Perhaps it����ap in the business offices on the third floor, with copious natural light, soaring, exposed wood beams and ceiling, a large outdoor patio overlooking the practice fields and even a golf simulator.

Or perhaps it����ap down on the players’ first floor, in the cavernous locker room, a weight room that will make leg day seem like a good idea or a state-of-the-art training and rehabilitation area that is filled with cutting-edge technology and design detail down to the exact size of the drawers.

All-Pro right guard Quinn Meinerz parked underground in the players’ lot for the first time and realized his truck wouldn’t be “150 degrees” after a long training camp day baking in the Front Range sun.

Then he walked into the building and, right through the doors, found paths to the locker room, weight room and cafeteria.

“In the previous building, the weight room, you have to walk,” he said. “It sounds so spoiled, but you have to walk a little bit to go to the weight room. Right now, the weight room is connected to the locker room pretty much, so everything is so close.

“Those little minutes of time do add up throughout the day, so it’ll be nice to just have a really good flow of traffic and everything.”

Somewhere along the way, it����ap natural to wonder: Is there such a thing as too nice?

Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner has thought about that question and has at least one antidote.

“Well, I think you’ve met our head coach,” he said with a smile during a recent news conference in the atrium of the Broncos’ new building, which opened for business in July.

Sean Payton didn’t laugh when relayed the comment, but he made it clear that the new digs had been part of his opening message to the 2026 Broncos when they reported for training camp this summer.

His message: It����ap very possible to have a team that stinks residing in a building that shines.

“There have been a ton of new facilities with teams that have had success and a ton of new facilities with teams that haven’t,” Payton said. “I don’t think there’s any story or correlation. It����ap about the guys in the room, what we do on the field. If we’re not successful, it����ap going to be because we didn’t do a good enough job coaching, we didn’t execute well enough. It����ap not going to be because of the new digs. If we are successful, it����ap going to be because we did the stuff needed. It����ap not going to be because of the new digs.”

Building the best to be the best

That����ap mostly true. A new building can’t give Payton and offensive coordinator Davis Webb better ideas for third-and-short. It won’t make a game-saving tackle or force a fumble at a critical moment.

What the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is betting on, though, is that over time the building will make a difference in football and business.

The bells and whistles are part of that equation, to be sure. Having the best in training and rehab tools won’t prevent all injuries, but if it prevents one or two per year, that����ap real, on-the-field value. If having nearly all business employees relocated from the stadium to the new HQ leads to better ideas, that����ap good for the bottom line, too.

“It����ap a testament to ownership, to Greg and Carrie, the investment they’ve made into football, football first, but also our business to bring nearly 100 business staff into the building to create culture, to design a building with football in mind,” president Damani Leech said. “The spaces are really well thought of. Very intentional layout. The player path of travel was really, really important.

“I love coming to work every day, and I think everybody else does too.”

But there’s another element, slightly less tangible, that might not be apparent on a quick tour of the building but undoubtedly can be felt by players and employees who show up to work there every day.

You’ve got the best of the best. No stone is left unturned.

Leech put it flat-out in early August: “There’s really nothing that we didn’t get. Nothing.”

The result: There is really no excuse for not performing.

“Any time we’re going to — whether it����ap this facility, a new stadium — we’re trying to raise the expectations,” Penner said. “And our expectation is that we want to win championships.

“We’re going to do everything it takes and provide the resources that are necessary to do it.”

What two mixed-use districts in Atlanta reveal about Broncos’ Burnham Yard plans

Now four years into owning the team, Penner and Carrie Walton-Penner increasingly see their vision coming to fruition. They’ve solidified the top of their football operation with coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton, extending each of their contracts this spring with deals of equal length. They’ve got a quarterback in place in Bo Nix. They’ve been to an AFC Championship Game. They’ve designed and built a new home base for the franchise and are in the process of attempting to do the same with a stadium and mixed-use district at Burnham Yard. They’ve overhauled the club’s foundation and community efforts.

The Penners had high expectations from the start in August 2022, to be sure. They showed they weren’t afraid of change when they fired Nathaniel Hackett after 15 games and took on a record $85 million in dead salary cap a year later by releasing Russell Wilson.

With each passing year and each additional project, though, the room for excuses dwindles further.

That doesn’t mean the Broncos must win Super Bowls every year or else. Penner said recently he’s wary of “binary answers” when it comes to what defines success in a particular season.

Still, at this point, the expectations set from the corner offices in the club’s new building are high. And they’re not coming down any time soon.

“I’m excited,” Penner said. “I feel like each season we come in and we’re more prepared and a better roster and a more complete coaching staff and all the pieces are there since the first season. That����ap how I feel about it now. We can’t wait to get out there. We have all the pieces, and we have the right culture.

“Again, we’re providing the right resources. You always need a little bit of luck. And you just have to go out and perform.”

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

So he did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parker Gabriel: Well, that would certainly make Deion Sanders’ weekend travel arrangements more convenient. Do you think it would also make it easier … eh, never mind. Bottom line: I cannot fathom that happening, although Payton did wax fairly poetic about Sheduer during the 2025 NFL Draft when his fall to the fifth round was approaching terminal velocity. It’s one thing to be friendly with the coach and his kid, but it’s another when it comes to Payton and being protective about his quarterback room. If he thinks Shedeur would fit well in that room, hey, let it rip. Turns out, Sanders is the No. 2 in Cleveland — somehow — to start the season anyway. But when Payton says he wants anonymous donors in his building, the only exemption is for himself. Shedeur around here would be anything but anonymous. If Von Miller can’t get a call, it’s hard to see Shedeur fitting Sean’s “right 53.”

Keeler: I can’t see Stiddy or Ehlinger winning a postseason game for this franchise, and that’s the problem. I also can’t see Payton trusting his passing game to Shedeur. The former CU Buffs star has the touch, the vision, the cool and the “it” factor — but he’s also got a career sack rate of 9.8% in the NFL, a clip that sits between Russell Wilson’s 10.22% rate in ’22 and 9.15% in ’23 under Sunshine Sean. We saw how long that marriage lasted. So let me throw another name out there: Cowboys backup Joe Milton III. The former Tennessee/Michigan man boasts a TD-to-int ratio of 3-0 and a passer rating of 142.9 this month. That works.

Gabriel: Alright, now you’re cooking. Just like Preseason Milton. The funny thing: Payton never specifically named Milton, but he complained about how the NFL Combine and Pro Days have changed and now it’s just about seeing how far guys can throw the ball … conspicuously soon after Milton hucked it 80 yards or something like that. The thought process here, though, actually leads to the ultimate reason why I can see Payton keeping both at the roster cutdown on Aug. 30 and then maybe even playing it coy until Week 1 on who will be No. 2 and who will be the emergency third on gamedays: Who else is there? Maybe Zach Wilson gets cut at the roster cutdown, but other than that, there haven’t been many young guys who have learned any of Payton’s system since he’s been in Denver. So, are you going to be one injury away from Stidham or Ehlinger as your starter and a guy off the street or just into the building as the No. 2?

Keeler: Stidham vs. Ehlinger doesn’t feel like a fair fight. The latter needs more preseason snaps, and Payton’s playing time so far feels as if he’s got a thumb on the scale. It also feels as if Stiddy’s got a job for the same reason Zeke Nnaji is still a Nugget — But Super Bowl windows with a cost-controlled star QB don’t last forever, and the time is now. I’m ringing up Jerry Jones about Milton — career NFL sacks taken: zero in five appearances — to see if he’d like to swap backups.

Gabriel: That would be fun. From here, I’ll say the Broncos keep Stiddy and Ehlinger through 2026 and then try to identify a Milton-esque young, developmental player to add to the room for 2027 — potential Bo Nix extension season, as it happens — and beyond.

Did you see the touch? Bo Nix’s 21-yard wheel route to RJ Harvey against Green Bay Friday night was feathery enough to stuff a pillow.

Did you see the timing?  Nix’s 35-yard toss to Jaylen Waddle against the Pack looked more like guys who’ve been playing pitch-and-catch together for years, not months.

In his first game back since two offseason ankle procedures, the Broncos’ QB1 looked pretty much as we left him at Empower Field in January, didn’t he? Six pass completions on nine attempts, 76 passing yards, one touchdown — that rainbow to Harvey — with zero picks and a 129.9 passer rating. Two drives against Green Bay’s starters, 10 points scored.

“It just felt, like, exactly where I left off,” Nix said after the game. “I think, honestly, I felt better, I think, over time … . I think the extra clean-up surgery was good for me, just because it put me back to square one, back to base one. And I thought that I felt pretty good. As good as I’ve felt in a long time.”

Nothing more to see here, Sean. Get No. 10 in some bubble wrap and start the prep for Kansas City, baby.

“For the first time back where he’s actually going against a different defense, I thought he was efficient,” the Broncos coach told 9NEWS at halftime of Denver’s 33-13 preseason loss to Green Bay. “He’s been moving well at practice. That’s really been the key evaluation.”

He moved well on Friday, too. For the most part. The closest thing to a “test” for Nix’s surgically repaired right ankle came on the last play of the first quarter. On second-and-16, the Broncos’ QB1 found himself chased by a free Packers defender. Nix spotted the danger quickly — his ability to accurately sense and respond to pocket chaos is among No. 10’s greatest “super powers,” to paraphrase a Payton-ism — and gave himself time to slide right and dump the ball to rookie running back Jonah Coleman, who was dropped a couple of yards short of the line of scrimmage.

The 2023 version of Russell Wilson never sees that Packers defender until it’s too late; the 2025 version of Shedeur Sanders would’ve zig-zagged backward for 15 yards trying to create time to make a miracle. Nix simply accepted a narrow defensive win while making a point of mitigating the damage. The Broncos went conservative, electing a draw to Coleman on third-and-18 to the Green Bay 35 — setting up a 53-yard Will Lutz field goal and a 10-7 Denver lead.

“I would like to play as much as I can,” Nix told me during his media scrum late Friday night, “but I have no control over that.”

Payton should follow Nix’s clear head amid turmoil and pandemonium. Sod the “Bo needs the reps” crowd. Why not play it smart? Why ruin a September from Hades by risking an injury to your QB1 in August?

To put it another way: Did you notice what happened to Riley Moss against the Pack?

No. 21’s juice was there from the jump. Moss matched Christian Watson step for step on the Packers’ first play, mirroring a quick-out cut perfectly and batting away the timing route from Jordan Love. On the second snap, the Broncos cornerback pounced on what he presumed to be a strip by teammate Pat Surtain II on a 14-yard gain by Watson.

Seven plays later, Moss was seen walking to the locker room — questionable to return with a rib injury.

Imagine if Nix is making that walk next week after taking an awkward hit against Minnesota. Or did you enjoy The Jarrett Stidham Experience against a team with a pulse?

Steady Stiddy’s first half: 3 for 7 passing, 31 yards, one pick and a 16.7 passer rating. Love Stiddy. Alas, he appeared to be largely as we left him in late January, too.

Why make a bad night at the office worse? The Packers already knocked a lot of that “start printing Super Bowl tickets” shine the Broncos got from running a bad Atlanta bunch ragged last weekend. Aside from Payton’s first-team offense, Friday went down like spoiled milk weeks past its expiration date, curdling the tongue. You’d hope that a 68-yard Packers kick return in a game that doesn’t count becomes a teaching point for special teams coach Darren Rizzi. Payton’s putting a lot of faith in an old friend, a blind spot that’s burned him, on occasion.

With a few exceptions, the Broncos’ reserves appeared to be going through the motions in the preseason. Moss’ replacement, Jahdae Barron, had a rollercoaster night that typified the occasion. The former first-round pick took Packers QB Tyrod Taylor to the woodshed in the second quarter, only to get beat by the Green Bay signal-caller on a short touchdown pass to ex-Buffs wideout Will Sheppard that capped the drive.

At least two-and-a-half quarters to forget was preceded by a quarter-and-a-half of Bo being Bo, just like old times. Davis Webb to Nix? Smooth as silk. Nix to Waddle? If Friday was the appetizer, those two could become one of the AFC’s tastiest combos.

On the hosts’ third play, Waddle beat Green Bay safety Xavier McKinney off the line, snared a short pass from Nix, and then shifted to a different gear. Then two gears. Then three. The Broncos had a 35-yard gain out of a 10-yard-ish dump.

“It’s all chemistry, and I think we’re still building that chemistry,” Waddle noted later, “And we’re just going to continue to build (that) in practice and give him the quality of reps that he needs.”

Three plays later, Nix dropped back again, then waited for Harvey to get two steps past his man on a wheel route up the right boundary. No. 10 rain-Bo-ed it over the defender for a 21-yard touchdown — the first of what’ll be many for Nix in The Webb Era. One drive, 3-5 passing, 60 yards through the air, 2-for-2 on third-down conversions, one touchdown, zero panic.

“He’ll be ready to go,” Payton told 9NEWS, “to start the year.”

He’s ready now, dude. No need to push your luck.

But if someone’s willing to hand him stupid money, some crazy return, for those sexy wheels? Here’s the keys, brother. Go nuts.

“I really like my car. I’m not looking to sell my car,” told me by phone Friday. “But if someone came up to me and said, ‘Man, I sure like your car, I’ll give you $60K for it,’ for some reason, I might do that. But I’m not looking to do it.”

If a contender is from their farm system for Goodman, the Rockies catcher who’s hit more home runs before the All-Star break (27) than any Colorado player since Larry Walker in 2001, then heck yes, you bite. You’d be nuts not to.

The problem? Szymborski says he can’t see any franchise, including the oft-discussed Yankees, that would be willing to meet that asking price for the sweetest ride on 20th & Bleak.

“Teams hang on to top-top prospects a lot more greedily than they used to,” Szymborski continued. “Although Hunter Goodman is really good, you’re not going to get two top-60 guys. (If you could), you do it.”

Goodman’s 26. and is reportedly under team control through 2029. He’s on pace to hit 50 jacks while paradoxically doing most of his damage (18 of 27 homers) away from Coors Field.

“I think (Goodman’s) bat will play anywhere,” “(But) I don’t think he’s going to be a guy that’s going to hit 40 home runs somewhere else. It may be that this is as good as it gets. This may be his peak. If somebody bowls you over with an offer, I think you take it. If not, I think you wait to do this at a time where a team is desperate enough to where you can really make it work for your organization.”

at minus-2 heading into the weekend, while T as a plus-2 through 484 2/3 innings behind the plate. So that’s a wash — a playable, decent glove with an All-Star bat. A bargain who won’t turn 30 until October 2029.

The Rox still may not be any darned good by then, which is the No. 1 argument for dealing Goodman now. But that’s also why the new(ish) braintrust of Walker Monfort, Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes can afford to be choosy. Goodman’s the fattest goose they can take to market. If they shoot, they can’t afford to miss.

“I think I would actually be inclined to hang on to him,” Szymborski noted. “The Rockies could get a lot of value for him, but this is a team that’s finally getting the idea that they need to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. I think they could actually come together as a decent team in a few years.

“There’s still a lot of things to like. So it’s not necessarily a good time to trade (him). Also, catcher is a deep position around the league. So I would probably hang onto him. I would see the case for trading him, too, but he’s not going to bring back a superstar return.

“The problem is that The (Jeff) Bridich Era put the team in such a hole where they have little MLB talent and very little MILB talent. It’s hard to build from nothing.”

Which is why you can’t swap him for nothing, either. It’s easy to look at the suddenly-contending White Sox, who were somehow worse in ’24 (121 losses) than the Rockies were in ’25 (119 losses), and get stars in your eyes. Yet there are some significant circumstantial differences between the Pale Hose revival, the best story in baseball, and rebuilding purple pinstripes into a power again.

For one, the South Siders play in MLB’s version of the NFC South — and shock injuries to Detroit ace Tarik Skubal and to what feels like 70% of the Royals’ roster suddenly threw a crapola division into wide-open chaos. For another, after the Yankees and Rays, the American League this year is hot garbage compared to the Senior Circuit. For yet another, the White Sox microwaved themselves off the mat by dealing young, front-line starting pitching (Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito), with the Garrett Crochet-to-Boston haul somehow bringing back three solid starting bats into the ChiSox’s current lineup.

The Rockies don’t have anywhere near that level of cost-effective surplus of arms at present. And while the conversion of Antonio Senzatela from failed starter to late-inning weapon has been a revelation, set-up men typically don’t bring back much on the trade market.

Outfielder Mickey Moniak could help a lot of going-for-it clubs in need of a lefty bat, but he also went into this past Friday hitting .219 with a .689 OPS outside of Coors. Which means, whatever your buddy thinks the Rox would get for Mick The Stick, take away a prospect from that package, or drop said prospect down a minor-league class.

In the meantime, arguments for keeping Goodman now keep whispering like angels from the opposite shoulder. Even with a livelier ball and a three-outcome approach, 40-home-run catchers are rarer than the Wagyu at A5 Steakhouse. What kind of message are you sending to the clubhouse if you’re flipping a two-time All-Star in his prime? What kind of message are you sending to a fan base that’s been beaten down and conditioned to expect the worst?

“I think it’s dangerous asking your fan base to be even more cynical than it already is by trading a guy away at the point where he’s suddenly of value to other teams,” Jaffe said. “But I think you always have to be listening.

“If someone offers you the next Paul Skenes, I think you make that (trade). Always. But I don’t think anybody’s going to be offering that. They’re going to be trying to convince you that getting two A-ball prospects and a grab-bag catcher is going to be enough of a return.”

It isn’t. The Rockies have gone down this road recently at least twice before and whiffed on both occasions. The Nolan Arenado Giveaway of 2021 will go down as the nadir of franchise history and the worst deal in Denver that didn’t involve Russell Wilson. In July 2015, Colorado landed Jeff Hoffman, Jose Reyes, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco for Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins, and again, the kids that came back amounted to bupkis.

Don’t settle. Set the bar high. Yankees farmhands Dax Kilby and Elmer Rodriguez would look awfully good in purple. But if the Bronx Bombers aren’t willing to go that far, close the briefcase, pack it up and move on to a suitor who’s serious. Or more desperate.

“Everybody has a price,” Szymborski said.

And you don’t move Goodman until a contender is hungry enough to meet yours. Not while the Mazda’s got that many miles left in the tank.

Throughout a 16-minute news conference at Dove Valley under a sun so sweltering that it actually shut down some reporters’ smart phones, Nix was careful. With his thoughts, mostly. With his answers, certainly. But also by not appearing to put too much pressure on that surgically-repaired right ankle, the joint that’s bent so much of ����apountry out of shape.

After all, isn’t $60 million pressure enough?

Because that’s what’s at stake.

For Nix. For the Broncos. For an NFL orange-and-blueblood at the apex of a Super Bowl window, wondering if the thing that had eluded them for nearly a decade, a franchise quarterback, has a second act after January surgery.

“Well, my concern is, they say it’s back, healthy, as good as new, and I hadn’t really been like that in a couple years,” the Broncos’ recovering signal-caller told us after Day 1 of mini-camp. “So my concern is, (I) may move around a little bit better.”

Nix smiled.

We laughed.

Meanwhile, the building going up at Bo’s eyeline, over on the other side of the practice fields, is part of a $175-million facelift of the Broncos’ training facilities.

If No. 10 lands a long-term deal at the market rate for an NFL QB1, his next contract could be valued at twice that.

Spotrac.com’s “Calculated Market Value”

Is Bo worth that?

This is the season we find out.

Is the mobility there? The speed? The mojo? The comfort? Nix’s rookie deal is up after 2027, which means if the clock on negotiations for Bo’s second NFL contract isn’t seriously underway, it will be soon.

Broncos coach Sean Payton is signed through 2030. Kansas City reportedly just gave Patrick Mahomes a new eight-year deal that runs through the 2033 season.

Burnham Yard is slated to open in 2031. Are you the guy, I asked Nix Tuesday, who leads that roster out onto the field, five years and several miles down the road?

“Yeah, I think that question sort of answers itself,” Nix replied. “I think everybody that’s in the league wants that long-term extension, wants to play for their home team.

“And for me — I love being here. I love where I’m at. I love this team. And, you know, I’ll play as long as they want to have me.”

Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow in 2023 signed an extension worth $275 million over five years, at $55 million per season. Mahomes’ new pact in Kansas City is worth $504.75 million — or $63.1 million per year.

If you’re the Walton-Penner Group, you’re not paying that kind of money for a “mobile” QB who can’t run and plant and cut anymore. Not after the Russell Wilson Experience.

Or for a signal-caller who loses the clutch and swagger genes that helped the Broncos post a 24-10 record over the last two regular seasons.

“I’m pleased with his ability to lead our team,” coach Sean Payton said. “I’m super excited. I think I mentioned this last week, and I think this is important. I don’t think when he’s fully recovered and he’s out here participating, (that) you’re going to see someone that doesn’t move. All of that, some of his superpowers, his ability to move and not get sacked, find throws — I don’t think any of that will be impacted at all. I think he’s working extremely hard on this recovery. I think he’s more than ahead of schedule.”

Nix doesn’t have to be Superman. . But this Broncos’ offense will only fly as far and as fast as Bo can carry it.

“Win a playoff game (this past season), and it sort of allows you to go into the next season, really; the whole entire season led us up to this,” Nix said. “But once you win a playoff game, you really feel like you can do sort of anything. Especially with the team that we have coming back, we feel very confident that we can start winning these playoff games and host (postseason games) for longer.

“So it builds your confidence in a way that you can’t get anywhere else. And so just from my experience to be able to play in a game like that … it’s a challenge, but like I said, the pressure, it’s a privilege. And I just really enjoy it. And I really enjoy being in those positions. And I really enjoy having the football at the end of the game.”

Few NFL QBs evade pressure the way a healthy Nix does. But a $300 million future hanging over your head, and the questions over the next six months as to whether you’re worth it, will be hard for anybody to escape.

Re: “As Lake Powell’s levels recede, life reemerges,” June 7 news story

Congress should demand that the Bureau of Reclamation accelerate its efforts to modify Glen Canyon Dam to allow more water to flow from Lake Powell to Lake Mead. Doing so would enhance water security for the millions of people and vast agricultural regions in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico that rely on water from Lake Mead. It would protect hydropower production at Hoover Dam, which has about 60% more generating capacity than Glen Canyon Dam. It would also support the ongoing ecological restoration now flourishing in Glen Canyon.

Lake Mead is less than 30% full and can accommodate more than three times the water currently stored in Lake Powell.

According to the Bureau’s of Colorado River conditions, Lake Powell will drop below 3,500 feet throughout the entire first quarter of 2027. At that elevation, hydroelectric generation at Glen Canyon Dam will be severely curtailed, despite unprecedented actions to prop up the reservoir.

The same forecast projects that Lake Mead will fall to a level at which, for nearly a year, the cost to operate and maintain Hoover Dam will exceed revenues from hydroelectric sales.

The Bureau has been studying potential modifications to Glen Canyon Dam for years, but does not expect to complete even its “appraisal study” until the end of 2026.

Congress should appropriate funds immediately and direct the Bureau to develop the plans and engineering designs required to construct major modifications to Glen Canyon Dam — changes that would ensure significantly more water can be delivered downstream to Lake Mead.

Ronald L. Rudolph, Golden

Dems should ‘close ranks’ around Platner

Re: “Democrats cannot ignore Platner’s many red flags and hold the moral high ground,” June 7 commentary

Moral high ground? Elections are not about morals. They are about power — who gains power, how they are exercising power and accountability for that power.

Elections are not dating events. Voters do not choose a mate. A pure heart, an unimpeachable background, perfect manners and a dental plan do not matter. Graham Platner is not running to be Maine’s sweetheart. He is running for one of its Senate seats.

Platner is Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate. There is no other. It is him against Republican Susan Collins, who talks centrist and votes extremist. He is the Democratic candidate because he, as columnist Doug Friednash laments, “…has been leading in the polls and offers the party a chance to beat Susan Collins.” Democracy in action.

For the sake of us, the people, our country and the planet, Democrats must now regain power. Only with power can they combat the corruption and the chaos, legislate for the people, and reverse the prevailing “….pattern of offensive and vulgar conduct” that Mr. Friednash sanctimoniously and wrongfully attributes to Platner, and which the current regime inflicts on us, the people, every day, all day long.

A covered-up Totenkopf tattoo? Cute, considering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s uncovered vile white supremacist tattoos and corresponding vile, white supremacist activities. Foul language? Who cares in light of President Trump and Co.’s incessant sewage tweets? Impure manners towards women who are not his wife? He is not commanding them to “be quiet, piggy” or bragging about grabbing their nether regions without consent.

Those who want Dems to gain power must close ranks behind Dem candidates, not sabotage them with irrelevant purity tests.

Floy Jeffares, Lakewood

Hetal Doshi for Attorney General

Re: “Vote Michael Dougherty for Colorado attorney general in the Democratic primary,” June 7 editorial

I am challenging the Denver Post����ap endorsement of Michael Dougherty for Colorado’s attorney general. The reasons given for the endorsement focused on his local experience. While admirable, it is my opinion that Hetal Doshi has more credible state and federal experience.

Doshi has already managed a staff of over 800 and will hit the ground running. She has well-established relationships with attorneys general throughout the country. She has taken on and won huge antitrust cases.

Both Dougherty and David Seligman will strive to do well by Colorado. That said, Doshi’s depth and breadth of experience, along with her bipartisanship, professionalism and temperament, make her the strongest candidate. We need Hetal Doshi’s leadership at this critical period.

Alice Applebaum, Denver

DeGette should remain in the U.S. House

Re: “DeGette has served 15 terms, but has she been effective?” May 31 news story

Yes! Rep. Diana DeGette is effective.

As a resident of Colorado House District 1, I’m affected by the leadership of our district. For years, I’ve supported Rep. DeGette, and I continue to do so. Not because she and I are both getting along in years (that would be blatant agism, much like candidate Melat Kiros is doing in her campaign materials), but because she’s been an excellent representative.

Experience must count for something, and that����ap what I see lacking in Kiros’ materials. I see no experience with the political process; I see no grassroots work in the community; I see no elected or appointed political positions, not even in high school or college. How do we know she’ll work effectively?

It doesn’t matter how often she claims she’ll work for universal Medicare. If she doesn’t know how to function as an elected official, she’ll be ineffective. Rep DeGette’s office has always responded to inquiries, has always communicated with her constituents, and has always been informed about the details and possible repercussions of political doings.

Bonnie McCune, Denver

Hickenlooper should remain in U.S. Senate

Re: “Is Hickenlooper the one to fight Trump, or should voters give Gonzales a chance?” June 10 editorial

The Denver Post passed the buck by not endorsing either U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper or state Sen. Julie Gonzales. Call me old-fashioned but I believe Hickenlooper’s approach to statesmanship is what is needed.

Gonzales is apparently qualified and has demonstrated a zeal for change; however, I am troubled when persons aspiring to political office make claims that are unrealistic and, quite frankly, not possible in the current situation. Elimination of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not feasible. There is much I find unconscionable about ICE, but it needs to be reformed, not eliminated.

Hickenlooper has demonstrated an aptitude for accomplishment, quiet, unheralded, and consistent. As mayor of Denver, governor of Colorado and senator, he has been businesslike, steady and knowledgeable.

Gonzales alleges some financial impropriety on Hickenlooper’s part, but The Post rightfully points out that he has been judicious about placing his finances in a “blind trust,” encouraging other senators to do the same. Gonzales says that she wants Medicare for all and will abolish private health insurance. I am sorry, but this demonstrates a naivete and lack of certainty in what this means in terms of costs and practicality.

No one doubts that Trump has to be curtailed, but remember, no one senator can effect change individually; it must be done by consensus and compromise.

Philip Arreola, Denver

Editor’s note: The policy of The Denver Post and its sister papers in Tribune and Media News Group is not to endorse in U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races.

Let Russell Wilson have his broadcasting shot

Re: “Wilson’s a Hall-of-Famer, but he’ll be brutal,” June 7 sports commentary

Sean Keeler has decided to carry on the nasty comments on Russell Wilson into a brand new TV job for him before he even has his first try at it. Okay, let’s remind Keeler to give people a chance. I’m sure people have done that for him and haven’t trashed him before he even started his reporting career. Back off!

Dea Coschignano, Wheat Ridge

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What will that be for Denver’s (relatively) newly-minted offensive coordinator and play-caller was, of course, impossible to say from a sunny June practice field at Broncos Park, but if this new arrangement goes the way that Webb, head coach Sean Payton, quarterback Bo Nix and the rest of the Broncos think it will, Webb might be leading an NFL team sooner rather than later.

Not that there was ever much chance of that opportunity arising in Denver given the way Payton’s built a winner and title contender on the Front Range, but any notion of Webb succeeding Payton here — at least before leaving to go elsewhere — essentially rode the breeze West on Thursday when Payton agreed to a new five-year contract and said he plans to keep coaching for quite a while still.

“I’ve got a lot of juice left,” the 62-year-old head man said.

Five years in Webb Years is an eternity.

Five years ago, he was still turning down coaching job offers. It was between the 2021 and 2022 seasons that he told former Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott he wasn’t ready to be Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach because he wanted one more shot at playing.

Since then, Webb’s autumns have looked like this:

2022: Back-up quarterback for the New York Giants

2023: Quarterbacks coach for the Broncos and Russell Wilson

2024: Quarterbacks coach for the Broncos and Bo Nix

2025: QB coach and passing game coordinator for the Broncos and Nix

Now he’s been promoted again to offensive coordinator and is taking over primary play-calling duties for Payton.

Five years from now, Webb could be any number of places doing any number of things, but perhaps the biggest surprise of all would be if he’s the offensive coordinator and play-caller for the Broncos. Heck, he nearly landed a head coaching job already this past winter when interviewing in, among other places, Buffalo and Las Vegas.

Had any of that or his future in Denver crossed his mind when he heard Payton signed a new deal?

The big Texan laughed a bit and smiled at the question Thursday.

“Nah, I’ve got a lot going on,” Webb said. “I like this, though. I like this new role.”

If there’s a person in the Broncos building that thinks Webb will be anything other than a smashing success calling plays, they’re hiding it well. The terms that get thrown around are the kind that come to mind when it����ap hard to put your finger on just what the thing is. Genius, mad scientist, savant, so on and so forth.

A veteran defensive player popped his head out of the building during rookie minicamp last month, surveyed the scene and immediately marveled about Webb.

Maybe that����ap how it will go. Webb will help the Broncos offense find a spark, continue his rocket ship trajectory and become the next whiz kid leading a team somewhere else next year.

It����ap not always a smooth ride, though.

Four guys got their first chance at calling plays last year around the league. Three of them got fired, while Nick Caley is back in the saddle in Houston.

Of course, every situation is different. The New York Jets never really stood a chance and, by extension, neither did offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Kevin Patullo waited for his chance in Philadelphia and flopped. Josh Grizzard perhaps thought he’d follow in the footsteps of Dave Canales (2023) and Liam Cohen (2024) in Tampa Bay, but instead got fired.

Canales and Cohen turned calling plays into head coaching gigs and now are defending division champions in Carolina and Jacksonville. That can happen. So can the unemployment line.

Webb, for his part, seems to know it����ap not easy.

“The most attractive thing was leaning on Sean,” he said about the job. “Being in gameplan meetings with him. Using his experience. I think that����ap going to benefit a young play-caller. I’m not dumb. I know this is a lot.”

He also knows it won’t come without criticism and second-guessing. That will be loudest from fans after a bad game and most cutting if it comes from Payton the way Payton’s described it coming from his mentor, Bill Parcells.

All of that — the talent, the youth, the reverence from others, the relationship with quarterback Bo Nix, the future prospects and the trust from Payton — makes Webb the most interesting man on the field for the Broncos.

His impact and imprint on Denver’s fortunes this fall will be difficult to measure until the regular season begins because Payton’s always had his coordinators call plays during camp practices and he’s regularly handed the duty off during preseason games, too, including to Webb for one last summer.

He knows the first defensive coordinator out of the chute this fall: His former interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo and the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Spags could do whatever he wants to do,” Webb said. … “That will be a fun one.”

What comes after that is uncertain, for the Broncos in 2026 and for Webb down the road a bit further in what����ap been a rapidly accelerating career.

This much feels obvious, though: It����ap going to be a compelling ride.

He’s been putting pictures and other office items in boxes over recent days, preparing for the Broncos’ move across their practice fields to a gleaming new team headquarters, and wondering how long it will take to get used to the new digs.

That, though, is the only professional move Payton has to ponder any time soon after he and the Broncos agreed to a new five-year deal on Thursday.

“Sean Payton has led an impressive turnaround over the past three seasons, instilling a winning culture with high expectations,” Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner said in a statement announcing the deal. “I appreciate the close partnership he shares with George Paton along with the alignment and stability across our football operations.

“We’re thrilled for Sean to continue leading our team as head coach, building on our progress during such an exciting time for the Broncos.”

The contract runs through 2030, aligning the contract terms for Payton and general manager George Paton, who signed a new extension earlier this spring. Payton was believed to be one of the highest-paid head coaches in the NFL on his initial contract in Denver at around $20 million per year and almost certainly will continue to be, though his exact salary on the new deal was not immediately known.

“I’m super appreciative of that opportunity,” Payton said Thursday after Denver’s OTA practice. “I said this earlier, that triangle of ownership — the Walton-Penner group, Carrie and Greg — and then George and working with him, I’ve been spoiled. I had a real good experience in New Orleans with ownership and (general manager) Mickey (Loomis). And to go two-for-two in this league is hard.

“I’m thankful they want me back and we’re going to do everything we can to keep winning.

The Broncos have done little else since Payton took over following a disastrous 2022 season that finished 5-12 and saw Nathaniel Hackett fired 15 games into his tenure.

Beyond just one calamitous year, Payton took over a team that had lost its way for nearly a decade since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50.

Denver went 8-9 in his first season but made the decision to take on a record $85 million in dead cap to cut quarterback Russell Wilson afterward.

Then Payton and Paton drafted Bo Nix at No. 12 overall in the 2024 draft and Payton engineered a 10-7 season that resulted in a wild-card playoff berth in Nix’s rookie year.

Last fall, the Broncos broke through with a 14-3 regular-season record, powered by an 11-game winning streak. They won in the postseason for the first time since their last Super Bowl year, beating Buffalo in overtime in the AFC Divisional round. Then Denver lost at home to New England in the AFC Championship Game without Nix, who fractured his ankle against Buffalo.

Now the Broncos are firmly back on the map. They believe they have a championship-caliber team, they have an ascending power in their ownership group, they have a new stadium in the works and they have Payton and Paton in place long-term atop the football operation.

“There’s always pressure and that����ap kind of the unique thing of sport,” Payton said, “especially at the professional level where you’re graded on each game and each performance and that����ap OK,. That����ap kind of how you prefer it. A place here with such traditions and expectations, that����ap a good thing.

“It����ap a lot better than hoping you can fill a stadium with fans or any of that other stuff.”

Payton is 32-19 in the regular season in Denver and 1-2 in the postseason. His 184 overall regular-season wins are No. 13 all time and second among active coaches behind only Kansas City’s Andy Reid (279). If the Broncos return to the postseason this fall, Payton will find himself in the top 10 in regular-season coaching wins.

Along the way, the Broncos have built one of the deepest and most talented rosters in football thanks in large part to Payton’s conviction on the types of players he wants and Paton’s ability to identify and acquire them. Payton called “aligning with George” on his contract term a critical component to the equation.

“We enjoy the process and coming to work together and going through this together,” Payton said. “I think we think a lot alike.”

Payton had two years remaining on his original deal, which ran through the 2027 season. The new pact, then, runs through 2030 and would take the veteran head coach through his 67th birthday.

Payton said he hasn’t given much thought to how much longer he wants to coach, but recounted a story from last season when Nix asked him that very question.

“Bo had asked me how long and I was like, shoot, plenty of time. Eight years, nine years, whatever,” Payton said. “And then we had one of those gameday moments (in Las Vegas) and I said, ‘well right now it feels like one year.’

“I’ve not really given any thought to the end game. I think I’ve got a lot of juice left and I enjoy what we’re doing.”

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.”