Sean Payton nixed the final day of Broncos minicamp Thursday, a sign that Denver’s staff has seen all they need to see before players re-enter the building in late July to tug on actual gear. And Payton has been quick to remind reporters, throughout weeks of summer practices, that it’s tough to properly evaluate one’s roster while playing in shorts and T-shirts.

“I think all of us are anxious,” Payton said Wednesday, “to get to where we’re in pads.”

Denver’s organized team activities and subsequent minicamp this June, though, still set in motion a horde of training-camp storylines that’ll have key parts to play in the Broncos’ 2026 outlook. The Post observed two full OTA and two full minicamp practices across the past three weeks, which provided first looks at new receiver Jaylen Waddle and new play-caller Davis Webb’s offense in early 11-on-11 periods.

With that in mind, here are seven things The Post learned from the Broncos’ summer program.

1. Davis Webb has yet to dip deep into his bag

Remember the screens? Sick of them yet? They’re still around. This is still Sean Payton’s ballclub, after all, even if Davis Webb is his new play-caller.

“It’s the Broncos’, right?” Payton said Wednesday, when asked if this was his offense or a combination of he and Webb’s.

The quick game will forever be a staple of Payton-led offenses, and it won’t go away under Webb. It just has to get better. Bo Nix led the NFL last year in passing attempts of under 10 air yards (432), and finished 27th in yards per attempt on such throws. That’s not good enough to run back. In that vein, the Broncos’ offense under Webb found its most offensive success throughout summer practices by attacking the defense with weapons in the flat and in the short-to-intermediate range in the middle of the field.

New receiver Jaylen Waddle is already playing a considerable part there. Waddle had more yards after the catch with the Dolphins in 2025 — even in a down season in Miami — than any Broncos wide receiver not named Troy Franklin.

“You just can’t replace speed,” Nix said Tuesday, on Waddle. “That����ap just what he brings to the table.”

2. Jahdae Barron will compete at outside cornerback

Payton confirmed this point-blank to reporters in the first week of OTAs, but weeks of practice have only underlined this further. After the Broncos took him in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft with no actual pressing need for a cornerback, Barron lost a training-camp competition for the starting nickel job with Ja’Quan McMillian in last year’s training camp. A year later, and Barron is poised to challenge Riley Moss at outside CB2 come July.

That could have direct ramifications for who Denver decides to pay between McMillian and Moss, who will both be free agents after the 2026 season.

“It seems like he’s wise beyond his years, going into his second year,” star cornerback Pat Surtain II said Tuesday, of Barron.

3. Rookies Tyler Onyedim and Jonah Coleman can — and probably will — play right away

The Broncos’ first two picks of their 2026 NFL Draft class have looked more than the part. The 6-foot-3, 292-pound Onyedim is wearing No. 98 in Denver, the number vacated by John Franklin-Myers, and is poised for immediate rotational snaps at Franklin-Myers’ former boundary-end slot on the defensive line. He has drawn rave reviews inside the building, and has been hard to miss outside of it, with several reps through OTAs and minicamp either bursting through the line of scrimmage or fitting a run gap.

Coleman, meanwhile, has been heavily involved in the Broncos’ passing game. He’s flashed the open-field burst to be a threat on screen passes and choice routes out of the backfield, and has clear enough stockiness to chip rushers on obvious passing downs.

“He’s put together well,” Payton said, in early June.

4. There could be a QB2 battle brewing

Backup Jarrett Stidham has had his moments — including a beautiful ball to Courtland Sutton up the seam on the final day of minicamp Wednesday — but largely has looked like the same quarterback who struggled at times to get the ball out in January’s AFC Championship loss. QB3 Sam Ehlinger, meanwhile, has at times ran the offense smoother in team periods and continues to flash sneaky athleticism.

Stidham remains the team’s 18th-highest-paid player in terms of average contract value, and led the way in quarterback reps with Nix limited through the offseason program. But in Ehlinger’s second year in Denver’s system, he could push Stidham for the backup job in training camp on sheer performance.

5. It’s obvious why ILB Jonah Elliss will not be a reality

This is a compliment, actually. Elliss has stuck at outside linebacker through the offseason because he’s simply “doing too well outside,” as Payton said during OTAs. He hasn’t played inside at any point in team periods, despite Payton’s declaration in March that Elliss could shift there. It’s only taken a couple weeks for reporters to see why.

On Wednesday, Elliss broke off a lightning-quick spin move for a would-be sack and the day’s defensive highlight. He had another eye-catching pass-rush rep on the first day of minicamp Tuesday, too. It’s difficult for offensive lineman to adequately protect without pads, but Elliss’s sheer speed off the ball has been impossible to ignore.

6. The Broncos love the UFL, for demonstrated reason

The Broncos plucked one key reserve out of the UFL in 2024 with edge rusher Dondrea Tillman, and are trying for two more in former St. Louis Battlehawks Hakeem Butler and Sean Fresch Jr. Both wasted zero time acquitting themselves to an NFL practice field. Cornerback Fresch had a highlight pass-breakup Tuesday and receiver Butler pinned a pass down the sideline against a defensive back’s back for a ridiculous catch Wednesday.

The 6-foot-5, 242-pound Butler was a two-time Offensive Player of the Year in the UFL, and has shown why in just two days in a Broncos jersey. His natural fluidity is impossible to teach at his size, and he has a real shot to force Payton and the Broncos’ staff to make some tough decisions in camp.

7. Some receiver in Broncos camp will get snapped up elsewhere after roster cuts.

After trading for Waddle, the Broncos suddenly have too many standouts at receiver for too few roster spots. Denver only activates five receivers on gameday, with its current quintet of Waddle-Courtland Sutton-Troy Franklin-Pat Bryant-Marvin Mims Jr. all but set. That will likely leave veteran Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Butler and a host of undrafted rookies competing for practice-squad spots.

Former Nebraska and Kentucky receiver Dane Key has stood out from that group of undrafted pass-catchers in summer workouts, with good speed in space at his 6-foot-3 frame and a handful of chunk catches. Some standout will inevitably get left on the chopping block.

The Broncos quarterback ran Denver’s walkthrough Thursday, head coach Sean Payton said, though Nix did not participate in the bulk of practice open to reporters.

The third-year quarterback is on the mend from a second procedure on his right ankle, conducted in late April. Nix originally fractured his ankle in late January at the end of a postseason win over the Buffalo Bills.

Nix for the second straight week watched most of practice in tennis shoes and a hoodie, but Payton himself said the 26-year-old had done more work before practice. He also said Nix remains on track to participate in some capacity in next week’s mandatory minicamp and that he doesn’t expect any drop-off in Nix’s ability or willingness to take off and run when he returns.

“He’s going to be, like, completely clean mobility-wise,” Payton said. “He was out here today going through two-minute reps, walk-through reps. He’s young and one of his great assets is to avoid sacks and escape from the pocket.

“I don’t think you’ll see that hindered at all.”

Ja’Quan McMillian ‘has all the things you’re looking for’

The Broncos have not yet had detailed conversations with nickel Ja’Quan McMillian and his agent, Deryk Gilmore, about a potential long-term contract extension.

Sources made that clear Wednesday after a report briefly circulated and was then amended, suggesting that those conversations were underway.

Denver typically has done contract extensions with players before or during training camp, around the club’s bye week or early in the offseason, so a lack of detailed talks in June is no real surprise.

Head coach Sean Payton said Thursday, though, that the 5-foot-10 nickel is the type of player Denver wants in its building for years to come.

“Absolutely. Listen, he’s got all the things you’re looking for,” Payton said. “When I say grit, chip on the shoulder. The ball finds him. We keep talking about taking it away and, man, we forget Buffalo on the road, Monday night in 2023. First series of the ground, ball’s out. He’s causing a fumble.

“He’s just around it all. And that����ap not just good fortune. That����ap a skill set.”

McMillian has blossomed from an undrafted rookie in 2022 to one of the best slot men in football. The Broncos put a second-round restricted free agent tender on him this spring, meaning he’s set to make $5.7 million. The top of the nickel market ranges from $13 million to $18 million, depending on exactly how the position is defined. Cornerback Riley Moss, another quality starter, is also entering the final year of his contract and Denver also has 2025 first-rounder Jahdae Barron waiting in the wings, setting up a series of decisions to be made in the secondary over the coming nine months.

“(McMillian) is so focused and preparing to play and play well,” Payton said. “I’m sure he’ll compartmentalize that and it will take care of itself very well.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fast and smooth

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

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

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

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

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

Hufanga, though, defined it well enough.

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

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

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

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

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

Enter Waddle.

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

Low maintenance, high potential

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.

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.

A couple weeks before the Buffaloes began spring practices, ex-Colorado defensive coordinator  Robert Livingston ventured south to interview as the Broncos’ defensive passing-game coordinator. He was particularly “excited,” as Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion recalled to The Denver Post, about the prospect of coaching Denver’s 2025 first-round cornerback Jahdae Barron. A day later, Livingston was back in the Buffs’ building in Boulder.

There, walking in around noon, was Barron — there to catch up with Marion, who was the receivers coach at Texas in 2022 while Barron was a junior cornerback.

“The synergy of them two just meeting at the same time — being right there, right after (Livingston) was at the interview the day before — sometimes, God just syncs things up that way,” Marion said.

Barron talked ball with Marion and cousin Naeten Mitchell, a safety who recently transferred to Colorado. He ventured into the Buffs’ secondary room, too, to break down tape. And eventually, as Marion recounted, he and Livingston wandered off to go watch film together.

Barron stayed until 8 p.m.

“I haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t like Jahdae,” Marion said. “I mean, he’s kinda like a quarterback from that standpoint, where — he has that infectious personality.

“So him and Rob hit it off pretty easy, pretty quick.”

Shortly thereafter, the Broncos officially hired Livingston to replace the departed Jim Leonhard. It marked a professional reunion with Denver DC Vance Joseph, who Livingston worked with in Cincinnati in 2014 and 2015. It also marked a new figure in Barron’s development. And the development of their relationship will shape one of the most important questions awaiting the Broncos in 2026 and beyond: how can Denver extract first-round value from its 2025 first-round pick?

Finding a fit in a crowded secondary room

None of the dozens of Barron’s friends and family watching the NFL Draft last year, as his old high school coach Jason Cecil said, expected the Broncos to be the team to call in the first round. Denver — a team with established starters at every cornerback spot — simply felt he was the best player available, and took him “out of a place of luxury,” as Leonhard recounted to The Post.

Barron, according to data reviewed by The Denver Post, played the fewest percentage of his team’s regular-season defensive snaps (30%) of any first-round defensive rookie in 2025, when active. He played just 17 snaps combined in two playoff games.

“He was obviously upset,” Marion said of Barron, “from the standpoint that, he wanted to have a better year.”

Leonhard’s greatest challenge with Barron in his first NFL season, as the ex-Broncos coach told The Post last summer, was getting the rookie to actually turn his brain off. To understand his assignment at nickel — sometimes fitting a run gap, sometimes checking a tight end, sometimes fluid until a play developed — and stay within that. Read. React. Don’t cheat and try to apply learned collegiate tendencies to the NFL game.

At times, Barron looked like the instinctive ballhawk he was advertised to be; at times, he also looked like a 2001 iMac desktop trying to process five billion lines of code before triggering a decision.

Denver’s staff anticipated this, yo-yoing Barron between nickel and outside assignments from the start of his rookie camp.

“The vision was, he’s going to come in and challenge,” Leonhard, now the Bills’ defensive coordinator, told The Post this week. “But it wasn’t this, like — ‘There is a glaring hole in our secondary that he has to fill.’ We just thought he complemented the room great, and we were going to be able to create ways where he can impact games as he’s growing into what his eventual every-down-player role is going to be in that system, and the NFL.”

Entering Year Two, though, the Broncos need to solidify where Barron’s strengths fit best, both for his own development and for the future of their secondary. CB2 Riley Moss is entering the last year of his contract. So is Ja’Quan McMillian. Barron may well have a better shot at competing with Moss at outside cornerback in camp, but the organization has expressed a mixed view of his abilities there.

Head coach Sean Payton said multiple times last season that the Broncos view Barron as a nickel “with outside flex.” Ex-cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch, meanwhile, pounded the table to Denver brass in the pre-draft process in 2025 that Barron could play outside corner in the NFL. Leonhard said this week, too, that he felt Barron proved in 2025 he could “be an every-down player on the outside.” But both Lynch — fired after the season — and Leonhard are gone.

Enter Livingston, now, who has a decade-long track record back in Cincinnati of developing young secondary talent in veteran-laden rooms — as the Bengals had a habit of drafting a cornerback “every other year,” former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Paul Guenther recalled.

“I’m sure he can teach (Jahdae) how to play the position a little more instinctually,” Marion said. “The thought process of, ‘OK, they’re in 13-personnel, it����ap 3rd-and-3, this is what plays are coming.’ Or, ‘They’re in 11-personnel, 3rd-and-8, this is what plays are coming.’

“And they’ll be able to play a little bit faster, with the knowledge that Rob has.”

An up-and-down rookie year

“I just know the kid that he is – the faith-based kid that he is, how hungry he is to prove and take care of his mom and all of this stuff that he has to do and he’s responsible for — I know he’s going to get it done,” Marion told The Post last week. “The hard part is knowing, will he be able to get it done there, because of the talent in the room?”

Pat Surtain II is, well, Pat Surtain II. McMillian had a career year at nickel. Moss tied for the most-penalized cornerback in the league in 2025 (12) but also led the league in passes defensed (19). Barron vacillated between playing deep in situational dime packages, fitting run gaps as a veritable off-ball linebacker in big-nickel packages, covering tight ends man-to-man, and even started a game at safety.

During one conversation last year, Leonhard reminded Barron that Surtain, who came out of Alabama at the No. 9 overall pick in 2021, actually didn’t start in Week 1 of his 2021 rookie year. And Leonhard would confirm to Barron, from the staff’s side, that there was no frustration with his development.

But there was frustration, of course, from Barron’s own standpoint, a player who Leonhard said has “extremely high standards of himself.”

In a Week 11 win over the Chiefs, the rookie cornerback turned in his best game of the year: four tackles, a pick-six that was called back, and a few reps of excellent coverage on Kansas City legend Travis Kelce. A few days later, : “Tell swift (sic) put me on a song RIGHT NOW.” His confidence was soaring. Temporarily.

Two weeks later, Barron called Marion one late night after a sloppy Broncos overtime win over the Commanders.

“One week he’s riding high and thinks like, ‘Man, I’m killing it,'” Marion said. “And the next week, he’s like, ‘Damn, Coach — I messed up on this situation, I messed up here, I was supposed to be on this guy.'”

A film review of that Barron performance showed no real glaring errors, in his 24 snaps against Washington. He was a step too slow on a couple routes covering tight end Zach Ertz. He took a poor angle on a first-down scramble by Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota. He communicated well on multiple other snaps, and nearly jumped a route for a would-be game-sealing pick in overtime. But Barron played more than 40% of Denver’s snaps in just one more game (Week 17 against Kansas City) the rest of the season.

“In no way was it a punishment thing — like, ‘He wasn’t doing what we asked him to do,'” Leonhard said, asked about Barron’s declining snaps down the stretch. “Just plays out sometimes, when you’re not a starter, that way.”

Barron, the 2024 Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back in collegiate football, is not cursing circumstance. He is of the mentality, as Marion described, to shape his own results.

“From a parent situation, you want your kid to be on a great team sometimes, just to see what greatness looks like,” Marion said. “And they can match that, and then it takes their game to a whole new level. So, I think that����ap what that did for him, right? Seeing, like, ‘I can’t make a mistake. These guys aren’t making any. I can’t slip up. I have to be on point at all times.’”

“He took that as a challenge. He didn’t take that as a crutch, or crippling his development. He’s taking that as like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna prove it.’”

Barron, Marion said, respects Joseph, who’s repeatedly gushed about Barron to The Post. By proxy, Marion added, Barron will respect Livingston, who worked with Joseph in coaching Cincinnati’s defensive backs in 2014 and 2015. Many of Joseph’s current defensive principles — disguising blitzers indistinguishably from players dropping back into coverage — are similar to what Cincinnati did a decade ago, under defensive coordinator Guenther. And the “roots” of Livingston’s defenses for the last two seasons at Colorado, Guenther told The Post, are the same.

Upon arriving to Colorado, Livingston organized a turnaround from one of the worst defenses in the FBS in 2023 to a top-45 unit in 2024. Colorado slumped back to 112th in the country in opponent points-per-game in a 3-9 season in 2025. But he leaves the building with high marks from head coach Deion Sanders, one of the best corners in the history of the NFL.

“I feel like, he knows, inside, what he’s done with this program,” Sanders said. “Sometimes, we get caught up in numbers, and statistics, and not understanding personnel and knowledge and what he brought to this program. He brought a lot.”

A track record of molding young talent

In February, Barron met former Bengals cornerback Darqueze Dennard for the second time at the annual Thorpe Award banquet in Oklahoma City. They’d first chatted a year before, when Barron took the stage himself to accept the trophy. The circumstances, this time around, were rather different.

Dennard offered a shred of advice.

“I told him, he’s just gotta trust them,” Dennard said, speaking on Denver’s staff. “They’re mad scientists, what they’re doing. Just put the work in, and all the rest of the stuff gon’ play out how it����ap supposed to.”

He would know. 11 years before Barron, there was Dennard, who was drafted late in 2014’s first round by Cincinnati after a Thorpe Award-winning senior season at Michigan State. Guenther and Joseph shifted Dennard from outside corner to nickel to eventually supplant aging veteran Leon Hall. It was not easily received.

Livingston, as Dennard recounted, was a constant support, then in his first year as a staffer after spending a couple years in Cincinnati’s scouting department.

“He saw more into me than I did, at the time,” Dennard said. “I just kinda wanted to be on my island, X-out this player, and be done with it for the day. Where, he wanted me to come in and actually be able to impact football games.”

“Like, I don’t know how much he can help a 10-year vet,” Early said. “But a young one that he’s able to get his hands on and that hasn’t quite had that breakout year yet — I think you’ll see a tremendous difference in whoever the previous guy was, and how Doug is able to bring those guys along.”

Those development-focused hires, then, will set up a fascinating positional battle between three younger cornerbacks vying for two starting spots — and long-term futures in Denver. The 25-year-old McMillian is playing this season on a one-year, $5.8 million tender, and is currently set to hit unrestricted free agency in 2027. The 26-year-old Moss is on the final year of his rookie deal.

The Broncos got plenty of glimpses last season of Barron in big-nickel units, and saw him play heavier snaps outside midseason when Surtain was sidelined with a pec injury. And the rising second-year corner has a chance, this spring and summer, to make it easy for Denver to decide whether to pay McMillian or Moss long-term.

“There is learning in the NFL, but nothing’s going to be new this year that he (doesn’t) already know,” Leonhard said. “But he did prove last year, he can be an every-down player on the outside, just as much as he can play on the inside and be a nickel and dime.”

At this year’s Thorpe ceremony, too, Barron and Dennard — men of faith — bonded over Proverbs 27:17, talking about Barron’s future.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

“Get better with your sword, get better with your crown,” Dennard said. “And that was his mindset.”