him a coach players love to play for.

“I’m excited to see his plan going forward,” Harris said. “He’s a guy that you can put your trust in. We might not have instant success but I think he is going to build (the team) in the right way.”

Randy Gradishar Day: In the wake of former Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar being elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Gov. Jared Polis announced that May 3 has been declared “Randy Gradishar Day” in Colorado. There will be a special proclamation reading held at the State Capitol building’s west steps on Friday at 2 p.m. when Gradishar will be joined by Polis and Mayor Mike Johnston.

Broncos not expected to pick up Wilson’s fifth-year option: A source told The Denver Post that the Broncos are not expected to pick up newly-acquired quarterback Zach Wilson’s fifth-year option of $22.4 million, which would’ve kept him under contract through the 2025 season. Instead, he will hit free agency next offseason. Denver acquired Wilson in a trade with the New York Jets ahead of the NFL draft last week. Head coach Sean Payton said Wilson, Jarrett Stidham and Bo Nix will compete for the starting quarterback job.

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