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

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

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.”

Only 11 quarterbacks have thrown for more touchdowns. Only 13 QBs have averaged a better yards per pass attempt in their careers. Only 14 other players have completed more passes. Only 15 other signal-callers have thrown for more yards.

He tossed 353 TDs over his career. His touchdown-to-pick ratio was 3.1-to-1. He averaged 29 passing scores, nine interceptions, and 10 wins per season. He’s the only QB in NFL annals to amass both 40,000 passing yards and 5,000 rushing yards in the same career. He was 121-80-1 as a starter. He won a Super Bowl and was a horrible goal-line call away from winning a second.

If you take the name off the back of the jersey, and just look at the stats, that’s a Hall-of-Fame career, isn’t it? Those are the kind of career numbers you’d hope Bo Nix would aspire to. 

Alas, that resume comes with a name. And a reputation. And a pile of pure cheeseball high enough to climb Mount Elbert.

The subject of Russell Wilson — his career, his legacy — is, no shock, a bit of a mixed bag within the Grading The Week offices. But when we were forced to reckon with No. 3 one more time after he announced a few days ago his was transitioning from the NFL to an analyst job at CBS Sports, the football wonks decided on the following:

Despite a miserable two seasons in Denver that were the beginning of the end of a good career, it was, on the whole, a very good career. A Hall-of-Fame career. The GTW crew is cool with Russ getting his ticket punched to Canton one day. Just don’t force us to have to listen to his induction speech. Please.

Russell Wilson in Canton — B

When the Broncos sold the farm to acquire Wilson from Seattle in 2022, the idea was that, at age 33, Big Russ had enough juice left from a pretty glorious Seahawks decade to author the kind of dreamy coda Peyton Manning authored at Dove Valley a decade earlier.

Instead, what unfolded was a chain of nightmares. Wilson was a step or two slower than the guy who won rings with the Legion of Boom, and that step or two proved immense for a guy who loved to hang onto the ball too long. With Wilson’s quick-twitch fading, the sack count piled up. He never saw a throw in the middle of the field he liked, largely because he never looked in the middle of the field to begin with. Pairing that with a first-time, pleasant, but in-over-his-head head coach in Nathaniel Hackett turned into dark comedy, with fans at Empower Field having to count the play clock down, out loud, back at Russ to get him to get the ball snapped in time.

The pre-snap operations were far cleaner with Sean Payton in charge, but Wilson’s decision-making and sack-taking drove his notoriously fickle coach up a wall. Payton and Wilson were too set in their ways to co-exist. The Broncos chose to eat $85 million in dead-cap penalties just to flush Wilson out of their system — but cold turkey, in hindsight, proved to be the perfect dish. Without Russ crashing so quickly, so spectacularly, the Broncos wouldn’t have had to turn to Nix, nor revamp the locker room with so many young players all at once.

Denver launched Wilson’s NFL death spiral, but don’t let that entirely discount the 10 seasons that preceded it — Seattle Russ was 104-53-1 as a starter in the Northwest, made it to nine Pro Bowls, and led the Seahawks on eight playoff runs. Only eight other QBs have ever led more game-winning drives over a career than Wilson’s 40, which is the same career comeback number as John Elway’s. The more you forget about what Russ did in orange and blue, the better. For everybody.

Russell Wilson on TV — D

That said, the GTW kids would be pleasantly surprised if the notoriously pleasant, bland, inoffensive Russ is anything but terrible television.

Oh, he’ll look good. Dang good. He’ll be cool as heck. But one of the central tenets of an analyst position is sharing an actual, from-the-heart opinion, the occasional hot take. For DangeRuss, that might be too hot to handle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wilson’s announcement came two days after news broke that he was finalizing a deal to become an analyst on CBS’ Sunday NFL pregame show.

“As I enter this next chapter with CBS Sports and ‘The NFL Today,’ I’m so blessed to continue doing what I love most — being around the greatest game in the world,” he said in the video.

Wilson played 14 seasons after being taken by Seattle in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft out of N.C. State. He spent his first 10 seasons with the Seahawks, leading them to their first Super Bowl championship in the 2013 season. He was traded to Denver after the 2021 season and spent two rocky years with the Broncos before playing one season in Pittsburgh and another for the New York Giants.

Wilson threw for 46,966 yards, with 353 touchdown passes and 114 interceptions.

He joins Peyton Manning and Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to throw at least 20 touchdown passes in each of their first three seasons and is one of seven quarterbacks to be selected to 10 Pro Bowls.

Wilson is the only player in NFL history with at least 30 touchdown passes and fewer than 15 interceptions in four straight seasons. He also had three seasons with at least 30 TD passes and 500 yards rushing, which is the most in NFL history.

In the video, which was about three minutes long, he thanked his teammates, friends and family and gave special thanks to former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

“Thanks for taking a chance on a young, 5-11 Black kid from Richmond, Virginia, that was told he was too small to ever make it in the NFL,” Wilson said.

Wilson is the shortest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

Wilson will replace Matt Ryan, who joined the Atlanta Falcons as president of football after two seasons on “The NFL Today.” Wilson had considered returning for a 15th season, telling the New York Post last month that he was mulling an offer to join the New York Jets and back up Geno Smith.

His video featured highlights from his career and footage of him visiting patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital. It ended with him thanking his wife, Ciara, and the sport he dedicated his life to.

“I thank you, football. … I am forever grateful,” he said.
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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Ten-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson is finalizing a deal with CBS Sports to become an analyst on the network’s Sunday NFL pregame show, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the contract hasn’t been completed.

Wilson would replace Matt Ryan, who went to the Atlanta Falcons as the president of football operations. Ryan was on “The NFL Today” in 2024 and ’25. Wilson told the New York Post last month that he was mulling an offer to join the New York Jets and back up Geno Smith.

Wilson has played 14 seasons. He spent his first 10 years with the Seattle Seahawks and led the franchise to its first Super Bowl title during the 2013 season. He was traded to Denver in 2022 where he spent two seasons. He was with Pittsburgh in 2024 and the New York Giants last season.

Wilson has passed for 46,966 yards, 353 touchdowns and 114 interceptions during his career.

James Brown, Bill Cowher and Nate Burleson are expected to return to “The NFL Today” desk.

And yet the NFL’s king of cheese why he remains untouched atop a golden throne.

The former Broncos quarterback turned a lot of heads at the Met Gala in New York City this past Monday. Although the cynics on the admittedly fashion-challenged Grading The Week staff think those turns were more because his wife, Ciara, rocked the ball in a shimmering gold gown and headdress that

DangeRuss, meanwhile, perfectly channeled, well … um …. himself?

Russell Wilson at the Met Gala — C

Here’s the thing, though: The GTW historical types had a heck of a time tracking down pictures of a pharaoh who’d donned something that closely resembled Wilson’s ensemble — a shirtless white vest covered by a large white coat with massive golden epaulets on each shoulder.

Now, the man sure looked dapper, don’t get us wrong. But the whole thing came off, to our unhip eyes, as less Egyptian pharaoh and more a mix of from 1992; the and a pinch of

Although the butterfly on Russ’ left lapel was a nice touch. The history wonks upstairs tell us that ancient Egyptians considered butterflies to be symbols of eternity, souls and divine transformation. Considering that the 37-year-old Wilson is reportedly weighing a contract offer to join the Jets that certainly tracks.

CU staying out of private equity game (for now) — B

Should we give the Buffs credit for not maxing out a new line of credit? over the last few days that they would be among at least nine known Big 12 schools to decline an offer from the league to take a $30-million line of credit as part of a new Big 12 deal with Weatherford Capital and RedBird Capital Partners.

CU athletics is reportedly $27 million in the red. The university has vowed to continue to draw from CU’s general fund to keep The Deion Sanders Experiment afloat. But fine print is fine print, whether you’re co-signing on a house or figuring out how to pay enough to keep your men’s basketball players from jumping ship. While it’s not the greatest look for commissioner Brett Yormark to have this many members turn their backs on new private equity partners, good on the Buffs for not digging themselves an even deeper ditch. For now, at any rate.

NCAA tourney expansion — B

Does it dilute the product? Yep. Does it fatten up some lean coaching resumes? No question. But count the GTW basketball junkies as those in favor of a bigger Big Dance. The NCAA men’s and women’s hoops tournament fields are growing by eight bids starting in March 2027, from 68 schools to 76. We don’t love it, mind you, but in a world of student-athlete revenue sharing and the transfer portal, it was inevitable, for the same reason expanding the College Football Playoff was inevitable: Money. Schools need it, and badly in many cases, so if more broadcast outlets are willing to pay it, university presidents will follow the sweet smell of cash wherever it leads them. Team GTW was never a huge fan of 68, anyway — at the last round of expansion, we were rooting for the 15/16 seeds to keep their slots in the round of 64 with at least one “last-teams-in” game against 11s or 12s for each of the four brackets, instead of just some of them. The new setup gets us closer, although it’s still gross on the part of the “majors” that so many 15s and 16s (i.e., mid-major programs) who automatically qualified could really use the money/units from the tourney get stuck with an even longer road to glory.