A team won’t hesitate to cut a player. Cold, calculated decisions are made on the daily.

NFL players, likewise, aren’t interested in charity when it comes to their employer.

Clubs try to pay players as little as they can. Players try to earn as much as possible.

That����ap the way the business works 99% of the time.

That����ap also what made the news earlier this month that the Broncos had given Pat Surtain II a $5 million raise — and added a 2027 escalator worth another $5 million if Surtain makes the Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team this fall — interesting.

It was a smart move by the Broncos, even if it wasn’t done out of pure grace.

Surtain knew he was underpaid after a boom in the cornerback market since he signed an extension in September 2024. So did Broncos officials. There was really no reason to play hardball with a guy the club is likely hoping plays another 7-10 years on the Front Range and retires a Bronco and a future Hall of Famer.

Surtain is 26 years old. He’s going to be due for a monster extension in the next 12-24 months anyway. Why risk souring the relationship now, just as the roster around Surtain has blossomed into a Super Bowl contender?

It looks from here like good employee management on the front office’s part to bump Surtain up this year — and likely next year, too, as long as he’s mostly healthy this fall. A four-year, $96 million extension signed in 2024 essentially becomes four years and $106 million, setting Surtain up to cash in again before too long.

There’s another key to the raise, though, and it����ap a very simple one.

The Broncos did it because they could. They started the week more than $25 million under the salary cap, and even after giving Surtain a raise, they can easily absorb another contract if they wanted to add a veteran this summer, add at the trade deadline this fall — or both.

“He’s obviously someone that we feel like is elite and at the top of his position,” head coach Sean Payton said Thursday, explaining why Surtain got a raise without a new deal. “Part of that is the salary cap and how that fluctuates and moves, especially in the last three years.”

As it pertains to Denver, specifically, the Broncos have worn $85 million in dead cap for Russell Wilson alone over the past two seasons. Now they head into 2026 with among the cleanest books in football. They have newfound flexibility and are putting it to use.

There is still plenty of roster maneuvering, cap management and future planning to do, however.

First, Denver will likely want to get back to rolling over a fair chunk of cap space year to year. They’d made a practice of it under George Paton until cutting Wilson. The past two years, they’ve rolled over less than $1 million. Before that, Paton was consistently rolling between $5-10 million over per year.

The Broncos’ use of option bonuses as a contract tool likely plays into their approach this offseason, too.

Option bonuses give a club flexibility on how it accounts for a player’s pay. Remember, base salary counts against the cap in the current year, whereas bonus money can be prorated over up to five seasons. Teams regularly convert base salary to bonus to lower a player’s current-year cap number and push cap charges down the road. Option bonuses basically let teams decide how to handle those decisions as they go.

Under Paton and vice president of player administration Rich Hurtado, the Broncos have used option bonuses with more frequency as they’ve locked up more than 10 core players on major extensions in the past two years.

Teams like option bonuses in part because, the way the CBA is written, the default assumption is that each option will be exercised and the money will be accounted for as a bonus. So teams get the flexibility of the proration built in until the option date, then can decide whether to actually use it.

That����ap a bit of a mouthful, so an example might be cleaner: Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton has a $12 million option bonus this year due Sept. 1. The money is guaranteed, so he’s getting paid no matter what Denver does.

Currently, that $12 million is accounted for as $2.4 million on the cap for this year and each of the next four. Add the $2.4 million to Sutton’s $4.735 million base salary, $6.075 million of prorated signing bonus and $765,000 in per-game roster bonuses, and you get his 2026 cap number of $13.975 million.

On Sept. 1, Denver can leave that just the way it is. But the team could also rescind the option bonus in total or in part. The Broncos’ options usually allow them to choose between prorating all, half or a smaller portion (around a third) of the bonus amount. So, if Denver rescinded the entire bonus, Sutton’s base salary would jump from $4.375 million to $16.375 million. His cap number would balloon from $13.975 to $23.575 million this year, but the Broncos wouldn’t have $9.6 million in future-year prorated bonus money on their books.

The Broncos did this in part with Garett Bolles last year, prorating out $6 million of his option bonus but rescinding some of it and bumping his base salary to $10.235 million and his cap number to $13 million.

Bolles, like Sutton, has an option bonus due Sept. 1 this fall. His is $16.935 million.

So, put it this way: Bolles and Sutton could eventually count a combined $22.43 million against Denver’s cap in 2026. But they could also count $45.58 million. Or somewhere in between.

It just depends on whether the Broncos want the cap room now or want to increase their flexibility in future years. Some teams, like Philadelphia, use option bonuses aggressively and basically always exercise them. Kick the money down the road. As long as the cap keeps going up each year, a dollar on the cap is cheaper in the future than it is this year. It����ap a bet that there’s not another surprise downturn like the COVID-impacted years coming around the corner.

There’s an argument to be made that if a team can choose between counting money on the cap this year or in the future, it should choose the future every time. The pandemic happened, though. It����ap not impossible for the cap to drop or stagnate. Payton in New Orleans was part of a group that spent years walking the tightrope and prorating aggressively. It mostly worked until the pandemic. Now it����ap taken years and years of roster slashing and money burning in a straitjacket to unwind the mess.

The Broncos are aggressive but have demonstrated a somewhat lower-than-maximum risk tolerance.

The older a player is, the more likely Denver will at least consider rescinding an option bonus and taking more of the money on the current year cap.

Sources also indicate that internally, the Broncos generally treat option bonuses as if they’re going to rescind them. So, they don’t necessarily look at Sutton as a player with a $13.975 cap hit this year. They look at him as a player with a $23.575 million cap hit that they can choose to lower by exercising the option on Sept. 1.

The CBA assumes the flexibility and the league credits Denver with around $21 million in cap space after Surtain’s raise. But the Broncos enter the summer likely working under their own internal assumption that they have less room than that.

Now that the team’s built a stable of players with option bonuses in their deals, it can treat them essentially like puzzle pieces. Exercise a couple here, rescind a portion there. Manipulate cap space and associated risk on a per-player, per-year, per-option basis.

It����ap complicated, it����ap interesting, and it����ap the way the front office has decided to attack a future that could, as soon as next summer, include a mega-contract for quarterback Bo Nix.

Every team’s calculus changes once it pays a quarterback. But from this far away, it����ap impossible to say exactly what that might look like, how fast the cap will grow, how players at other positions will age and what position might go from strength to weakness or vice versa.

As such, the Broncos are trying to set themselves up with as much flexibility as possible.

It means you can pay a star player what he’s worth in the present and maybe, just maybe, keep an extra quality player or two down the line.

It remains the defining characteristic of the Broncos. It is why on Tuesday they gave their best player Pat Surtain II a $5 million raise before his new $96 million contract even kicked in.

He outperformed his deal, ownership recognized it, and rather than risk creating a rift or causing a holdout — something Surtain said he was not considering — the Broncos paid him closer to his worth.

Over the past two years, the Broncos have awarded nearly a half-billion dollars in contract extensions.

For this, they have earned praise and, um, threatened to undermine expectations. They change their cast of characters less than “Friends.”

Trust began defining the Broncos’ roster after co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner fired Nathaniel Hackett and hired Sean Payton.

What began this week with OTAs can end only in one place for this season to be a success: at SoFi Stadium in Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027.

That would sure beat a box of overpriced chocolates.

Another ring is the expectation they put on themselves.

This is what happens after back-to-back playoff berths and a division title. And yet the Broncos followed an AFC Championship Game loss with an offseason of crickets chirping.

They took one big swing, acquiring receiver Jaylen Waddle.

The Patriots added A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs and Alijah Vera-Tucker.

The Bills signed a battery of veterans, including old friend Bradley Chubb. The Ravens brought new coach Jesse Minter aboard, edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and multiple depth pieces.

And the Rams went full arms race to dominate the Walton Christmas Day dinner conversation by trading for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie.

Did the Broncos really do enough?

“I think we’ve got a great team all around,” Surtain said when I asked him that question. “So it����ap more than enough, honestly.”

It goes back to trust.

The Broncos view Team Retention as a solution. I have questions. At tight end in the passing game. At running back in the training room. At how they plan to maximize the return on investment with Jahdae Barron.

Can the Broncos take the next step without upgrading at certain positions? Denver tripled down on loyalty, keeping Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, J.K. Dobbins, Adam Trautman, well, really everyone but John Franklin-Myers and P.J. Locke.

How is this going to work? The Broncos went so far on the field and made such improvement that anything less than a Super Bowl will be a disappointment.

But shouldn’t they have done more?

“We believe in each other. Love challenges,” cornerback Riley Moss said. “There are no complainers.”

Payton made clear when he arrived that he wanted players who loved football, were tough and lived to compete.

“And he’s done that. Now, we’ve had a year of winning where we got close,” linebacker Alex Singleton said last week. “Instead of trying to fix something that isn’t broken with new pieces. ….”

They kept the band together. There is a reason Mötley Crüe is still touring, right?

Continuity has only strengthened camaraderie and chemistry. No one has said it out loud yet, but we will hear it soon enough.

It is the Broncos vs. Everybody.

Now more than ever.

No one likes these players more than this GM, this coach, and, well, these players.

But is their confidence misguided? ESPN’s offseason power rankings placed the Broncos 15th behind six teams in the AFC alone. Their over-under for wins is 9.5

If the Broncos pull this off, they will cement their standing as one of the best teams in franchise history. If not, their static free agency will taint them as a collection of high-character guys who couldn’t finish the job without more outside help.

It was a huge risk by staying internal, save for Waddle.

So, again, how do the Broncos continue the climb against opponents who appear to be more all in?

It goes back to players like Surtain. To trust. “To a locker room with the same mentality and work ethic,” Moss said.

These types of statements roll eyes. But I have seen it work, most notably with the 2007 Rockies. Players who grew up in the minors, stayed together, were bonded by friendship and did the unthinkable because of the power of playing for each other.

That same kind of dynamic is at work here. The premise is simple, if not fraught with danger. That standing pat will allow them to move forward. Even Surtain.

“We haven’t seen his best yet,” said Pat Surtain, the star cornerback’s father, and former NFL stalwart, who attended PS2’s foundation Topgolf event that raised money to provide resources for students in financially disadvantaged communities. “We haven’t.”

Really? How so?

“What would happen if he is targeted more and gets like six interceptions?” the elder Surtain said.

Or is healthy. Surtain missed three games last season, the longest absence of his football career at any level, with a partially torn pectoral muscle. It was a remarkably fast recovery.

“It should have been season-ending,” Pops said. “But he came back.”

This is why the Broncos gave him a raise before he was due. Surtain is all in for the team.

Bo Nix is the face of the franchise. But Surtain is the best player, a future Hall of Famer. He knows what a title looks like, having won a national championship at Alabama in 2020.

Waddle was his teammate. That is where the confidence comes from when he believes the Broncos did enough.

Waddle will help Nix. And force teams to use more man coverage on Courtland Sutton.

Based on conversations with multiple players over the last month, they also believe Davis Webb will make the offense more explosive. It must be to survive an opening six-game gauntlet that smacks of cruel and unusual punishment.

“In order to reach the top you have to play the best and our schedule definitely says that,” Surtain said. “I am looking forward to it. That is the exciting part of the game. You have to prove yourself every year.”

No matter what happens in the opening two months, the Broncos will be good and remain a contender. But for this to work, they have to improve after an offseason where they were complacent.

“I am telling you,” Surtain said with a smile, “this is a special group.”

In other words, trust him.

Denver started the first of two weeks of organized team activities on Tuesday. The team is on the field three days this week and three days next week for voluntary work, then has its mandatory minicamp slated for June 16-18.

The next three weeks, then, are the only time Sean Payton’s team will be on the grass in any formal capacity until training camp begins at the end of July.

It����ap football without pads. It����ap more than three full months before the regular season begins. There is a lot of time left in the offseason and the rush to blow small developments or highlights out of proportion this time of year runs rampant across the league.

Nonetheless, these three weeks do mark important waypoints on the Broncos’ path toward training camp and, ultimately, a “Monday Night Football” opener Sept. 14 at Kansas City.

So, here are four storylines that could realistically be moved forward over the coming weeks.

Is Bo Nix nearing the end of his rehabilitation?

It’s the story that will be a story until it����ap not. And even then, questions about the third-year quarterback’s ankle will linger until he puts another long stretch of healthy play together this fall.

Payton indicated last month that he expected Nix to be around for OTAs, but also that he was more confident Nix would be actually involved in some capacity later this month during the minicamp.

“If it were up to him, it’d be earlier,” Payton said May 9. “But we’re going to be smart.”

Nix fractured his ankle in January late in a postseason win against Buffalo and had surgery shortly after. Payton and others originally indicated that Nix would be full speed at the start of Denver’s offseason program, which started in early May, but a second procedure on the ankle in late April pushed that timeline back.

“You’ll see him (in June),” Payton said. “I’m sure you’ll see him in, probably minicamp maybe, but he’ll be full speed throwing everything in July before we even get back here (for training camp).”

The Broncos have expressed confidence in Nix’s rehab both after the initial surgery and after the second. The coming weeks will give a bit more clarity on where the 26-year-old is in that process.

Who will win playing time in the Broncos’ revamped wide receiver room?

Aside from Nix, the single biggest item of interest when reporters are allowed into OTA practice Thursday will be seeing Jaylen Waddle on the field for Denver for the first time.

The star wide receiver, acquired in March from Miami, will likely have to wait a bit longer to start building rapport with his starting quarterback, but his impact is sure to be felt right away in the receiver room.

Not only does he make a dynamic pairing atop the room with Courtland Sutton, but his arrival and sure-to-be-heavy workload have an impact on the rest of the room.

Exact roles and playing time will be up for grabs through the summer, but that competition is already on.

The list of contenders is long but starts with Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims Jr. The Broncos have used all three in different ways over the years and each has his strong suits. Franklin can fly and his production jumped last fall from 28 catches, 265 yards and a pair of touchdowns as a 2024 rookie to 65, 729 and six, respectively. Bryant is tough over the middle and in traffic, has run-after-catch ability and is the group’s best blocker. Mims is explosive and has shown he can play any of the spots or out of the backfield in addition to being a terrific returner.

Maybe by September it����ap as simple as rotating those three guys in with Waddle and Sutton depending on game situation. Maybe somebody grabs control of the No. 3 spot. It’ll be one of the best summer battles on the roster.

Can Jonah Elliss make the ILB transition stick?

There’s no substitute for actually playing full speed and, eventually, tackling, so this will be an ongoing process. The staff has confidence, though, that Elliss can play in the middle of the field and he can begin to show signs of that — or plant the seed for question marks — depending on how the next few weeks go.

One player who’s confident Elliss can make the move smoothly: Veteran inside linebacker Alex Singleton, who will be part of the group trying to help get the 2024 third-round pick up to speed.

“It����ap fun. Anytime a guy can learn more, all the better,” Singleton said Friday of welcoming Elliss into the inside linebacker room. “I actually played inside backer with his brother (Christian), too, so I know, kind of, the mindset he’s going to have about it.

Several players this offseason have noted Elliss’ overall talent and concluded that he needs to be on the field some way, somehow. If him moving inside helps create playing time for young edge rushers like Que Robinson, all the better.

The first steps: Learning the responsibilities and communications in the middle of the field. That’ll be Elliss’ challenge this summer before attempting to show he can play regularly inside during training camp.

Is Jahdae Barron headed for a similar role in Year 2?

The personnel in Denver’s loaded secondary has not changed. Pat Surtain II is the premier cornerback in football and has a new, $5 million raise, too. Riley Moss and nickel Ja’Quan McMillian are both valued players and are both entering contract years, too.

So, where does that leave Barron, Denver’s 2025 first-round pick? He played a modest 30% of defensive snaps as a rookie — and less than that outside of the stretch Surtain missed due to injury.

Will he again compete with McMillian for the nickel job in camp? Will he compete for a starting job outside against Moss and Kris Abrams-Draine? Is he perhaps the third option behind starters Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones at safety after P.J. Locke’s departure this spring? All of the above?

Barron’s time is likely coming with McMillian and Moss both in line for big paydays after the 2026 season, but what does the shorter-term future have in store for him?

Hours after sources confirmed to The Denver Post that Pat Surtain II will get a $5 million raise this year the star cornerback stood in front of benefactors at Topgolf in Centennial for another event in support of his Patrick Surtain II Foundation. Across the last three years, the organization has expanded to siphon out donations for supplies to teachers and establish grants for “Inspiration Rooms” at schools across Colorado, as Surtain’s become a literal massive face in Denver alongside his Broncos ascent.

And the organization moved quickly, with Tuesday’s raise, to preserve Surtain as a pillar in Denver — or risk future discomfort around one of the most team-friendly long-term contracts in the NFL.

“I think it����ap a testament to ownership, and the Broncos as an organization,” Surtain told reporters Tuesday night, asked about the raise. “And, we talked about it, honestly. I want to be here, I want to be a Bronco. So they heavily invested into me, as well, as much as I invested into them.”

“So it’s an honor and a privilege,” he continued, “to be here still.”

That last word was key, and key to Denver’s rationale with the contract adjustment. The two-time, first-team All-Pro cornerback signed a four-year, $96 million extension ahead of the 2024 regular season that almost immediately made him a bargain. Since Surtain’s deal, several other cornerbacks have signed deals at higher per-year averages, including Sauce Gardner ($30.1 million), Derek Stingley Jr. ($30 million), Jaycee Horn ($25 million) and Jalen Ramsey ($24.1 million).

In March, finally, the Rams blew the top off the cornerback market by trading for Chiefs star Trent McDuffie and handing him a four-year deal worth $31 million yearly. That ensured Surtain, who won the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year trophy, sat as the sixth-highest paid cornerback in the league — and would further sink after an anticipated big-money extension for Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

“Everybody needs corners,” one NFL agent told The Post in May, discussing the cornerback market. “It����ap going up like crazy. Why? Because wide-receiver values are going up.”

In that vein, then, the Broncos acted pre-emptively to align Surtain’s value closer to an inflated market. He’ll see his base salary increase by $5 million, putting his 2026 payout at $22.6 million from the original $17.6 million he was set to make, according to OvertheCap data.

Still, giving a player a merit raise while already on a long-term deal is a fairly unique move. On Tuesday, Surtain downplayed any notion that he would’ve been dissatisfied playing on his current deal — saying it didn’t cross his mind to hold out through the offseason program — but acknowledged he and the organization saw eye-to-eye on a raise.

“I think we mutually agreed on where things was headed,” Surtain said. “But also, everything was positive.”

If Surtain makes another Pro Bowl or All-Pro team in 2026, too, he’ll receive another bonus of $5 million for 2027, a source told The Post. Nothing is sure in football, but if Surtain is healthy, he is likely to make either an All-Pro team, the Pro Bowl or both. He’s been named to the Pro Bowl four straight seasons and has been named first-team All-Pro twice (2022 and 2024) and second-team once (2025) in that same span.

A straight addition of $5 million in base salary for 2026 would bump Surtain’s cap number this year to $21.832 million, second-highest on the Broncos behind only RT Mike McGlinchey ($23.775 million). Denver has plenty of cap space to absorb the adjustment, having entered June with $25.665 million in room, according to OvertheCap.

That gives the Broncos space to add another free-agent piece before the start of training camp if they so choose, after an offseason of quiet only broken by a splash trade for Dolphins star Jaylen Waddle. But Surtain expressed significant confidence in the roster, as presently constructed.

“I think we’ve got a great team all around,” Surtain smiled, asked on the Waddle addition. “So it����ap more than enough, honestly.”

They have very few starting spots up for grabs, at least on paper.

They have, relatively speaking, very few question marks.

And yet, Sean Payton’s fourth team will have plenty of competition throughout the early portions of the summer and into training camp.

There are, by The Post����ap count, somewhere in the neighborhood of seven to nine spots up for grabs on the 53-man roster at the moment and a pool of perhaps 18-20 players vying for them. Those counts come before any of the inevitable injuries that will crop up between now and the end of August.

This early projection comes before any potential substantial roster move, of which Denver has typically made at least one between OTAs and the start of the regular season. A year ago, for example, the Broncos signed running back J.K. Dobbins in June and then traded receiver Devaughn Vele in August.

It also comes before any big training camp surprise, a young player who makes a strong push or a veteran who suddenly appears out of gas.

Before Payton’s team starts OTAs on Tuesday, here’s an early attempt at a 53-man roster projection. The point of this exercise at this calendar waypoint is merely to mark a starting point and to attempt to determine where the most uncertainty — and opportunity — lies on the Broncos’ current 91-man roster.

Finding 53 among this group requires tough decisions even before any actual football activity has started. There are players that were difficult to leave off the roster and some groups — offensive and defensive lines, in particular — that are deep enough to impact other spots. Payton and general manager George Paton have shown time and time again they value quality players in the trenches.

There are a handful of veterans who could theoretically be considered cut candidates because of a combination of depth and salary, like tight end Evan Engram ($14.14 million cap hit) and left guard Ben Powers ($18.16 million). Denver could trade a veteran or quality player from a position of strength to help fortify elsewhere or accumulate future draft capital.

Among the players who look from this distance likely to exist somewhere around the bubble, however, none has a bigger cap number than offensive lineman Matt Peart����ap $2.39 million or more guaranteed money than quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s $1 million.

So, away we go. Players in the bubble conversation, both above and below the roster cut in this exercise, are in italics.

OFFENSE (25)

Quarterback (3)

Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger

The question, really, with Denver’s quarterbacks is this: two or three? Denver started last year with two when Ehlinger agreed to start the season on the practice squad. If a similar scenario plays out — he’s got $1 million guaranteed — then the Broncos could well take two. Denver values Ehlinger, though, and he’s going to get a bunch of work in OTAs and likely minicamp after Bo Nix had a second ankle procedure last month. This makes for tougher calls at other spots on a deep roster, but let����ap not mess around with the quarterback position when you’ve got players you like. If nothing else, using three as the starting point in this exercise ups the difficulty level the rest of the way.

Running back (4)

J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman and Adam Prentice (FB) 

Also: Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie and Cody Schrader

Coleman’s selection in the fourth round changes the complexion here by quite a bit. He’s a potential third-down back right away and the Broncos are high on him if he’s needed beyond that early on. With a cleaner-fitting trio of backs, McLaughlin and Badie both have a tough road to the roster. If Denver wanted four plus Prentice, McLaughlin probably heads into the summer with the lead.

Tight end (4)

Adam Trautman, Evan Engram, Justin Joly and Caleb Lohner 

Also: Dallen Bentley, Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull

One of the toughest projections. Lohner gets the nod for the moment after Payton raved about him earlier in May, especially because Payton was particularly impressed with Lohner’s physicality and blocking. This, like many bubble decisions, could come down to who Denver thinks it can get to the practice squad between Lohner and Bentley, the No. 256 overall pick in April. With a bounce-back summer, Adkins could re-establish himself as a key role player. He could end up competing for a spot with Prentice, though, as much as it seems he could play some fullback; the Broncos just haven’t asked him to do it much so far in his career.

Wide receiver (5)

Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims Jr.

Also: Michael Bandy, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Michael Woods, Cam Ross, Kolbie Katsis, Joseph Manjack and Dane Key

Assuming no trades, it����ap hard to see how anybody besides the top five makes the initial 53-man roster. Waddle was the Broncos’ big offseason splash and, though he will impact playing time for the rest of the room, Denver’s brass has been consistent in saying they’re not looking to move on from any of the regulars. Bandy and Humphrey are no strangers to starting the season on a practice squad and eventually seeing time on the 53-man roster. It’ll be interesting to see if an undrafted rookie like Ross can make the Broncos think twice about going status quo, but that����ap a tall task.

Offensive line (9)

Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, Mike McGlinchey, Alex Palczewski, Frank Crum, Kage Casey and Alex Forsyth 

Also: Matt Peart, Nick Gargiulo, Calvin Throckmorton, Tyler Miller, Gavin Ortega, Michael Dieter and Nash Jones

The Broncos have enviable depth on their offensive line, but, like with wide receiver, the roles are defined enough that it����ap difficult to imagine a ton of wiggle room. Palczewski and Crum are valued depth and development pieces and Casey, a fourth-round pick, joins them in a similar mold. Forsyth has been the clear No. 2 center for two seasons behind Wattenberg. That����ap nine. Peart and Throckmorton are veterans who have stepped in and played, while Gargiulo showed some promise before a bad preseason knee injury last summer. Miller and Ortega are interesting undrafted rookies but, outside a rash of injuries or major training camp push, it����ap reasonable to think they’re ticketed for the practice squad.

DEFENSE (25)

Defensive line (7)

Zach Allen, DJ Jones, Malcolm Roach, Eyioma Uwauzurike, Tyler Onyedim, Sai’Vion Jones and Jordan Jackson

Also: Matt Henningsen, Jordan Miller and Kristian Williams

A key part of the rationale for going heavy here again: Each of the past two years the roster cutdown has passed and Payton and Paton have made it clear that Jackson made the 53-man roster easily. We’ll bet for now that the same ends up happening this summer. They might decide they just have to have a player at another position. Maybe somebody else is a surprise cut, though among this group 2025 third-rounder Sai’Vion Jones is the only real candidate and that would be a major surprise given they traded up for him and also liked his development last season. So, Payton and Paton instead stick to their principles and go heavy up front once again.

Outside linebacker (4)

Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Que Robinson and Dondrea Tillman

Also: Drew Sanders, Johnny Walker and Dasan McCullough

The first three are absolute locks and there’s not much doubt about Tillman, either. The going gets tough from there. Health has been a major obstacle for Sanders, but if he plays all summer, he’ll probably be productive enough to make the roster. The numbers just get tight elsewhere in a hurry. Keeping four here is really 4.5 in a way because Jonah Elliss can play on the edge if needed, plus a deep defensive line group can help take some work off the edge guys against heavier teams. Sanders is a training camp wild card, though.

Inside linebacker (4)

Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Jonah Elliss and Red Murdock 

Also: Jordan Turner, Karene Reid, Levelle Bailey, Taurean York

Once again, this is about roster management and who makes it to the practice squad after the top three. Murdock was Mr. Irrelevant in the draft at No. 257, but forced 17 fumbles in his college career at Buffalo. Turner’s got real promise, so it was not an easy call to leave him off. Reid was a special teams regular after making the initial roster as an undrafted rookie last year, but this is maybe a tougher roster to make despite the release of Dre Greenlaw earlier this spring.

Cornerback (5)

Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine

Also: Reese Taylor, Jaden Robinson, Brent Austin, Ahmari Harvey and Paul Manning

Pretty straightforward here. The major storyline is more about beyond 2026, as McMillian and Moss are both entering contract years. For now, though, this is one of the deepest and most talented cornerback groups in football. Taylor has been a regular on the practice squad and was promoted to the active roster from mid-November on last year. The only question is if new secondary coaches Rob Livingston and Doug Belk see any of the personnel differently than Jim Leonhard and Addison Lynch previously.

Safety (5)

Talanoa Hufanga, Brandon Jones, Devon Key, Miles Scott and JL Skinner

Also: Tycen Anderson and Parker Robertson

There will be competition across multiple position groups based on special teams output. You can put Skinner, Anderson, Scott, Taylor, Turner, Reid, Sanders and more all into that group. The Broncos gave Anderson $650,000 guaranteed in part to be a key special teams player, so he might well make it. But over who? That signing was before Denver drafted Scott. Skinner is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is at a critical point in his career. The way coaches have talked about Key this offseason, he feels like the early favorite to replace P.J. Locke as the No. 3 safety. Denver signed Sam Franklin and gave him $1.34 million in guarantees last year, then cut him in August.

SPECIALIST (3)

PK Wil Lutz, P Jeremy Crawshaw and LS Mitch Fraboni

Also: LS Luke Basso

Not much mystery here. The Broncos signed the rookie Basso as summer competition, but Fraboni’s been solid and is under contract through 2027.

They covered everything in Barron’s first NFL offseason. But in particular, Blake recounted in October that the recent Broncos first-round draftee wanted to polish his technique at inside cornerback — where Denver ended up sticking him in a training camp competition.

“I think he saw,” Blake said last fall, “that they saw him in that exact light.”

The way the Broncos see Barron in his second NFL offseason, now, has greater ramifications than his own individual future. Despite a shaky rookie year, the 2024 Texas All-American carries too much natural talent in both his limbs and his mind to stay off the field. And Barron’s development through OTAs, minicamp and later training camp will shape one of the organization’s key short-term questions: should the Broncos pay CB2 Riley Moss or nickel Ja’Quan McMillian?

Both are entering contract years, with 2023 third-round pick Moss on the final year of his rookie deal and former undrafted grinder McMillian playing 2026 on a one-year tender. Denver, of course, already has former Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II on a long-term deal that’s set to see its cap hit increase each year through 2029. And with Barron waiting in the wings, the Broncos are approaching an unmistakable reality in their cornerback room come training camp.

“At some point, they’re gonna be like, ‘Look, we can’t pay three of ‘em,'” one NFL agent told The Denver Post.

This is not an actual issue. More of a decision. The Broncos drafted Barron in the first round in 2025 because he was the best player left on their board —  a “luxury” pick, as former defensive-passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard told The Post earlier this spring. At every turn, through a rookie season in which Barron played just 30% of Denver’s regular-season defensive snaps, the Broncos have justified that pick by pointing to the importance of depth at cornerback.

“When you’re looking at today’s NFL with the DBs and corners especially, they’re tough to find in the offseason without, like, large compensation,” head coach Sean Payton said in early May, asked on future plans for the cornerback room. “So, all of that will kinda work its way — sort itself out.”

It’s a great problem to have, as Broncos general manager George Paton said at this year’s NFL Combine. A “champagne problem,” as an agent told The Denver Post. And Barron gives Denver considerable negotiating leverage to offer team-friendly deals to McMillian and Moss, with the threat that the rising second-year cornerback could simply take one of their starting jobs in training camp, thereby decreasing their market heading into next year’s free agency.

“They’ll use their champagne problem of depth,” the agent told The Post, anticipating the Broncos’ potential negotiating strategy, “to scare everybody involved.”

Paton said at February’s combine that the Broncos still believe Barron can play both inside and outside. And after McMillian had a fringe All-Pro-level season at nickel last year, it’d make sense for Denver’s staff to see if Barron can compete through the offseason and training camp with Moss for the Broncos’ CB2 job opposite Surtain. A source with direct knowledge of the Broncos’ thinking told The Post earlier this spring that Payton, indeed, will likely “push” for Barron to compete with Moss there.

That move would make sense, too, in terms of league valuation. The market for nickel cornerbacks, while steadily increasing with inflation, isn’t close to the demand for proven outside cornerbacks. In 2025, the Bears made Kyler Gordon . Given his production, McMillian could reasonably angle for $15 to $17 million annually from Denver — but may not have much leverage with the open market. Multiple league sources who spoke to The Post pointed out that nickel cornerbacks only carry high value for teams that use them often in their schemes.

“If you’re a Cover 2 team that����ap just playing a lot of three linebackers, two outside corners, two safeties, and you only bring in the nickel very rarely, then that guy’s not very valuable,” one agent told The Post.

By contrast, league demand for proven outside corners is skyrocketing. In early March, the Rams traded for Chiefs All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie and promptly blew the ceiling off the market with a four-year extension worth $31 million annually. A rising tide will lift all boats, and the Titans handed 27-year-old former Saints corner Alontae Taylor — who produced similarly to Moss in 2025 — a three-year deal at an average base value of $19.3 million.

If the Broncos think Barron can beat out Moss in camp, they could look to trade Moss in August for draft value (similar to rookie receiver Pat Bryant pushing Devaughn Vele in last year’s training camp) or simply roll into the year with him as a high-end backup. If Moss were to start again in 2026 and put together a strong year opposite Surtain, though, he could angle for much more on the open market in 2027 than the Broncos would be willing to pay him (similar to John Franklin-Myers’ departure this offseason).

Of course, both paths turn in the Broncos’ short-term favor, as they’ve set themselves up with a litany of options at one of the NFL’s most important positions heading into a year with Super Bowl expectations. Reasonably, they could also elect to simply not pay or move either McMillian or Moss and simply let the string play out in case of injury — which materialized last year, as the Broncos quickly stabilized when Surtain was hurt for three games midseason.

“When you lose a guy like Pat, and you draft to your strengths, that’s one of the reasons you do that,” Payton said last winter.

Drafting to strengths also creates surplus, though. And if the Broncos simply sit on their stash, it could cost them soon enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When will Broncos QB Bo Nix be back in action?

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

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

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

Could Denver add a veteran free agent of note?

It����ap always a possibility.

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

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

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

Are there any big contract extensions on the table?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And still, he returned for a Broncos curtain call, on Monday, in the building where he helped lay the current foundation.

Ten years to the day that the Broncos drafted him in 2016, the 32-year-old Simmons announced the end of his playing days on Wednesday morning through a video announcement on the Broncos’ account. After a one-year stint with the Falcons and a year-long absence from football, Simmons also signed a ceremonial deal to retire with the Broncos.

Simmons welled up several times in a 30-minute-long press conference later Wednesday afternoon in Dove Valley, thanking a seemingly never-ending slew of backers: wife Taryn for supporting him, Broncos executive John Elway for drafting him, general manager George Paton for extending him, and the Denver fanbase for sticking with him.

“It just felt like there was a lot asked, and I feel like I fell short,” Simmons said, on his eight-year career in Denver. “So, that’s why — a lot of the emotional aspect of it. And so, I felt like I let a lot of people down over the years.”

“And so, to see that type of reaction for me is more than I deserve,” he continued, on the response to his retirement. “It’s heartwarming. I’m thankful. I’m blessed, I’m honored.”

The heartbeat of the Broncos’ defense

For eight seasons after Elway took him with the final pick of the third round in 2016, Simmons led the Broncos’ secondary, defense and locker room at large. His 30 interceptions are tied for seventh all-time in Denver franchise history. And he lives in rooms he’s never touched — still flashing across the tape that Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker shows players, a deep-safety model for the defense that the former Broncos secondary coach wants to install in Dallas.

Parker has a simpler lasting memory of his years with Simmons, though.

By Jan. 8, 2021, the Vic Fangio era as the Broncos’ head coach was over. The locker room, Parker remembered, had a “feeling” about that, heading into a Week 18 matchup with the Chiefs. For a fifth straight season in Denver, they had nothing to play for. Simmons’ safety partner, Kareem Jackson, was hurt. Future Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II was hurt. Ronald Darby, the other starting corner, was hurt.

And yet Simmons trotted out to play like everything was on the line.

“He was still scratching,” Parker said, remembering. “He was clawing, out there.”

One’s football legacy is strange, Simmons said. His is no exception. He was a two-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, and tied for seventh all-time in Broncos history in interceptions. He showed up, as Parker pointed out, playing 118 of a possible 131 games in Denver. He also had one season with a winning record but never made the playoffs.

It ate at him, as Simmons said. He told reporters on Wednesday that he believed each passing year would be the year. Behind the scenes, he had “a lot of talks” with Parker about a burning desire to simply make the postseason, as the Dallas defensive coordinator recounted.

“That����ap really all he wanted to do, to be honest with you,” Parker said. “I think if you asked if he would trade some of those career accolades relative to the interceptions and All-Pro nominees, and all that kinda stuff — to have that taste of January and February football, he would trade it in a heartbeat.”

That never came, and the Broncos cut Simmons for his price tag while rebuilding under Payton after the 2023 season. He signed in Atlanta in 2024 to try and chase a playoff berth — but found it “miserable,” as he said, to be away from his wife and FaceTime-parenting his three children, who were still living in Denver.

Simmons continued to train throughout the 2025 season but never signed with a franchise. The time he regained with family, though, was invaluable, as he recounted. Eventually, he found peace in realizing that it was “just time” to move away from his playing days, he said.

The safety had always wanted to retire a Bronco, even after being cut, Parker said. And the two years away from Denver helped Simmons find peace, too, with a tenure that lacked wins but had a much greater effect on the orbit around him.

“My overall goal was to leave here, and continue the legacy and to be a Hall of Fame player,” Simmons said. “Obviously, I fell short of that, I think. Not I think — I know I fell short of that.

“I think what I’m the most proud of, though, is the adversity that popped up in those eight seasons … it����ap hard to get recognized as a player when your team is not doing well,” Simmons continued. “It����ap a very difficult thing. So I’m proud of the way I was able to fight through some adversity in that aspect. It����ap hard when you have a lot going on. It helped me, though. It����ap part of my journey and my career. I’m thankful for it.”

Simmons has been a bridge between eras in Denver. He was drafted in 2016, the year after the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win. His time ended in 2023, the year before the Broncos returned to the playoffs. Denver went 52-79 in Simmons’ eight seasons, and saw six different coaches don a headset, and pivoted through a massive ownership change from the late Pat Bowlen to the Walton-Penner Group.

Still, Simmons became a “legend in his own way,” as former teammate Melvin Gordon told The Post. He organized Thursday bowling sessions and dinners with the defensive backs, and took care of the youngsters, Gordon said. Simmons was named a three-time captain and remained consistently accountable to local media during losing seasons. His impact ripples through foundational pieces still on the Broncos’ roster — Garett Bolles, Courtland Sutton, Surtain and Alex Singleton.

Gordon, a former Pro Bowler who played for the Broncos for three seasons, is quick to admit he fell into a bad place in Denver by his final year. He fumbled five times in 2022 and said he began to lose his “love for the game.”

Simmons, Gordon said, helped keep that passion burning through simple words and simple locker-room games of UNO.

“Sometimes, you do need a leader to show you the way,” Gordon said. “And I think he made his mark that way.”

The safety made his mark in the community, too, serving as an active mentor at the Broncos Boys and Girls Club. And after retirement, Simmons said he intends to try to wedge a foot into the broadcasting world — and explore a potential position at a local high school program, similar to Cherry Creek High head coach Dave Logan.

“I want to be the guy in the community that����ap a consistent, reliable figure for kids to look up to,” Simmons said.

And he hopes he left a legacy, as he said Wednesday, of a man who cared.

“I passionately cared,” Simmons said. “I wanted to do well. I really wanted to win. Didn’t work out. And I’m so glad that they’re winning now.”

The first-round pick that belonged to the Broncos in February — No. 30, the third-from-last in the pecking order this past Thursday night — wound up going through three teams’ hands before it turned into a good-hands guy

The Broncos traded the pick to Miami last month for veteran Dolphins wideout Jaylen Waddle. Miami then swapped it to San Francisco to move up in the draft, and the 49ers shipped it to the New York Jets to move down.

To the wanna-be draftniks up in the Grading The Week offices, Cooper Jr. is obviously the big loser here — largely because he seems like a good kid, and nobody, especially good kids, deserve Jet Life if they can help it. Alas. With Hoosiers teammate Fernando Mendoza officially joining the glittery dumpster fire that is the Las Vegas Raiders, you’d imagine the two will have a lot to text about, back and forth, these next few years. Godspeed, dudes.

But speaking of speed, there’s been at least one very clear winner in the No. 30 sweepstakes so far — and that’s the Broncos.

Waddle as Broncos’ “first-round pick” — A-

Why? For one thing, precedent says that Waddle’s production this fall should, health permitting (knocks on wood), just about double whatever numbers Cooper puts out as a rookie for the J-E-T-S in 2026.

We’ve got a few amateur Mel Kipers on Team GTW, and crunched some numbers that had to have played at least some role in GM George Paton’s decision to act against his history by giving up a cost-controlled, young first-round draft pick in favor of a veteran instead.

Since his rookie season of 2021, Waddle, a home-run hitter out of the University of Alabama and longtime pal of Broncos icon Pat Surtain II, has averaged a stat line of 75 catches, 1,008 receiving yards and five touchdown catches per year. Three of those five years saw him nab 70 or more receptions. In four of those five, he racked up at least 900 yards receiving.

Comparatively and historically speaking, that’s a heck of a lot better bang for the buck than what a very-late-in-the-first-round wide receiver gives you during his rookie campaign.

From 2021-2025, the span of Waddle’s career so far, eight wideouts have been drafted from picks 25-35 in the NFL Draft. All contributed as first-year players, but some better than most. The Chargers’ Ladd McConkey put up a Pro-Bowl caliber campaign in ’24 as a first-year target (82 catches, 1,149 receiving yards, seven scores), while Rashod Bateman’s numbers as a rookie in ’22 were merely serviceable (46 grabs, 515 yards, one TD).

Of those eight receivers taken in the 25-35 range, their average rookie stat line read like this: 48 catches, 611 receiving yards, 4.8 TDs. So, basically, an average Troy Franklin year for first-round money.

Paton and coach Sean Payton wanted to do better — especially given the Broncos’ title window, the low cost of Bo Nix’s rookie contract, and the number of veteran deals set to expire after the 2027 season.

Cooper Jr. would have looked great in orange and blue. But he also might have taken time to develop into the kind of sure thing that Waddle’s already become. Waddle is plug, play and get out of the way. He should also prove to be a better “first-round” addition for the ’26 and ’27 windows than anything the Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers snapped up on Thursday night.

David Adelman’s second playoff crucible — D (as of Friday)

Michael Malone would’ve blown about 17 gaskets if Jaden McDaniels had said what McDaniels said about one of his Nuggets teams out loud. He’d have had “THEY’RE ALL BAD DEFENDERS” signs attached to every player’s locker when they showed up to work the next day. He’d have reminded them every six minutes about how a rival was challenging their very manhood.

Maybe that would’ve worked before Game 3 in Minneapolis. Maybe it wouldn’t have — the longer a “bad cop” rages, the more likely a player is to tune them out. But we know this much: Adelman publicly shrugging McDaniels off earlier in the week didn’t exactly translate into hunger or a fight when the two teams went at it again on Thursday night, did it? Good cops in this business tend to have more friends but fewer rings.

This is not the weekend for the Broncos’ front office to be sensible with its Walmart money. Oh, no. The 2026 NFL Draft is a free hit. An open goal. A chance to patch holes on a good roster by taking some chances.

Denver was an ankle away from the Super Bowl last season. A freak injury from waving high enough for everybody in Kansas to see.

Act like it.

Be bold.

Be brave.

Please don’t be an inside linebacker.

We’re wringing our hands about pick No. 62, of course, a second-round selection that, as of Monday, is the Broncos’ first — and maybe only — chance to make a draft weekend splash.

Six of the Broncos’ seven picks are slated to fall on Day 3 (rounds four-seven), and three of those six currently lie in the final round. History says Paton and Payton will move around some if they see someone specific they like. But a class this small needs to be about quality — not quantity. So as the weekend approaches, here are five things you’d hope general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton keep in mind as they shop for depth:

1. If Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers is available at No. 62, or close, move Heaven and Earth to make him yours

Linebacker or tight end? Defensive lineman or slot weapon? You nuts? Did you watch the Commodores? Don’t overthink this. Stowers is a tight end who looks like a wide receiver (6-foot-3, 239 pounds), runs like a wide receiver (4.51 in the 40) and jumps like a wide receiver (45.5-inch vertical).

He’s a matchup nightmare, the kind of target who leaves linebackers eating his dust and safeties flailing to reach jump balls they can’t touch. Stowers the draft epitome of a “Joker,” the TE/WR/inside triangle hybrid that Payton spoke about so lustily in January 2025. He’s Evan Engram. Only younger. Sure, Stowers doesn’t grade out well as a blocker. Guess what? You’ve got plenty of “blocking” tight ends on hand already.

2. Grab a contributor Friday — save your projects for Saturday

Could you find a starting-caliber linebacker late in the second round, too? Sure. Assuming Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez is still on the board, he’d make a perfect understudy for Alex Singleton, who’ll turn 33 in December. Or Justin Strnad, who turns 30 in August.

But with only seven picks, and a ton of contracts slated to end after the 2027 season, isn’t time of the essence? Shouldn’t you be saving the understudies for Saturday?

This is a back-filling draft, not the foundational one that 2024 turned out to be, thanks largely to Bo Nix. But winning now means getting guys who can play, and contribute, from the jump. Ideally, that means finding someone in Round 2 who could start for you in a pinch as soon as Week 1. Nail that, and the rest is gravy. Because if you don’t …

3. Don’t fall in love with BPA if that BPA has nowhere to play

See: Barron, Jahdae. Paton’s 2025 BPA with selection No. 20 a year ago. As in, “Best Player Available.” Or is it, Best Pick Again?

You can never have too much of a good thing in this league, given the volatility and injuries. Unless, of course, it’s nickel backs, especially when you’ve already developed an undrafted one (Ja’Quan McMillian) into one of the best in the AFC. At the time of Paton and Payton picked Barron, last spring’s first-round selection, folks didn’t whoop and holler. Barron, a speedster who raised Cain at the University of Texas, made folks sort of shrug and go, ‘Yeah, well, makes sense.’

The Broncos late in 2024 got badly exposed along the perimeter in the passing game — that Cleveland game on Monday Night Football was wild — while Pat Surtain II was out and a still-young Riley Moss was forced to cover more WR1s.

Fast forward to the fall of ’25, where Moss improved and cut down on his penalties. McMillian upped his game another level and rarely left the field on passing downs.

Before last spring’s draft, pundits and fans pleaded for the Broncos to add more help at running back, tight end and wide receiver. By and large, they’re making the same pleas in 2026 — which doesn’t exactly speak well for the early returns on Barron in the first round or for RJ Harvey in the second.

There’s time. But 2027, when so many of the contracts for this current core are slated to run out, gets closer by the day.

4. Remember Bo Nix — and Nix’s costs down the road

If someone offers you picks — even late ones — for the 2027, 2028 or 2029 drafts, you’d be wise to listen. Nix’s four-year rookie deal The Bo Show is slated for a $5.08-million cap hit this fall, and a $5.92-million hit in two seasons. Justin Herbert’s first post-rookie-contract extension had an average annual value of $52.5 million. Joe Burrow’s post-rookie extension featured an AAV of $55 million.

That raise is coming. More rookies will need to be coming, too.

5. Secure a RB you can trust in January

Here’s an idea. Actually, think of it as an exercise. At some point on Saturday, or before, look at the tailbacks most likely to be on the board after Round 2 or Round 3. Ask yourself, very simply, one question: Which one would I feel good about starting, at home, in late January, come rain, sleet or shine?

Because, presuming that J.K. Dobbins is going to be there is pure hubris. Or ignorance. Or both. Presume he’s not. Presume the rest of your options are still best used as pass-catchers in space (Harvey) or as special-teamers (Badie). Which of these prospects can pound the rock between the tackles 12-15 times per game against a salty defense? Which one could help grind me to a Super Bowl?

I’m partial to Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, a workhorse for the Cornhuskers last year, a volume carrier with power who recorded just three fumbles over 550 touches as a collegian. A born closer. Johnson averaged 6.7 yards from scrimmage last November every time he saw the ball, scoring five times on 120 touches that month. Sounds like the perfect fit, on paper, for a franchise that won’t just be judged on how it finishes next season. But where.