Denver made the biggest splash of its offseason — and one of the biggest single moves of the spring in the NFL — on Tuesday when it landed Miami receiver Jaylen Waddle in a blockbuster trade.

A quiet opening week in free agency moved into a different light for many fans and observers when news of the trade broke.

The Broncos’ run of retentions early on in free agency inspired plenty of run-it-back vibes, but now Waddle’s addition gives Denver an element it didn’t have in 2025 and, really, hasn’t had for the better part of a decade.

He is a true take-the-top-off threat, dangerous after the catch and in the middle of the field and capable of playing multiple positions. He will help add diversity and explosion to the Broncos’ passing game, but he can also have an impact in the running game, not so much by blocking but by keeping defenses honest in how many players they can commit to the box on early downs.

“I’m here to help in every fashion,” Waddle told reporters Wednesday.

Denver also cracked the lid on external free agent signings, agreeing to a one-year deal with former Cincinnati safety and core special teamer Tycen Anderson. Anderson hasn’t played as much defense as P.J. Locke did, so it����ap unclear exactly how good the Broncos feel about their No. 3 spot behind Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones. Denver’s staff liked what Devon Key showed defensively in practice over the 2025 season.

More broadly, the Broncos are not a finished product. Nobody ever really is in football, especially this time of year. The draft is a month away, and there are still players available via free agency and trade. The search for help rarely, if ever, actually ceases.

“We got J.K. Dobbins in, what, June?” general manager George Paton said last month. “You’re always looking and it never stops. There is always something out there that hopefully can help you.”

With the opening waves of free agency and one tsunami of a trade in the books, here is an updated look at the positions where the Broncos still need help.

Tight end

Tight end, like the next two positions, isn’t a true “must” for Sean Payton and company in a strict sense because the Broncos brought back all of their guys from 2025 between the NFL Combine and the start of free agency.

All the same, that group was underwhelming a year ago. Upgrading should remain a focus for Denver. The question: How? Most of the quality options went quickly in free agency, and that was without much of a list of surefire, major-impact players.

The draft is interesting because there aren’t the top-of-the-board type options like last year (Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren) but the closer late April creeps, the deeper many people believe the tight end crop is on the whole.

Dane Brugler, a draft analyst for The Athletic, recently said on social media that as he grades the group, “I have more draftable TEs in this class than any other I’ve done.”

Still haven't found the bottom of this TE draft class. There are going to be some useful guys still around late rounds/PFA.

I have more draftable TEs in this class than any other I've done.

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler)

Vanderbilt����ap Eli Stowers isn’t likely to be around at No. 62, so trying to land him might require some creativity. Otherwise, the task will be sorting through a raft of mid-to-late-round options and trying to find somebody who can help right away, sure, but who can be a force in the future.

Running back

By the time Jaleel McLaughlin signed a one-year deal, the Broncos had gone 4-of-4 in bringing their 2025 running backs back into the fold. Still, the same role questions that cropped up with that quartet last year remain. Tyler Badie is a good pass protector, but didn’t provide much else. Jaleel McLaughlin is a nice change of pace, but he isn’t a true third-down back because his pass pro is lacking. RJ Harvey is explosive, talented and not a finished product. J.K. Dobbins is one of the best in the business when he’s on the field, but he’s never finished a full season.

The free agent crop is pretty good and well-picked over. Denver was in the mix for Trevor Etienne, but ultimately wasn’t going to go as high as the $13 million a year he got from New Orleans.

Inside linebacker

Denver is down one linebacker on net after bringing Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton back, but also releasing Dre Greenlaw.

Never say never on one more veteran — the Broncos were well past the opening wave of free agency in 2024 when they signed Cody Barton to a one-year deal and he ended up playing 91% of snaps after Singleton tore his ACL in Week 3.

More likely, though, this is a draft and also a development spot for Denver.

The 2026 draft class is considered deep at inside linebacker. Georgia’s CJ Allen and Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez likely won’t last until No. 62. Perhaps somebody like Texas’ Anthony Hill Jr. or Cincinnati’s Jake Golday will be an option there. But there are a ton to choose from.

Not only that, but the Broncos may decide they have a worthy third already in the building. The leading candidate is Jordan Turner, while Levelle Bailey has also flashed. Drew Sanders is a wild card, but at this point can’t be counted on to be a major contributor because of the amount of development time he’s missed.

Defensive line

Denver’s post-John Franklin-Myers plan is pretty clear: A combination of Malcom Roach, Eyioma Uwazruike and second-year man Sai’Vion Jones will be asked to fill in the production void.

Drafting a defensive lineman can’t be ruled out, naturally. Bottom line: There’s not an overwhelming need.

This is a spot, though, where, if the Broncos and a veteran saw eye to eye on a role and an opportunity to play for a contender, there are still good players out there on the market.

Calais Campbell is still playing well and, of course, is a Denver native. He’ll turn 40 in September, but what a story it would be if season No. 19 were a title pursuit in his hometown.

Cam Jordan has a deep history with Sean Payton in New Orleans and can still really rush the passer at 36. Broncos fans, of course, know Shelby Harris well. Denico Autry played less — and missed five games — for Houston this year, but has been part of their terrific defense over the past two years and, even at 34, had a 10.9% pressure rate in 2025, according to Next Gen Stats. He’s been at that mark or better in six of his past eight seasons.

Denver has agreed to terms with free-agent safety Tycen Anderson on a one-year deal, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Thursday.

It’s a clear move to address both depth at safety and bring in a potentially impactful special-teams player. Anderson has played just a handful of snaps on defense through a three-year NFL career, but played 83% of the Bengals’ special-teams snaps last season.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Anderson was a fifth-round draft pick by Cincinnati in 2022 and appeared in every game for the Bengals in 2024 and 2025. He’s recorded a total of 42 tackles across his three-year career, primarily on special teams.

Multiple NFL sources told The Denver Post that the Broncos would look for a depth safety in free agency, a need made more urgent by the departure of key reserve P.J. Locke for the Dallas Cowboys. Anderson could reasonably compete for Denver’s third-safety job or primarily fill a role on special teams, as the Broncos also have reserves Devon Key and J.L. Skinner under contract for 2026.

Denver sought out external special-teams contributors last offseason, signing receiver Trent Sherfield and safety Sam Franklin to short-term deals. Neither panned out, ultimately, as Denver waived Franklin during final roster cuts and cut Sherfield midseason.

The 26-year-old Anderson played 23 snaps on special teams in the Broncos’ Week 4 win over the Bengals in 2025, and 20 snaps in Denver’s 30-24 overtime-thriller win over Cincinnati the previous season.

Last Tuesday, soon-to-be free-agent running back J.K. Dobbins was working out in the Broncos’ facility when he got a buzz from Payton to come up to his office. Dobbins finished, wandered up, and sat with Denver’s head coach for a simple conversation that’ll form the genesis of how Denver’s not-so-new-look run game will produce in 2026.

Payton told Dobbins that he was his guy, a source familiar with the situation told the Denver Post. That said enough. Being a Payton Guy has extended NFL lives and poured millions upon millions of dollars into loyal bank accounts. Being a Payton Guy, as former Saints linebacker Scott Shanle told The Post last year, is a “badge of honor.” And Payton has praised Dobbins to reporters throughout the year, enamored with the spirited presence of a running back who chose specifically to rehab a midseason Lisfranc injury in Denver to stick around the team rather than have surgery elsewhere.

“Losing J.K., obviously, was a tough loss,” Payton said after Denver’s season ended. “He brought a lot more to the locker room than you would know.”

And Payton made clear he didn’t want to lose Dobbins come 2026, the source said, in that March 3 conversation. The reality of Denver’s situation was slightly more complex. Jets star running back Breece Hall loomed as a potential free-agent option; asked if the Broncos would’ve gone after Hall had he hit the open market, a source with knowledge of the team’s thinking told The Post the decision would’ve been a “no-brainer.” But New York .

Other top options, from Kenneth Walker III to Travis Etienne Jr., quickly fell off the board during the early week’s legal-tampering period of free agency. Dobbins remained, as his own market started to climb. And the Broncos moved quickly to secure their 2025 leading rusher, and certified Payton Guy, on a two-year deal.

That single sequence has encapsulated Denver’s dealings — or lack of them — through the first week of free agency. The reigning No. 1-seeded Broncos are approaching unprecedented levels of run-it-back roster retention. As of Friday, Denver is the only team in the NFL to not have signed a single external free agent. Not only that, but the Broncos have signed back 16 of their own 22 players set to hit free agency since late February.

The sheer wave of Payton favorites re-upping on minimum deals — tight end Nate Adkins, fullback Adam Prentice, receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, running back Jaleel McLaughlin — has washed in heaps of online vitriol from Denver’s own fanbase. Internally, the Broncos’ brass went into free agency aligned without expecting to make a massive splash in the market. Externally, the Broncos’ lack of activity gives the impression of an organization that is relying fully on its Payton-era foundation for a Super Bowl leap, for better or for worse.

The reasons for this week’s developments are multifaceted. But the overall reality is simple, lying in the hands of the head man still pulling the strings despite passing off the play-calling reins.

Asked their impression of the Broncos’ approach, one NFL assistant coach told The Post: “Sean obviously likes his football team.”

Growth inside the building

There’s plenty left to play out, from the trade market to April’s draft. Denver, after all, first signed Dobbins in June 2025. But data indicates the Broncos have taken a particularly unique strategy on the first go-around of the free-agent carousel.

According to player data collected and analyzed by The Post, Denver currently has 94% of its total snaps from the 2025 season under contract. In the last 10 years, no team that’s made the AFC Championship Game has gone into the following season retaining more than 83.2% of its snaps from the previous year (the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs set this mark).

“Good call,” one NFL agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, remarked. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Denver, of course, was the furthest thing from broken in a 14-3 season in 2025. The issue: its offense, by all accounts, was continually bent out of shape. Payton fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and receivers coach Keary Colbert after a 14th-place finish in points per game in 2025 and appointed a separate play-caller — 31-year-old Davis Webb — for the first time in his 18-year head-coaching career.

At the NFL Combine, Payton was asked whether coming so close to a Super Bowl appearance influenced him to consider a big offseason swing or simply to stay the course. He directly acknowledged that the Broncos played the margins too thin in a season of white-knuckle moments at Empower Field.

“From my lens, we won a lot of games by one score or less, right?” Payton said then. “And I’m not naive enough to think those games couldn’t have swung, and you could grab any two or three. But where’s the meat on the bone?

“The meat on the bone,” he continued, “exists with our takeaways. That has to improve. Our run-game consistency, our meat on the bone relative to a number of things that we won despite maybe — not being as good as others.”

That has quickly become the defining quote of Denver’s offseason, for better or worse. Despite Payton’s acknowledgement that the Broncos couldn’t simply stand pat, they have simply … stood pat. In fact, they’ve only lost production. Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who was everything from a key pass-rusher to a behind-the-scenes mentor, left for a monster three-year, $63 million deal with Tennessee. Backup safety P.J. Locke went to Dallas. Denver cut linebacker Dre Greenlaw to save cap room.

There are a few explanations for this confusing puzzle. Piece together hints from across the past year, and Payton and general manager George Paton are clearly focused on development from young, cheap talent under a new-look staff. That starts, of course, with a continued third-year leap from quarterback Bo Nix.

Payton made it clear at the combine that Nix wasn’t a factor in the decision to pass play-calling duties to Webb; people close to Nix, though, have told The Post that Nix was generally supportive of the move.

“There’s certainly things we want to be better at,” Payton said at the combine, speaking on Denver’s offensive operation. “But it����ap also being quicker. And look, it����ap only if there’s someone that you feel like is good enough to do that, and (Webb) will have that opportunity.”

The Broncos are also plenty high on their young receiving corps of Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr. and Pat Bryant, with the potential to hand-pick another weapon come April: Indiana star Omar Cooper Jr. visited Denver for a pre-draft visit on Friday. Rising second-year back RJ Harvey will have every opportunity to show he can improve as a runner from an equally dynamic and shaky rookie season. 2025 third-round pick Sai’vion Jones, who received just 39 snaps in the middle of a logjam in his rookie year, could also make a push in training camp for Franklin-Myers’ role on the defensive line.

Denver has room for growth in its tight-end crop, too, despite preserving a middle-of-the-road group for 2025. Veteran Evan Engram is tight with Webb dating back to their shared playing days in New York, and Engram had a 58-yard catch-and-run in Webb’s preseason play-calling showcase against the Cardinals in August. 2025 seventh-round pick Caleb Lohner, meanwhile — a raw big body who spent his rookie year on the practice squad — is training in Texas this offseason with former Packers Pro Bowl receiver Donald Driver, Lohner’s uncle Mike told The Post.

Another possible hidden wrinkle to Denver’s offseason: the 2027 draft is already generating substantial buzz in the NFL. The Broncos will likely receive a fourth-round compensation pick in ’27 with Franklin-Myers’ departure, which becomes particularly valuable given the strength of next year’s class. This would not be a foreign strategy.

The Jaguars, who’ve also been notably quiet in free agency, have let star running back Travis Etienne and linebacker Devin Lloyd walk specifically to acquire 2027 draft capital.

“I think on its surface, you would think, ‘Oh, OK, you’re going to make picks in 2027,'” Jacksonville . “Whereas, in reality, those draft picks and having more of ’em actually allows you the luxury of remaining in the hunt at different intervals throughout the entire calendar year, for acquiring players.”

Cap considerations

The Post sourced 10 different NFL agents for their thoughts on Denver’s lack of activity early in free agency. The clear consensus from those sitting across the table: the Broncos haven’t taken a bad approach, given they were a Bo Nix fractured ankle and an AFC title game winter wonderland away from a Super Bowl appearance.

“They had a great season,” one agent texted. “It makes sense to me to build off of what you already have.”

“Why would you not bring that entire team back (?)” another agent texted. “Good chance they win it all if no Injury (sic) and maybe even just if no blizzard.”

“It is odd,” another agent mused. “They probably see it, like — it’s not worth overspending on anybody.”

That point is key. Two NFL sources who spoke with Denver earlier in the week told The Post that the Broncos weren’t willing to spend more than $10 million per year at running back and $6 million per year at tight end. That ruled out the dynamic Etienne, who signed for four years and $52 million with New Orleans. That also ruled out Chig Okonkwo — a skilled tight end the Broncos called about, according to a source — who ended up signing for three years and $30 million with the Commanders.

That’s not stinginess for the sake of stinginess. At his end-of-season presser, Payton likened the Broncos’ financial freedom from Russell Wilson’s contract to renovating one’s house.

“If I said I’m going to give you $50,000 to decorate your home, or $200,000, your home’s going to look nicer, I think, if you’re a decent shopper,” Payton said.

Denver, though, really has closer to $50,000.

Much of the Broncos’ cap room has already been gobbled up by a rollicking run of long-term extensions across the past year, locking in core pieces from Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto to Luke Wattenberg and Malcolm Roach. The Broncos really haven’t had much to spend after extensions for Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Dobbins and Trautman — and need to keep an eye towards possible in-season extensions for key players like Mims, Riley Moss, and Ja’Quan McMillian.

The Broncos, too, may have to consider future renegotiations with All-Pros Pat Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz, who Denver extended at such bargains in 2024 that both are now making well below their market value. Surtain’s now the fifth-highest-paid cornerback in the NFL via average salary, and Meinerz .

The draft and the trade market still beckon, and Paton and Denver’s front office head into April with enviable capital: nine total picks, after being awarded two seventh-round compensatory picks for losing free agents in the 2025 offseason. There’s still time, as owner Greg Penner said in late January, for the Broncos to be “opportunistically aggressive.”

Thus far, though, Denver’s been all opportunistic and hardly aggressive.

The Broncos’ messaging was off. When owner Greg Penner, general manager George Paton and Sean Payton talked this offseason, they inferred Denver would do something. Make at least one move, preferably a big one. They have every offseason with Paton.

Instead, the Broncos woke up Friday as the only team not to sign a free agent from another team. Will fans understand if they admit they swung and missed? Not likely.

The Broncos pursued Travis Etienne Jr., and drew a line in the sand somewhere shy of $13 million per season. Turns out they were a stalking horse. Etienne confirmed that the Broncos and Chiefs wanted him, but he was determined to return home to Louisiana.

The Broncos chased receiver Jalen Nailor, but exercised restraint when he secured an offer of $23 million guaranteed from the Raiders.

Once these two were off the board, the Broncos stood pat. They have signed 17 of their 22 in-house free agents. The only players not returning are John Franklin-Myers (forced to leave to get a huge payday), P.J. Locke (returned home to Texas), Marcedes Lewis (41 years old), Mike Burton and Sam Mustipher. There is irony that Burton is the only Broncos player who has a Super Bowl ring.

When Denver brought back Jaleel McLaughlin on Friday — he is an all-time great dude with a Disney story — it was objectively hilarious.

It was as if Payton were trolling us.

The coach declared improving the run game was a top priority and then ran it back at running back. The entire room is the same, pending the draft.

Offensively, players who took 94 percent of the snaps last season are under contract.

Mafia families are not this loyal.

Why the static nature? The Broncos signed 11 contract extensions over the past 19 months, so they had fewer needs. Payton keeps culture guys, valuing their off-field impact as much as their on-field contributions. And once the third wave of free agent players arrived, there was a calculus involved.

Clearly, teams love the 2027 draft. The Broncos can argue that it is not worth losing a fourth-round compensatory pick for Franklin-Myers to overpay a pedestrian player.

But don’t blame fans for their reaction.

They see a team in a Super Bowl window with an offense that scares no one. They watched the Chiefs and Chargers get better, and Denver stood pat. The inactivity places priority on hitting on the draft with a running back like Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr.

The problem is that Payton, in Denver, has not developed an offensive skill player into a star. Vance Joseph turned Nik Bonitto into an All-Pro; Jonathon Cooper into an impact starter. Troy Franklin improved last season, but he is still not a feared No. 2 receiver. Same goes for Pat Bryant. Maybe both take a huge step forward, easing concerns.

It is not guaranteed. Even at running back. I am old enough to remember when Audric Estime was going to develop into a frontline starter. He was cut after one season.

In a vacuum, there are sound explanations for the Broncos keeping so many of their own. But don’t expect ����apountry to understand. The fans thought they were getting a new ride, and instead, their old whip sits in the driveway sparkling from a car wash.

Bam Bam Mad: Don’t be mad at Bam Adebayo for scoring 83 points on Tuesday night. Direct rage at the tanking Washington Wizards. They chose not to guard him for three quarters, then turned the game into a mockery by fouling him in the fourth. Is Miami innocent? No. But once Adebayo reached 70, he was going for it. The ending was cringeworthy. My anger, however, is focused on the hapless Wizards for making the achievement feel tainted.

Final Thought: Denver Post Headline in 2040: Broncos re-sign receiver Ol’ Jordan Humphrey. I kid because I care.

On Tuesday, former Broncos safety P.J. Locke agreed to a one-year deal with the , a source confirmed to The Denver Post. It’ll bring an end to a six-year tenure in Denver for one of the Broncos’ truest grinders, an undrafted free agent in 2020 who worked his way from a special-teamer to an important piece in Denver’s secondary.

Broncos NFL free agency 2026 tracker: J.K. Dobbins, Alex Singleton are back, but Broncos cut Dre Greenlaw

Locke issued a statement to "����apountry" on Twitter later Tuesday afternoon.

"For the past 7 years you guys have made Denver feel like home for my family and I," Locke wrote. "Things didn’t work out business wise, but just know you guys hold a very very special place in my heart that I can’t put into words. From the coaches, front office, friends, teammates and all the other relationships that were built. It����ap hard moving on from that for sure, Trust me (sic).

We love you guys and wish the best of luck to everyone."

Locke became a full-time starter at safety for the Broncos two years ago, a hard hitter who racked up 74 tackles and three tackles for loss in 15 starts in 2024. After Denver signed Talanoa Hufanga this past offseason, Locke was relegated to reserve duties, but started five games and stabilized Denver down the stretch at safety when the Broncos lost starter Brandon Jones for the season with a pec injury.

Locke, too, worked his way back from an offseason spinal-fusion procedure in 2025, fixing a degenerated disc in his vertebrae that caused "terrible" nerve pain, as Locke told The Post this past training camp. Few players in NFL history have ever returned to play from such an operation; Locke, though, returned little worse for wear for training camp and actually showed up an inch taller due to a spacer installed in his spine.

"I think the young man’s just a warrior," former Texas safeties coach Craig Naivar, who coached Locke in college, told The Post before the season. "He (has) overachieved, he’s a hell of a player."

Locke recorded 16 regular-season tackles for the Broncos in 2025. He had a huge game in Denver's AFC divisional-round win over the Bills, recording nine tackles, a forced fumble and an interception.

He'll now get the chance to compete for an expanded role in Dallas under new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who coached Locke in Denver as the Broncos' defensive backs coach from 2021 to 2023. It's also a homecoming for Locke, who grew up in Beaumont, Texas and played college football for the Longhorns.

Several NFL sources told The Post last week that the Broncos would be in the market for a safety in free agency, and it's now likely Denver picks up a piece to provide depth behind Hufanga and Jones. The Broncos, too, have been increasingly mocked toward Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at pick No. 30 in the first round of April's NFL Draft.

Greenlaw update. The Broncos will formally release Dre Greenlaw once the new league year begins Wednesday afternoon and designate him a post-June 1 release, a source told The Post on Tuesday.

Greenlaw's 2026 cap number, according to OvertheCap data, is $10.357 million. By designating him a post-June 1 release, Denver will carry Greenlaw's entire cap number until June 1, then will pick up $8.19 million in cap room. They will take $2.17 million in dead salary cap in 2026 and another $2.16 million in 2027.

Teams can use the post-June 1 designation with up to two players per year.

Payton's other coaching gig. Sean Payton's offseason, oddly enough, is being impacted by the war in Iran.

Payton is set to coach in the inaugural Fanatics Flag Football Classic later this month in Saudi Arabia. Recently, though, the event moved out of the Middle East and to Los Angeles.

The event is full of current and former star players and the teams are being coached by Payton and San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan.

Payton's team, Founders FFC, is captained by Tom Brady and Jalen Hurts.

The event is March 21 at BMO Stadium.

The Broncos, ultimately, checked the temperature on several big names who flew off the market early in Monday’s legal-tampering period of free agency. But the organization prioritized retention — a notable departure from head coach Sean Payton’s comments at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, when he acknowledged that Denver “won a lot of games by one score or less” and rattled off a list of areas that needed improvement.

“I think that����ap the only way to look at it, relative to this team writing its own chapter,” Payton said then.

Thus far, Denver appears to be trying to re-write its 2025 chapter in a different font. The Broncos re-upped with inside linebacker Alex Singleton and running back J.K. Dobbins Monday to continue a run of re-signings, and didn’t agree to terms with a single external free agent. The club did create $6 million in cap room by cutting oft-injured ILB Dre Greenlaw, however — and the Broncos head into Day 2 of free agency poised to still add some impact pieces.

Running backs Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne Jr. and Tyler Allgeier are off the market, as are pass-catchers Alec Pierce, Wan’dale Robinson and Cade Otton. There are still plenty of gems left to be mined. Here’s a rundown of 5 potential Broncos-specific fits left on the market.

Romeo Doubs, WR

Denver didn’t poke around much on Doubs early on Monday, but the organization has interest in the former Packers receiver, as an NFL source previously told The Denver Post. The 25-year-old Doubs isn’t a high-upside play in the WR market, but he has many of the traits of a Payton-favored wideout: 6-foot-2, a good blocker, good red-zone production (18 receiving touchdowns in the last three years).

A potential issue here, however, is that Doubs overlaps similarly in profile to ascending second-year wideout Pat Bryant. If Denver is comfortable with their Courtland Sutton-Troy Franklin-Bryant-Marvin Mims quadrant as their top four receivers entering 2026, there’s little reason for them to pay up for Doubs.

Kaden Elliss, ILB

Would the Broncos spend top dollar — likely between $15 and $17 million annually — on Jaguars All-Pro linebacker Devin Lloyd after re-signing Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad? Probably not. Now, could they still get in on a starting-level linebacker to compete with Strnad and fill out a room thinned by the Greenlaw cut? Absolutely.

One tie is obvious here, as former Falcons linebacker Elliss is brothers with Broncos outside linebacker Jonah Elliss. Elliss also was drafted by Sean Payton in New Orleans in 2019, and spent three years as a special-teamer before blossoming as an off-ball linebacker in 2022. He’s a dynamic run-stopper who’s also a menace on inside-linebacker blitzes, with 3.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits in 2025. That could be music to the ears of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

Dallas Goedert, TE

Denver, still, has the resources to upgrade at tight end, even after re-signing blocking specialists Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins. The Broncos clearly need a piece in the room who can either stay on the field in rotating personnel groupings and complement Evan Engram as a receiver, or supplant Engram if Denver chooses to move on from the veteran and save roughly $3.8 million in cap room.

This would likely be a high-upside swing on a short-term deal, as the 31-year-old Goedert isn’t getting any younger. But the Super Bowl champion was still an integral piece of Philadelphia’s passing game in 2025, catching 60 balls for 591 yards and a career-best 11 touchdowns. He’s declined as a run-blocker since his younger years with the Eagles, as Pro Football Focus grades indicate, but no tight end left on the market boasts Goedert’s all-around resume and red-zone ability. He’d fit a clear need for Denver.

Andrew Wingard, S

Here’s a native of Arvada, a Wyoming graduate, and a former undrafted free-agent grinder who could easily step in as Denver’s third safety in 2026. It’s likely that reserve P.J. Locke hits the open market after six seasons in Denver, and several NFL sources have told The Post across the last week that the Broncos would be in the market for a safety.

Denver could easily nab Wingard at third-safety value and receive a piece who could start in a pinch or even push Brandon Jones at free safety during training camp. His numbers in coverage were solid in 2025 — a 61% catch rate and 89.2 passer rating allowed when targeted, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats — and Wingard would also bring special-teams value after seven seasons as a depth safety in Jacksonville.

Logan Hall, DE

The John Franklin-Myers era is over in Denver, leaving the Broncos with a gaping hole at defensive end next to Zach Allen. Denver could easily look to fill the departed Franklin-Myers’ shoes with a combination of reserve Eyioma Uwazurike, rookie Sai’vion Jones and key defensive tackle Malcolm Roach — or look back to the market for a bargain body to add to the room.

The 6-foot-6, 275-pound Hall would be one of the Broncos’ best options if they turned to free agency here, a 2022 second-round pick with a similar frame to Franklin-Myers and similar versatility to line up inside or on the edge. He finished with just 1.5 sacks in 17 games in 2025, but recorded six quarterback hurries. Hall would offer another skilled, young body in the room at a reasonable price.

The thing about windows, though, is that they close. Denver has two more seasons before it has to start thinking about a massive extension for quarterback Bo Nix, which will put considerable strain on their long-term cap. It’s no secret. The world knows it. Those inside the Broncos’ facility know it. Their time to strike is now, heading into 2026 free agency with roughly $28 million in current cap room — — and plenty of levers to pull to create more space and throw money around in the market.

It’s also no secret that the Broncos need more skill talent. They need to add a running back, tight end, and potentially wide receiver. They need a linebacker either in free agency or the draft, and quietly have some options at safety. In January, owner Greg Penner described Denver’s approach with a phrase that’ll come to define this offseason, whatever size of swing the front office takes: “We’ll be opportunistically aggressive.”

The legal tampering period of free agency, when teams can officially make contact with players and agents, begins at 10:00 a.m. MT Monday. New contracts can officially be signed come 2:00 p.m. MT on Wednesday. Here’s The Denver Post’s position-by-position Broncos guide to 2026 free agency, informed via numerous conversations with NFL agents and sources across the past two weeks.

Quarterback

Who Denver has: QB1 Bo Nix, QB2 Jarrett Stidham

Who Denver could lose: QB3 Sam Ehlinger

What Denver needs: Another QB in the room, and to re-sign Ehlinger

Key market options (former team in parenthesis): Zach Wilson (Dolphins), Sam Howell (Eagles), Teddy Bridgewater (Buccaneers)

This will depend entirely on whether the Broncos actually shop Stidham, and potentially save themselves $6.5 million in corresponding cap room. If they trade Stidham to a quarterback-needy team for some draft capital, Denver could easily look to re-sign Ehlinger and promote him to Nix’s official backup, after Ehlinger stuck to Davis Webb’s hip in 2025. The Broncos would clearly need another name to push Ehlinger in such a circumstance, though.

If that wouldn’t be a young draft pick, the Broncos could look to bring back Zach Wilson, who was part of a tight-knit group with Nix and Stidham in Denver in 2024. Paton also did plenty of work on longtime backup Howell in the 2022 draft, and former Bronco Bridgewater was Sean Payton’s trusted backup in New Orleans in 2018 and 2019.

Running back

Who Denver has: RB1/RB2 RJ Harvey, RB3 Tyler Badie (likely to sign ERFA deal)

Who Denver could lose: RB1/RB2 J.K. Dobbins, RB4 Jaleel McLaughlin

What Denver needs: A true RB1 or Harvey complement, and depth

Key market options: Kenneth Walker III (Seahawks), Travis Etienne Jr. (Jaguars), Rico Dowdle (Panthers), Tyler Allgeier (Falcons), Kenneth Gainwell (Steelers), Emanuel Wilson (Packers)

Here’s the spot that’ll draw the most buzz next week. The Broncos have already been connected to some of the top names on the market, clearly needing an upgrade in the room even if Denver brings back Dobbins on the cheap; the oft-injured veteran simply can’t be relied upon to play a full season. The Seahawks elected not to give Walker a one-year, $14 million franchise tag after a Super Bowl MVP, and the star RB could easily command upwards of $12 to $14 million on the market.

Would Denver swing on that price, though? Walker wasn’t good in pass protection last year (two sacks and nine pressures in 51 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF), and the Broncos need a third-down back whom Nix trusts. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Etienne is a highly intriguing fit for Denver, a bigger back who’s dynamic in the passing game (six receiving touchdowns in 2025). The 25-year-old Allgeier is a power back without excessive tread on the tires who could be available at a lower price, but expect Denver to look elsewhere.

Don’t be surprised if the Broncos walk away with Dobbins, Harvey and a supplemental piece instead of swinging big here. Wilson is an interesting name, a 226-pound RB who ran for 496 yards in Green Bay last season.

Wide receiver

Who Denver has: WR1 Courtland Sutton, WR2 Troy Franklin, WR3 Pat Bryant, WR4 Marvin Mims Jr.

Who Denver could lose: WR5 Lil’Jordan Humphrey

What Denver needs: A high-upside complement to Sutton, or at least another trustworthy WR4/5 option

Key market options: Alec Pierce (Colts), Jauan Jennings (49ers), Wan’Dale Robinson (Giants), Rashid Shaheed (Seahawks), Mike Evans (Buccaneers), Stefon Diggs (Patriots), Romeo Doubs (Packers), Jahan Dotson (Eagles), Jalen Nailor (Vikings)

The Broncos like their current receiver room. The Paton-Payton braintrust has made that clear this entire offseason, and their firing of receivers coach Keary Colbert and hire of longtime Payton associate Ronald Curry signal that Denver believes in unlocking the potential of its current group rather than needing a drastic personnel overhaul. That being said, they need to add a piece here, whether in free agency or via a deep draft class.

Pierce is the true difference-maker on the market. There are few in the NFL like him, a 6-foot-3 deep-ball extraordinaire who racked up 1,003 yards last year on 21.3 yards per catch. Denver got an up-close look at him in a Week 2 loss to Indianapolis. But one agent The Post spoke with pinpointed Pierce’s likely market value at $27 to $30 million, which would be a steep price for a team already giving Sutton $23 million yearly. Don’t expect Denver to get into a bidding war for him.

The rest of the market is somewhat iffy. Jennings has the frame (6-foot-3), blocking prowess and red-zone ability (nine TDs in 2025) that Payton would love. Robinson will likely land somewhere in the $10 to $15 million range, and would bring a high-volume slot weapon that Denver doesn’t currently have.

Doubs is a definite potential fit for the Broncos here; Denver has interest in the former Green Bay receiver, an NFL source told The Post. He’s a big-bodied target who doesn’t demand the ball but has good red-zone production and can play in a variety of alignments. Keep an eye on Dotson as a potential depth piece, too, as Dotson’s agency CAA also represents Nix. He’s a former 2022 first-round pick whose production stalled out in Philadelphia, but he can block, play from the slot and hasn’t dropped a pass since 2023.

Tight end

Who Denver has: TE1/TE2 Evan Engram

Who Denver could lose: TE1/TE2 Adam Trautman, TE3 Nate Adkins, TE4 Lucas Krull

What Denver needs: A legitimate in-line TE who can complement Engram as a pass-catcher, and stay on the field on any down

Key market options: David Njoku (Browns), Isaiah Likely (Ravens), Cade Otton (Buccaneers), Chig Okonkwo (Titans), Dallas Goedert (Eagles), Daniel Bellinger (Giants), Charlie Kolar (Ravens)

Denver can’t simply run it back from 2025 and expect better production from Engram, who caught 50 passes for 461 yards in 2025, under new play-caller Davis Webb. The Broncos need a versatile weapon whom they trust as both a blocker and a matchup-threat receiver. Otton might just be that guy: he played in-line (attached to the offensive tackle) on nearly half his snaps in Tampa Bay in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus, and has caught 59 passes in each of the last two seasons.

Otton’s yearly value has been pinpointed in NFL circles somewhere around Jake Ferguson’s four-year, $50 million extension with Dallas in 2025. If Denver wants to spend at TE, he and Likely would be the most well-rounded options on the Market. Njoku and Goedert are likely past their primes, and Okonkwo’s not a blocker.

Bellinger had 88 yards and a touchdown for the Giants against Denver in Week 7, and is seeking $7 to $8 million yearly. Kolar is the most intriguing upside swing here, a 6-foot-6 blocker who was stuck behind multiple TEs in Baltimore in the receiving game.

Offensive line

Who Denver has: LT1 Garett Bolles, LG1 Ben Powers, C1 Luke Wattenberg, RG1 Quinn Meinerz, RT1 Mike McGlinchey, OL2 Alex Palczewski, OT2 Matt Peart, OT2 Frank Crum, C2 Alex Forsyth

Who Denver could lose: Nobody

What Denver needs: Maybe another swing tackle

Key market options: Wide-open

Denver doesn’t need to spend here, with its current starting offensive line set again for 2026. The Broncos could always look to cut or deal Powers to create cap room and have a ready successor in Alex Palczewski, whom they inked to a two-year extension Thursday. It’s more likely they look to the draft to bolster depth here, although they could certainly cut Peart to save over $3 million in cap room and target another backup tackle in free agency. Players like former Vikings veteran Justin Skule or Seahawks backup Josh Jones could be good value there.

Defensive line

Who Denver has: DE1 Zach Allen, NT1 D.J. Jones, OLB1 Nik Bonitto, OLB2 Jonathon Cooper, DE/DT2 Eyioma Uwazurike, DT2 Malcolm Roach, OLB2 Jonah Elliss, OLB2 Dondrea Tillman (likely to sign ERFA deal), OLB3 Que Robinson, DE/DT3 Sai’vion Jones

Who Denver could lose: DE1 John Franklin-Myers, DE/DT3 Jordan Jackson

What Denver needs: A cheap, productive interior defensive lineman to push Uwazurike, Roach and Jones

Key market options: Logan Hall (Buccaneers), David Onyemata (Falcons), Calais Campbell (Cardinals), Sebastian Joseph-Day (Titans), Rakeem Nunez-Roches (Giants)

The Broncos already have massive amounts of money tied up in their defensive line, and Franklin-Myers is already all but gone. His likely landing spot is Tennessee, where recently-acquired defensive end The thinking from agents who spoke with The Post is that Denver could bring in depth to help supplant Franklin-Myers, but will likely rely on its pieces already in the building to fill the void.

Ironically, the Broncos’ movements in the defensive-line market will depend on Franklin-Myers’ own movements. Agents are completely across the board on projecting Franklin-Myers’ yearly value in a weak class; one suggested $12 to $14 million, one suggested $16 to $18 million, and one went as high as $20 to $22 million. If teams end up bidding closer to that higher end, it could price the Broncos out of what they’d be willing to spend for another body in the room. Onyemata, Joseph-Day and Nunez-Roches could all offer cheap, veteran depth.

Inside linebacker

Who Denver has: LB1 Dre Greenlaw, LB2/LB3 Karene Reid, LB2/LB3 Jordan Turner, LB2/LB3 Levelle Bailey, LB2/LB3 Drew Sanders

Who Denver could lose: LB1 Alex Singleton, LB1/LB2 Justin Strnad

What Denver needs: An instant-impact starter, or at the very least a high-end LB3.

Key market options: Devin Lloyd (Jaguars), Nakobe Dean (Eagles), Quay Walker (Packers), Quincy Williams (Jets), Kaden Elliss (Falcons), Alex Anzalone (Lions), E.J. Speed (Texans), Bobby Okereke (Giants)

It’s a great year to need a middle linebacker. Denver could certainly look to a strong draft class to address this spot. But an NFL source who met with Denver at last week’s NFL Combine told The Post that the Broncos will have a “significant appetite” in the free-agent linebacker market.

That could mean they’ll take a monster swing on Lloyd, a 2025 All-Pro and the kind of playmaker that Vance Joseph would have a field day with in the middle of Denver’s defense. It could also mean they’ll re-sign Singleton as their green-dot defensive leader — he’s been pinpointed by multiple NFL sources at somewhere between $5 to $8 million yearly — and add another piece to compete for a starting job. Strnad is likely headed for new pastures, as he told The Post after the season he wouldn’t be back in Denver unless it was in a clear starting role.

The Broncos have interest in Anzalone and Speed, sources said, both potential green-dot options or LB3 pieces who will come in below the top of the market, where NFL sources pinpointed Lloyd likely to come in between $15 and $17 million annually. Dean is another interesting and versatile option who told The Post at the Super Bowl he likes watching the Broncos’ defense and would be interested in Denver in free agency if the price was right.

Secondary

Who Denver has: CB1 Pat Surtain II, CB1 Riley Moss, NB1 Ja’Quan McMillian, NB2/CB2 Jahdae Barron, CB2 Kris Abrams-Draine, S1 Talanoa Hufanga, S1 Brandon Jones, S2 Devon Key (likely to sign ERFA deal), S2 JL Skinner

Who Denver could lose: S2 P.J. Locke

What Denver needs: A third safety to replace Locke and potentially push Jones

Key market options: Tony Adams (Jets), Dane Belton (Giants), Kyle Dugger (Steelers), Andrew Wingard (Jaguars), Alohi Gilman (Ravens), Ifeatu Melifonwu (Dolphins), D’Anthony Bell (Panthers), Rodney Thomas II (Colts)

A notable Broncos development to track in free agency: Denver has expressed interest in adding a safety, several NFL sources told The Post this week. Locke is likely headed elsewhere after a nice fill-in stretch for the injured Jones late in 2025, and the Broncos want to add another piece to replace him, as Hufanga and Jones are both injury risks. Wingard is a name to watch here, a seven-year Jaguars veteran who recorded 84 tackles and nine passes defensed as a full-time starter in 2025.

The Broncos also did work on Melifonwu in last year’s free agency, and Denver tracked Bell’s status on the waiver wire as the Seahawks pulled him between the practice squad and active roster in 2025, sources said. At the very least, expect Denver to sign a depth safety who can also be a special-teams contributor.

Special teams

Who Denver has: K1 Wil Lutz, P1 Jeremy Crawshaw, LS1 Mitchell Fraboni

Who Denver could lose: Nobody

What Denver needs: Nothing

Key market options: Wide open

Denver need not spend much time here on specialists.

At one point, as he admitted in early April 2025, Sean Payton accidentally drank out of George Paton’s water bottle while crushing draft tape in the Broncos’ facility in Dove Valley.

Denver’s staff is still a couple of months away from that level of war-room intimacy, a few weeks after the sting of a season-ending loss in the AFC Championship Game. But draft season will officially arrive with the NFL Combine in Indianapolis the week of Feb. 23, where Broncos staffers will get an official evaluation on a 2026 rookie class that has the potential — with the right moves — to help pry open Denver’s Super Bowl window.

This group of draftees will evolve drastically over the next two months, with combine measurements and performance serving as a major launchpad for players’ stock. For now, the Broncos’ needs are set in stone: skill talent, linebacker, and depth. With that in mind, Denver Post beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Luca Evans took an educated spin through Pro Football Focus’s mock-draft simulator to look at the early crop of prospects Denver could target with their seven picks (and two likely additional compensatory picks) in April’s draft.

Here’s how The Post’s initial mock draft shook out. The parameters: no trades, and a couple more discussed fits for Denver at each draft slot.

Round 1, pick No. 30: S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Toledo

Oops.

Is the secondary perhaps the smallest area of need on Denver’s current roster? Yes. Would drafting to the secondary in the first round incite a riot from ����apountry, after the Broncos blindsided everyone with Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron in 2025? Possibly. But hear this out.

In this PFF simulation, a host of talented interior-defensive-line fits — Florida’s Caleb Banks, Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald, Texas Tech’s Lee Hunter — went a few picks before Denver’s No. 30 slot. The Rams took Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq at No. 29, removing one early obvious pass-catching option. That left a potential reach at a receiver or a linebacker, which didn’t feel quite right. Payton organizations haven’t taken a WR in the first round since the Saints picked Brandin Cooks in 2014.

There’s a good Day 1 safety crop available, and McNeil-Warren could be a great value at this spot for Denver. He has great size at 6-foot-2, closes quickly on receivers and was a monster in coverage at Toledo last season: just six catches allowed in 15 targets, according to PFF. Quietly, the Broncos would save themselves $7.4 million in cap room by cutting starting safety Brandon Jones — who suffered an eventual season-ending torn pec in December — and could lose key reserve P.J. Locke to free agency. This is incredibly unsexy, but it makes sense.

Other options considered: WR Omar Cooper Jr., Indiana; WR Chris Bell, Louisville. Cooper Jr. was a stud in 2025 for the national champion Hoosiers, but mainly played slot receiver; the Broncos probably wouldn’t fire on a WR in the first round if they didn’t deem him versatile. The 6-foot-2 Bell fits the Payton mold, but he suffered a torn ACL at the end of the 2025 season.

Round 2, pick No. 62: TE Max Klare, Ohio State

Will Denver move on from Evan Engram and save $3.8 million in cap room? Regardless, this is an incredibly deep TE class, and the Broncos would do well to find quarterback Bo Nix a true matchup threat who can stay on the field in a variety of packages. Since Payton arrived in 2023, Denver’s been consistently split between tight ends that Payton trusts as blockers (Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins) and tight ends he trusts as receivers (Engram, Lucas Krull). The 6-foot-5 Klare could be trusted as both.

Klare racked up 43 catches for 448 yards for a Buckeyes offense that primarily relied on its wide receivers in 2025, and handled run-blocking duties well. He could reasonably play next to Engram in two-tight-end sets if the Broncos hold onto the veteran, or serve as the primary threat if Denver cuts bait.

Other options considered: ILB Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech; RB Jadarian Price, Notre Dame. Price is a highly interesting option as a complement to RJ Harvey, more of a traditional between-the-tackles power back who has less value in third-down situations. Rodriguez is one of the best early fits for Denver in this class, but is currently projected to go around the third round. Gabriel and Evans hoped Rodriguez would fall to Denver’s next pick. Regretfully, he was snapped up by Chicago. This was The Post’s biggest mock-draft oops.

Round 3, pick No. 94: RB Kaytron Allen, Penn State

How about a different complement to Harvey? Allen has produced for four straight seasons in a powerhouse program, and popped as a senior: 1,303 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on 6.2 yards per carry. paints the picture of a running back with good vision who has good ball security and good contact balance — all traits that Payton and Paton value in an RB, and all traits that’d mix well with Harvey’s explosiveness in space.

Other options considered: DL Skyler Gill-Howard, Texas Tech; begging the artificial-intelligence Chicago Bears to trade the rights to Rodriguez. Gill-Howard has major upside as an interior pass-rusher, which could be tantalizing for Denver with the likely free-agent departure of John Franklin-Myers. Gill-Howard, however, stands just 6-foot-1 and is raw on big-time college stats.

Round 4, pick No. 108: G Billy Schrauth, Notre Dame

PFF’s simulator graded this pick as an “F.” But offensive line likely needs to be an area of priority for these Broncos, with tackles Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey both on the wrong side of 30 and left guard Ben Powers an obvious cut candidate. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Schrauth allowed just two pressures in 436 snaps last season at left guard for the Fighting Irish, according to Pro Football Focus, and could be undervalued in the draft after a midseason MCL sprain ended his year. If he tests well at the combine and shows the ability to move and get out in outside-zone schemes, this would look like a good pick.

Other options considered: T Brian Parker II, Duke; T Austin Barber, Florida. Denver could use a potential future starting tackle in this draft. Parker might’ve been the option here after two great seasons at Duke, but he appears to be switching to center as a draft prospect. The 6-foot-6 Barber had an excellent senior season at Florida.

Round 4, pick No. 130: WR Eric McAlister, TCU

This is essentially a thought experiment: what if Denver just drafted Pat Bryant two years in a row? McAlister has the ideal Payton size for a receiver (6-foot-3), just led the Big 12 in receiving with 1,190 yards, and was a big-time blocker at TCU. McAlister , and any Broncos interest here would come down to a determination if his profile is clean.

Other options considered: Nobody

Round 5, pick No. 168: TE Tanner Koziol, Houston

Yes, this is a two-tight-end draft. The Broncos already have a potential pass-catching red-zone weapon in tight end Caleb Lohner, drafted in the seventh round in 2025. But Lohner spent the entire season on the practice squad, and the 6-foot-7 Koziol would be an incredibly good value at this spot. According to PFF, Koziol , and has big-time production at both Ball State and Houston. He’d be a goal-line target for Denver from Day 1.

Other options considered: LB Harold Perkins Jr., LSU; LB Bryce Boettcher, Oregon. Perkins is a natural talent, but will face positional concerns in the NFL as a sort of undersized, hybrid linebacker. The Broncos also have plenty of Ducks ties, and Boettcher is a classic hard-hitter in the Alex Singleton mold.

Round 7, pick No. 246: QB Cole Payton, North Dakota State

Round 7, pick No. 251: OLB Mason Reiger, Wisconsin

Round 7, pick No. 256: CB Collin Wright, Stanford

This is assuming, of course, that the Broncos land those No. 251 and No. 256 comp picks for the 2025 free-agent departures of running back Javonte Williams and punter Riley Dixon. This was throw-dart-at-the-wall time, and Payton is a highly intriguing dart: a 6-foot-3 lefty quarterback who was used in situational packages throughout his North Dakota State tenure. He could be a Taysom Hill-type in the NFL.

Denver and New England’s whiteout matchup in the AFC Championship in 2025, though, brought back several degrees of recent history. Back to the days of Brady, and Peyton Manning, and the last time the stands at Empower Field rocked as loudly as they did this winter. Back to a Broncos group that knew quite well, as ex-Denver running back C.J. Anderson recalled, who they’d have to go through in the AFC to get to a Lombardi Trophy.

“It����ap interesting to see like — it����ap them two at the top of the apex,” Anderson told The Denver Post this week. “I think for us, it was like, we knew that we were going to run into Ben (Roethlisberger). Or we were going to run into Brady.”

History has repeated itself, a decade later. These Broncos have thrust their Super Bowl window wide open after a 2025 season where they came three points and a blizzard away from a trip to the Super Bowl last Sunday. They built a team to climb over the Chiefs and the Patrick Mahomes hump. They built a team to climb over the Bills and the Josh Allen hump.

Now, though, they’ll have to build for a future where they can topple the Patriots, a similarly young team that also employs a culture-changing head coach and a second-year quarterback still on his rookie deal.

“Denver’s a great team,” Patriots receiver Trent Sherfield said, sitting at his locker Sunday after New England’s loss to Seattle in the Super Bowl. “This team’s a great team. Like, you’re in the first year of a rebuild, and you get to the Super Bowl.”

“So,” Sherfield continued, “it’s gon’ be real competitive.”

Sherfield, of course, saw both franchises’ ascent firsthand in 2025, after spending half the year as the Broncos’ fifth wide receiver and the end of the season on New England’s practice squad. He sees a future where Denver and New England — who both went 14-3 in 2025 — will have to go through each other, once again. And where quarterbacks Bo Nix and Drake Maye go head-to-head across the future playoff runs.

“I think Bo’s arm talent, being able to run the ball, extend plays, turn a bad play into a good one — I think they have a lot in common,” Sherfield said. “I feel like that����ap gonna be, probably, an AFC Championship for a couple of years. Kinda like how Patrick Mahomes is always in it.I think that those two will be going at each other for a long time.”

Of course, the two quarterbacks have yet to actually face off in their NFL careers, after Nix’s fractured ankle heard ’round the world. And several Broncos made it quite publicly known that they believed they should’ve been in the Bay Area if a couple of factors had broken differently, as the Seahawks  dominated the Patriots from kickoff to triple zeroes in a 29-13 win.

“This game is making me even more sick to my stomach that we lost,” safety P.J. Locke . “‘Cry me a river?’ Yes I am! Lol.”

Maye struggled mightily throughout the Patriots’ playoff run after an MVP runner-up regular season, posting an expected-points-added mark of -41.2 in the postseason — worst of any playoff quarterback, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Still, New England enters the offseason with just six players set to hit unrestricted free agency and an enviable $41 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap. Several key pieces beyond Maye, like left tackle Will Campbell and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, are also still on rookie deals.

For years, in general manager George Paton’s five-year Broncos tenure, Denver has structured its rebuild in part around toppling the Chiefs and Mahomes in the AFC West. The Broncos’ wild-card loss to the Bills and Allen in 2024, meanwhile, served as a direct wake-up call for areas of roster need.

Count New England and Maye, now, as the next conference foe that Denver will have to account for across the next few months.

“I would say that the league is in good hands,” Sherfield said.

The Denver defense will look at least a little different come the 2026 season, but it has a deep, talented core set to return.

The 2025 group was a unique one, disruptive to an elite level and good at virtually everything except taking the ball away.

Here is a look back on the regular season and what can be learned for the future.

Five key defensive numbers

18.3 — Points per game allowed (No. 3 in the NFL)

4.5 — Yards per play allowed (No. 1)

68 — Sacks (Franchise record and most in the NFL)

34.6% — Rate of drives against that ended in a score (No. 7)

6.8% — Turnover rate forced (No. 28)

High Point

There are a few to choose from over the regular season. Denver’s return from the bye week in Washington was anything but pretty defensively until Nik Bonitto made one of the plays of the season, batting down a deciding two-point conversion attempt in overtime and sealing the Broncos’ eighth straight win. Pat Surtain II’s flying interception against Green Bay sparked a dominant second half. Joseph’s group held five opponents overall to less than 200 yards, then recorded five takeaways against Buffalo in the divisional round of the postseason and kept New England to 206 yards in the AFC title game. No game was more dominant, though, than the Broncos’ 13-11 win against the New York Jets in London. Denver racked up nine sacks, including three in the final 4:19 alone. Jonathon Cooper and Brandon Jones closed the game out with a fourth-and-10 sack of Justin Fields, who finished with minus-10 net passing yards. The Jets’ offense stunk all year, so it wasn’t the highest degree of difficulty, but the win got Denver back across the ocean with a three-game streak in hand. That run, of course, eventually ballooned to 11 games.

Low Point

The Broncos had a formula that worked most of the season: Win on third down and in the red zone and pressure the heck out of opposing quarterbacks. Week 16 against Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence provided a bit of a scare heading into the postseason. Denver’s defense had already lagged a bit after the bye week — the Commanders and Packers each scored 26 points and at times gave the Broncos fits — but Lawrence led one of the few offensive outings that really cracked this group open. The Jags went 4 of 5 in the red zone at Empower Field. They converted 8 of 15 on third down. Lawrence was sacked five times but hardly seemed to notice, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for another. That made him and the Jags offense one of only two to score more than three touchdowns on the regular season against Denver’s defense — rookie Jaxson Dart and the New York Giants were the other and it prompted head coach Sean Payton to issue a warning: Force turnovers in the postseason or else.

MVP: DT Zach Allen. There are several worthy candidates in this group. Bonitto came up one vote shy of All-Pro status and logged a career-best 14 sacks. Pat Surtain II missed 3.5 games with a partially torn pec but carried on as the finest corner in football when healthy. What Allen did in the middle of the Broncos’ defense, though, is difficult to overstate. He led the NFL in quarterback hits with 47, eight more than Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett in his record-setting 23-sack campaign. It����ap the most hits credited to a player since Nick Bosa’s 48 in 2022 and the second straight year Allen’s led the NFL. He had the second-most pressures (59) among defensive tackles, too. In three years with the Broncos, Allen has posted an 11.3% pressure rate or better, hit the quarterback 112 times, averaged 63.3 pressures per year and missed just one game. A foundational player.

Tough Season:  ILB Dre Greenlaw. This is more about injuries and availability than about performance. In fact, Greenlaw himself described his first year with the Broncos as being “very tough.” It started only a month after signing a three-year deal in free agency with a quad injury. Greenlaw and the Broncos thought he was past it when training camp start, but recurring issues ended up costing him the first six games of the season. At the end of his first game of the season, he got suspended for a game. Then a Week 16 hamstring injury cost him the final two games of the regular season. In between, Greenlaw was a force against the run and not used a ton in coverage. It sets up an open question about whether he’s in the Broncos’ defensive plan going forward.

Under the radar: ILB Justin Strnad. Greenlaw’s addition got a ton of offseason attention, but Strnad just quietly keeps getting better and better. He played the best football of his career in 2025 and stamped himself as a bona fide starter going forward. Good timing, too, considering Strnad’s a free agent and should command solid money either from Denver or elsewhere. The 2020 fifth-round pick is strong enough to play against the run, has improved in coverage and is a terrific blitzer. He logged a career-best 4.5 sacks this year. Pretty impressive for a player who went nearly three full years without playing a single defensive snap from mid-2020 into early 2024.

Overall conversion rates allowed – Broncos under DC Vance Joseph

Run Defense

Five Key Numbers

3.9 — Yards allowed per rush (T-2 in the NFL)

18.8% — Rush attempts against that went for loss or no gain (No. 6)

30 — Rushes of 10-plus yards allowed (No. 2)

0.87 — Yards before contact allowed per rush (No. 2)

0 — 100-yard rushers allowed the final 15 games of the regular season

The Good

They are not the most heralded players on the roster, but Denver’s interior, primarily the early down trio of defensive linemen D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach and Eyioma Uwazurike, did a lot of heavy lifting in 2025. Jones was a key, last-minute retention before free agency began back in March and he rewarded the Broncos with high-level play and leadership in Year 9. Roach’s game continues to expand, but he did his normal terrific work against the run. Uwazurike was suspended for the 2023 season, played 63 snaps in 2024 and then broke out this year. All three are under contract for 2026 and they will all have key roles, not just against the run but likely also in making up for the seemingly inevitable loss of John Franklin-Myers to free agency. Roach and Uwazurike, in particular, will likely see upticks in their roles. In 2025, though, this trio provided stalwart work against the run.

The Bad

It didn’t go bad on the Broncos against the run very often in 2025, but they got an early wake-up call from Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2. Taylor ripped off a 68-yard run and racked up 167 overall in Indy’s walk-off win against Denver. After that, Denver didn’t allow a rusher more than 80 yards. The Broncos overall did a good job against mobile quarterbacks, though Washington’s Marcus Mariota gave them fits with his legs in Week 13. And though this is primarily a regular-season retrospective, it����ap at least worth mentioning that Buffalo’s James Cook ran for 117 in the divisional round and that the Bills and Patriots averaged 163 rushing yards in the playoffs after Denver went from Week 3 onward not allowing more than 143 in a game. Patriots QB Drake Maye’s five first downs plus a touchdown on seven carries in the AFC title game were critical.

The Unknown

The Broncos do have a talented core set to return in 2026, but there are some holes to fill in the run game. Franklin-Myers is primarily a pass-rusher but his likely departure via free agency will mean changing roles for guys who have been counted on to stop the run. One of the biggest uncertainties defensively is what will happen at inside linebacker, where Strnad and Alex Singleton are free agents and Greenlaw is under contract but would not be difficult to move on from. Any substantial change in personnel, particularly in the middle of the field, can alter the chemistry of a group. Communication originates from the ILBs and emanates outward. If that group is overhauled and JFM departs, there will be a lot of learning to do through the spring and summer. Still, this is a unit that����ap well-positioned to be stout against the run again in 2026.

‘Stop’ rate played among NFL DLs

*A ‘stop’ is a tackle on a winning defensive play (negative EPA). Rates among top 70 DLs in stops. 

Credit: Next Gen Stats data 

Pass Defense

Five Key Numbers

62.3% — Pass rate against Denver in 2025 (Second-highest in the NFL)

40.7% — Pressure rate generated by the Broncos (No. 2)

4.8 — Passing yards per play allowed (No. 1)

-0.17 — EPA per pass attempt allowed (No. 7)

10 — Interceptions (T-18)

The Good

Not many teams rush and cover better than the Broncos. They broke a franchise record in sacks for the second straight season, got at least half a sack from 17 different players and paired that fearsome rush with one of the deepest sets of cornerbacks and best overall secondaries in football. They have transformed in the past two years from a mostly anonymous group to one that features four players named to All-Pro teams in the past two seasons — Allen, Bonitto, Surtain and safety Talanoa Hufanga — and is widely recognized as one of football’s best.

They’ve got more cornerbacks than they can get on the field, nickel Ja’Quan McMillian has solidified himself as one of the best in the business and even when safety Brandon Jones went down with a torn pectoral late in the year, P.J. Locke filled in admirably. On the front seven, Denver has developed enviable depth at outside linebacker. GM George Paton called fourth-round rookie Que Robinson the 2025 draft pick with maybe the most upside of the class and he was behind the second-line pair of Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman this fall. This is not an easy group to throw the ball against and the challenge may not get much easier in 2026.

The Bad

Two buckets here. The Broncos, for all their strengths and elite numbers overall in pass defense, struggled to deal with opposing tight ends. Denver allowed the seventh-fewest passing yards overall in the regular season and the sixth-most yards to opposing tight ends. Especially after Jones got hurt, teams tested Hufanga and Locke in coverage as often as they could. Joseph talked in detail about how he tries to combat the issue and part of the susceptibility is just how aggressive and man-heavy Denver plays. Still, it is an unsolved issue at this point.

The second is penalties. The Broncos committed a lot in 2025 and among the most high-profile were a series of defensive pass interference penalties against cornerback Riley Moss. The group took issue with more than one, but Moss also acknowledged a need to play with better technique and grab less. The penalty total dropped as the season hit the back stretch and Moss played well overall as the most-targeted corner in football, but he had occasional lapses in tackling, too, especially against Jacksonville.

The Unknown

The Broncos have an interesting set of decisions to make in the secondary and it could lead to either major change this offseason or could still be a year away yet. They revolve around McMillian, Moss and rookie first-round pick Jahdae Barron. Barron was drafted as a nickel primarily who can also play outside. McMillian is a restricted free agent whom teammates think should have been an All-Pro in 2025. Moss is a really good player — talented, athletic and wired to handle the attention opposite Surtain — but also at times got himself in trouble in coverage. He’s going into the final year of his rookie contract.

McMillian is going to command top-scale money, if not in the form of an extension this offseason, then a year from now as an impending unrestricted free agent. Barron’s going to play at some point, but in April, he looked like a potential McMillian replacement and now McMillian looks like exactly the type of player you want to extend and keep around. So does Barron compete with Moss outside? Do they keep it status-quo this year, let Moss walk in free agency and turn loose Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine to compete for the job across from Surtain? Do they entertain the idea of trading McMillian?

Nothing except putting a premium tender on McMillian has to happen in the coming months, but the way the Broncos sequence their moves here will be interesting nonetheless.

A record sack season