On the roster (9): Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron, Kris Abrams-Draine, Reese Taylor, Jaden Robinson, Brent Austin, Sean Fresch Jr.

How many on the 53? 5-6

Most impactful offseason move: Placing a second-round tender on McMillian

This is a position where it����ap certainly possible the offseason’s most impactful move is still to come between now and the start of the regular season, as either McMillian or Moss could end up landing a lucrative extension. For now, it����ap ensuring McMillian, a restricted free agent, returned to the fold with a tender for 2026 valued at $5.77 million. Nickel is a premium position in today’s NFL and McMillian is one of the league’s best. He played 66% of Denver’s defensive snaps in 2025, picked off two passes, ran one back for a touchdown, forced two fumbles and recovered another, logged four sacks and five tackles for a loss, ran communications from his spot in the slot and, of course, made one of the defining plays of Broncos postseason history with his game-saving interception of Josh Allen in overtime of the divisional round. He’s not the best player on Denver’s star-studded defense, but in many ways he’s the heartbeat. And he’s the tie that binds the cornerback group, which is headlined by Surtain, the multi-time All-Pro.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Is there a major surprise around the bend?

From here, the best bet is probably not. It����ap difficult to imagine a situation, however, in which there’s a change in Denver’s cornerback group without it being a major one. Yeah, maybe Barron becomes the next man in on the perimeter over Abrams-Draine. But what if he beats out Moss? Or what if a team offers a Day 2 pick plus for Moss or McMillian? Denver’s in Super Bowl mode, so perhaps the front office rebuffs anything other than a completely ludicrous offer, but the odds of both Moss and McMillian landing big deals after 2026 seem unlikely, so there could be some sense in cashing in if the interest runs hot enough around the league. More likely: The Broncos roll with Surtain, the best cornerback in football and on a Hall of Fame track at 26 years old, Moss and McMillian across the top line and a deep No. 2 line behind them.

Battle to watch: Barron against… pretty much everybody

That����ap not to say the second-year man has to be antagonistic. He just currently occupies a unique airspace that speaks to the Broncos’ depth and talent but also could understandably be frustrating for him. The 2025 first-round pick is versatile enough to play literally any spot in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s secondary. There also happens to be an established starter in every one of those jobs in Surtain, Moss, McMillian and safeties Brandon Jones and Talanoa Hufanga. It����ap not exactly the most electrifying training camp goal for Year 2, but if Barron shows in August that he’s a better option at safety than Devon Key, a better option outside than Abrams-Draine and a backup-in-name-only in the slot, it shouldn’t be long before he’s playing major time for the Broncos… somewhere.

Under the radar: Abrams-Draine

Every time Abrams-Draine has been called into action, he’s delivered. It started his rookie season in a tilt-a-whirl “Monday Night Football” game against Cleveland. It����ap continued through periodic injuries to Moss and Surtain, too. Abrams-Draine has some of the best ball skills in Denver’s supremely talented cornerback group. He’d almost certainly start on at least a few teams around the NFL. It����ap a luxury not many teams possess that they can put him in a game if an upper-echelon player misses some time. Teams around the league have capable pro scouting departments, but it����ap also natural to wonder if, as former Sean Payton and George Paton personnel fan out around the league — think Darren Mougey with the New York Giants, Jim Leonhard in Buffalo, Addison Lynch with the New York Giants and more — some familiar face will call back to Colorado in August and inquire about Abrams-Draine.

On the roster (7): Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Red Murdock, Jordan Turner, Karene Reid, Levelle Bailey and Taurean York.

How many on the 53?��Four or five. Singleton and Strnad are locked in as the starting duo; from there, it’s a free-for-all amongst youngsters for a couple spots.

Most impactful offseason move:��Choosing longstanding continuity over a more expensive injury risk in Dre Greenlaw — or anything else.

It was no secret that Denver needed to pick two of a group of three potential starters at ILB, after the 2025 season. Alex Singleton, for all his flaws in coverage and the fanbase’s not-so-gleaming reviews of his lateral quickness, had arguably the best year of his career against the run and has been key as the play-caller to Vance Joseph’s defense. Veteran Justin Strnad established himself as a versatile piece and is ready for a cemented top-flight role in an NFL defense. And Greenlaw, once the jewel of the Broncos’ 2025 free-agent haul, struggled through cascading injuries in the fall but still made an impact as an enforcer when he saw the field.

In the end, despite staring at their two expiring contracts, the Broncos’ front office decided to bring back Singleton and Strnad on multi-year deals and cut Greenlaw to save a nice little chunk of cap room. Despite widespread calls for another inside ‘backer, the Broncos stood pat for the rest of free agency and didn’t take a rookie ILB until the very last pick of April’s draft in Murdock.

That decision-making, ultimately, was an endorsement of the 32-year-old Singleton as Joseph’s defensive captain and a show of faith in Strnad to outperform what Greenlaw could’ve given them in 2026. And Denver will enter training camp with virtually no competition for those starting jobs at arguably the weakest point of an ironclad defensive unit. It’s up to Singleton and Strnad to showcase the reasoning behind that internal evaluation.

Biggest question to answer in camp:��Who’s the ILB3?

Strnad became a virtually irreplaceable piece over the last two seasons as the third inside linebacker on Denver’s roster, starting 16 of 33 games and playing over 50% of the team’s defensive snaps as both a fill-in starter and rotational ILB on passing downs. Greenlaw is gone, removing a massive injury risk on Denver’s roster. But it’s almost impossible to see veterans Singleton and Strnad combining for 34 regular-season games in 2026.

In another interesting front-office decision, the Broncos have thus far opted against bringing in a veteran linebacker for depth. Instead, Denver is rolling with a group of five ‘backers who have played a collective total of 42 NFL defensive snaps. Long live the youth!

This projects as a true training-camp melee, with no current favorite. Murdock is probably the best bet at the moment, the 2026 NFL Draft’s Mr. Irrelevant who put up some truly relevant numbers at Buffalo. Keep an eye on jacked Jordan Turner, too, who rose from a rookie-minicamp tryout signee to a 53-man roster staple by the end of his rookie season out of Michigan State.

Battle to watch:��Turner vs. Reid vs. Bailey, again

This room hasn’t drastically changed since last year’s training camp, when then-undrafted-rookies Turner and Reid battled it out with Bailey for a roster spot. Expect more of the same this fall, with a couple new pieces around them.

Bailey has been a training-camp darling for two seasons due to his natural nose for the football, but has never been able to find a foothold on Denver’s roster. The Broncos love back-of-the-roster depth pieces that can provide consistent special-teams value, and chose Reid over Bailey for a roster spot in 2025 for that very reason; Turner, meanwhile, ran out of practice-squad elevations as a rookie and wound up playing 64% of the Broncos’ ST snaps in seven regular-season games last year.

All have varying degrees of upside on the defensive side of the ball. If Bailey can showcase special-teams development in camp to head coach Sean Payton and ST coordinator Darren Rizzi, though, watch for him to finally seize a spot in his third season in Denver.

Under the radar:��York.

Payton and the Broncos have created a haven of sorts for undrafted free agents in Denver across the past few years, and York could be the next post-draft signing to find his way to the roster. He is betting on himself to do so.

“Don’t be fooled by the undrafted label,” York told The Post in May, asked if he had a message for Denver’s fanbase. “OK? My resume, my history, is public knowledge. It����ap out there. If you have a question if I can play or not, just go look my name up.”

Indeed, the 21-year-old York started for three straight seasons at Texas A&M as the Aggies’ defensive play-caller, and is described as a whiz-kid of sorts by former defensive coaches. His size — measuring at 5-foot-10 and 226 pounds — will prove a definite challenge at the NFL level. But there’s opportunity in the Broncos’ current ILB room, and York is toting a massive chip on his diminutive shoulders.

“He’s a dog,” Raiders outside linebacker Maxx Crosby said, . “I’ll give it to him.”

On Monday, Nix was announced as No. 59 on the , voted on by players across the league. It’s a tangible point — despite the triviality of offseason rankings — to rising league-wide respect for the 26-year-old Broncos quarterback, who put together an utterly disjointed sophomore season that nonetheless ended with a momentous playoff win over the Buffalo Bills and a spot in the AFC Championship.

The NFL’s�� ultimately��made clear his placement had little to do with advanced metrics, which reporters and fans across the league have bandied about for two years in discussing Nix’s flaws. Little to do, even, with counting stats, where Nix currently stands at the top of a loaded 2024 quarterback class. Nix has risen to No. 59 — up from No. 64 after his rookie season in 2025 — because of an ability to seize the moment that is nearly impossible to define but innately easy to identify.

No. 59 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026… QB Bo Nix!

— NFL (@NFL)

“I don’t know what it is,” teammate and All-Pro Pat Surtain said in an interview with the NFL for Nix’s placement. “But like, when he’s down, and he feels like the urgency picks up, it����ap like — he turns into Superman.”

The NFL pointed out, in Nix’s video announcement, that the rising third-year quarterback led the league in total comeback wins (13) in 2026. That was good enough for his peers to rank him above a slew of notable quarterbacks: San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and former Ravens Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson, to name a few.

Elsewhere this offseason, Nix came in at No. 18 among quarterbacks in , reflecting a clear disconnect in league-wide opinion around the Broncos’ franchise quarterback. He led the league in game-winning drives in 2025, finished eighth among all quarterbacks in passing yards (3,931) and 10th in Next Gen Stats’ Expected Points Added metric; he also ranked 28th of 33 qualified quarterbacks in yards per attempt and 29th in passer rating on throws on intermediate routes.

Both of those last points are clear growth areas for Nix and are also inexorably tied to deficiencies in Denver’s offense that the franchise has taken steps to address this offseason. New star receiver Jaylen Waddle saw 57% of his receiving yards come in that intermediate part of the field last year, and adds a kind of run-after-catch dynamism that Nix didn’t have previously in his receiver room.

“You could be first-and-10 and starting a drive and go one-and-done because he takes it 75, 80 yards,” Nix said in June of Waddle. “That����ap the kind of weapon that we added, and that����ap I think what we all have been out here watching.”

Nix was the second Bronco to appear in this year’s NFL Top 100, after Zach Allen placed No. 73. The NFL rolls rankings out in descending order from No. 100.

A reunion with Michael Wilhoite? It’s possible

The Broncos could be reintroducing a familiar face to their defensive staff this fall, after a one-year absence marred by legal troubles.

After misdemeanor charges were dropped in June against former Denver assistant coach Michael Wilhoite, stemming from a 2025 incident in which Wilhoite allegedly punched a police officer at Denver International Airport, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Denver Post that it’s entirely possible Wilhoite will be back on the Broncos’ staff this fall in 2026. No agreement has been formalized, the source said.

Wilhoite served as the Broncos’ outside linebackers coach in 2023 and 2024 under head coach Sean Payton, whom he previously worked with in New Orleans in 2019 and 2020. Payton fired Wilhoite in March 2025 shortly after Wilhoite was originally charged with felony assault, a charge later downgraded and fully dropped.

That criminal case would remain sealed as long as Wilhoite completed a diversion program, which he has not yet finished, as a representative of the Denver District Attorney’s office told The Post Monday. Wilhoite is still facing a pending civil suit from the police officer, Jesus Galvan Chavez, involved in the 2025 incident.

On the roster (10): Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach, Tyler Onyedim, Eyioma Uwazurike, Sai’vion Jones, Jordan Jackson, Matt Henningsen, Kristian Williams, Jordan Miller

How many on the 53?��Six to seven. The Broncos carried seven last year at this spot, and the top six names above are likely roster locks in training camp. Jackson has made the roster comfortably in each of the last two seasons, but played just five games in 2025 and then for head coach Sean Payton’s anger toward defensive staff for elevating him in the AFC wild-card game.

Most impactful offseason move:��Letting John Franklin-Myers walk.

This was determined long before this offseason. But in a stretch where the Broncos prioritized retention to near-unfathomable degrees, Franklin-Myers’ absence looms as the most important departure from 2025’s roster to 2026. He finished third on Denver’s defense in sacks last season, with 7.5; more importantly, his ability to create interior pressure often teed up All-Pro Allen and the Broncos’ stable of outside linebackers.

“He was an impact player,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said in June. “After watching the cut-ups, you kind of realize what you’re missing there.”

The Broncos’ front office made an understandable choice to not extend Franklin-Myers on a long-term deal likely worth $15-million-plus a year, and will now recoup a valuable compensatory pick in 2027. But his absence will be felt, in one way or another. That leads directly into the subsequent section here.

Biggest question to answer in camp:��Who steps up in place of Franklin-Myers?

Perhaps the answer is who��doesn’t. Joseph clearly indicated during the Broncos’ offseason program that Franklin-Myers’ void could be filled by a sort of three-man rotation among Uwazurike, Sai’vion Jones and rookie Onyedim, with the athletic Jones perhaps in a third-down pass-rushing role.

Denver will carousel all of them during training camp, plus veterans Jackson and Henningsen, and see what cream ultimately rises. The early favorite is Uwazurike, who flashed legitimate starting-level potential with 3.5 sacks and 39 tackles as a reserve last season. Asked about replacing Franklin-Myers in 2026, Uwazurike told The Post at the end of the 2025 regular season that he felt he could “take over that role completely.” He’ll have his chance this summer.

Don’t count out Onyedim, though, who Denver’s defensive staff sees as an immediate potential Franklin-Myers replacement after drafting him in the third round this fall. And Roach could quietly pick up some of Franklin-Myers’ workload. More on that later.

Battle to watch: Sai’vion Jones vs. everybody for snaps.

After the Broncos moved up in the third round of the 2025 draft to nab Jones, the LSU product played exactly 39 total snaps in his rookie year. That was fine. And partly expected. Broncos general manager George Paton noted after the season that the staff knew Jones would “need a little development.”

“We were just so deep last year, it����ap tough for him to get in games,” Allen said in June. “But we saw in practice how great he was.”

The Broncos, now, need those glimpses in practice to show up in training camp. The 6-foot-5, 289-pound Jones has flashed the ability to push the pocket from the interior and blends an edge rusher’s speed with an interior rusher’s power. But he still needs work in the run game, as evidenced by Joseph’s suggestion that he could be a rotational pass-rusher. It would be a dream scenario for the Broncos if Jones shows in camp he’s ready, at least, to take up Uwazurike’s 36% defensive snap share from last season.

Under the radar:��Roach.

The Sixth Man might become the Fifth Man on Denver’s defensive line, soon enough. The Broncos extended Roach on a three-year deal worth over $29 million total in November, a not-insubstantial number; clearly, Denver prioritized retaining Roach at a lower number rather than shelling out for Franklin-Myers. And Roach quietly put together a standout season on the interior in 2025, with six total sacks and six tackles for loss in 14 games between the regular season and playoffs.

“I felt like I was rushing the way I play the run game,” Roach told The Post in June. “And I know how to play the run game, so by me rushing like that, I knew, like, I wasn’t thinking. It’s just the instincts kicking in.”

For two seasons in Denver, Roach has been generally thought of as a one-two punch at nose tackle, behind starter D.J. Jones. But Roach clearly has the greater ability to create pressure from different gaps along the defensive line. It’s possible, ultimately, that Denver’s Franklin-Myers replacement has been staring everyone in the face all along.

This week, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix placed 18th in ESPN’s , compiled from anonymous conversations with various NFL staffers. Indicative, certainly, of league-wide belief that Nix has steps to take entering Year 3: he did finish 26th of 33 qualified quarterbacks in passer rating (87.8) and 28th in yards-per-attempt (6.4) last year, after all. But the mid-tier placement given Nix’s league-leading seven game-winning drives in 2025 and playoff win over Bills star Josh Allen.

Was such a ranking fair? Who knows. Probably a bit low. But we here at The Post are not here to speculate about league-wide hot takes; we��have��decided to speculate, though, about Broncos-specific hot takes that have been simmering in the back of our minds for an offseason since Denver fell to New England in last year’s AFC Championship.

With that in mind, Broncos beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Luca Evans have assembled individual lists of five sizzling predictions for Denver’s 2026 season (plus one completely off-the-wall take), a couple of short weeks removed from the start of training camp. Time for our own slightly informed think-piece. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: We are in no way advocating for these to come true or rooting for these predictions to take place. These are solely opinions and should be viewed as such.

Parker Gabriel’s takes

No. 1. I am less confident in the Broncos making the postseason this year than I was at this time last year.

To be clear, I think the Broncos will make the playoffs and will be surprised if they don’t. But the first-place schedule is no joke. The opening six games are brutal. The stretch run is no joke. Denver has been largely healthy in the regular season since Payton arrived. The changes on defense in both personnel and staff might be a bit underrated. Plus, when a team is so good in one-score games one year, there’s natural wonder about regression the next year. Plus, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson didn’t make the playoff field last year. Teams will beat up on each other, but 10-7 isn’t a sure ticket to the playoffs this fall in the AFC.

No. 2. Que Robinson will finish second on the team in sacks

Part of this, naturally, is because of the uncertainty around Jonathon Cooper’s future as he faces a felony assault charge stemming from June’s domestic violence-related incidents with his former girlfriend. Part of it, though, is because Robinson looks like a true breakout candidate going into his second season. Could Jonah Elliss get to 10 sacks with more playing time? Sure. Might Zach Allen set a new career-high and flirt with double digits? Certainly possible. But Robinson’s explosiveness and his ability to play in any down-and-distance situation make him an intriguing candidate behind clear team sack leader Nik Bonitto.

No. 3. The Broncos won’t trade a player who is slated to have a substantial role this summer, but they should

Nearly every move Denver has made this offseason has been about winning this fall. Certainly, they’ve done some long-range planning in how they structured contract extensions and they opted to let John Franklin-Myers walk even though technically they could have afforded to keep him, but by and large this looks like a team that����ap putting a lot of chips in right now. Makes sense with Bo Nix still on his rookie contract. We also know depth is paramount as seasons grind on. Still, if the Broncos are relatively healthy by the middle of training camp, there’s a decent chance somebody else around the league will want somebody on Denver’s roster. Is that Ben Powers? Riley Moss? Troy Franklin? Jarrett Stidham? The Broncos profited nicely by trading Devaughn Vele last summer. They can afford to do something similar this summer if a team comes calling in a similar fashion, and it’d be good business for the future.

No. 4. The next Broncos assistant to get a head coaching interview is Evan Rothstein and it will happen this winter��

Three Broncos assistant coaches got head coaching interviews this winter: Webb, Joseph and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, so they’re off the board. Rothstein isn’t an on-field coordinator like those three — his title is director of game management and assistant QB coach — but Payton holds him in extremely high regard. He’s instrumental in the building, even if he doesn’t get a ton of public mention by Broncos coaches and staffers. He’ll get some head-coaching buzz and will be a sneaky offensive-coordinator candidate in Denver if Webb gets a head-coaching job.

No. 5. Sam Ehlinger will win the No. 2 quarterback job in training camp��

Stidham has been the No. 2 for each of the past three years and is the favorite to win that job again. Webb, though, was really high on Ehlinger as a free agent last spring and the former Colt and Texas Longhorn impressed coaches in his first season with the Broncos. Let����ap say they’re about even through training camp. Do Payton and Webb carry on with the status quo? Or might a bit of a shakeup — with the possibility that Ehlinger’s mobility might be appealing in a short stint relieving Nix — be in order? In this situation, the Broncos probably keep all three on the 53 unless a trade partner materializes for Stiddy.

And one (crazy) extra: If the Broncos win the Super Bowl, Sean Payton will publicly muse about retirement but find the allure of a potential dynasty too much to pass up

One of the more hilarious nuggets in Seth Wickersham’s opus on the Broncos’ postseason run was Payton saying he wants to outlast NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by at least a year, essentially just so he could say he did. But if Denver wins a Super Bowl, Payton will have little left to prove. His Hall of Fame bona fides will be beyond doubt. There would be a post-Super Bowl Sean McVay-esque ‘will he or won’t he’ period fueled by Payton himself. Ultimately, though, the bet here is he’d decide he was about to win three more in the next four years.

Luca Evans’ takes

No. 1. The Broncos start the season 0-3, Myles Garrett sacks Bo Nix at least twice in Week 3, Sean Payton slowly inserts himself back into play-calling duties, and the Webb-Payton hybrid brain trust rides to a top-10 offensive finish.

Is the 31-year-old Davis Webb built to handle the natural ups and downs of his first full NFL season as a play-caller? Yes, if you ask him. Will the notoriously hyperactive 62-year-old Payton give him the full leeway to work through the bumps, in literally the first time Payton has ever given up play-calling? Hard to see. I keep thinking back to a text I sent former Saints running back Deuce McAllister in February before Webb was officially given the keys, on whether he could actually see Payton making the move.

“Hey Luca nice to meet you,” McAllister wrote back. “Sean’s not giving up play calling.”

Of course, Payton did. That text was still indicative of how tightly the coach has gripped his offense over the years, as central to not only his NFL identity but his identity as a person at large. Payton’s Broncos teams have started the season 0-3, 1-2 and 1-2 in his Denver tenure; these Broncos will now face a healthy Patrick Mahomes at Arrowhead on “Monday Night Football” to start the year, then come home to play a Jacksonville team that outplayed them last season, then play the arguable Super Bowl favorites in the Los Angeles Rams.

In this scenario, I think Payton quietly maneuvers for more play-calling influence after an early-season slump, a combination of tough love and natural acclimation steadies the ship, and a Webb-Payton hybrid attack puts the Broncos back in the playoffs as a middle-ish AFC seed.

No. 2. The Broncos trade Riley Moss by November’s trade deadline, and maybe sooner.

Moss has a near-perfect demeanor as Denver’s CB2 opposite Pat Surtain. But there is a wide set of factors working against his long-term staying power in Denver. Firstly, he’s a proven, productive cornerback who could hit free agency after 2026 and earn a few million more than the Broncos would be willing to pay him. Secondly, the Broncos may need to pick between an extension for him or nickel Ja’Quan McMillian, who’s arguably more valuable to coordinator Vance Joseph’s defensive system. Thirdly, the Broncos have 2025 first-round pick Jahdae Barron now likely set to compete with Moss at outside cornerback come training camp.

The Broncos are in a tricky spot here. If they start Moss, first-round pick Barron would likely play a reserve, situational role for the second year in a row. If they bench Moss, he will naturally lose trade value over the course of the year. The most logical option for the front office would be to either start Moss with the idea of moving him closer to the deadline or trade him sometime before the start of 2026.

No. 3. Rookie running back Jonah Coleman catches 40-plus passes in 2026.��

This isn’t really that hot of a take. Third-string back Tyler Badie saw 31 targets last season, and Coleman will likely play more than Badie did. He caught a bunch of passes during the Broncos’ summer program and had 31 catches for 354 yards in 12 games at Washington last year. And despite the heavy involvement of RJ Harvey, Payton’s offenses have long featured two running backs in the passing game: think Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles in 2013 (77 and 71 catches, respectively).

No. 4.��Que Robinson racks up at least eight sacks.��

Robinson is a high-upside pass-rusher who took time to develop as a rookie and finished with 1.5 sacks combined across the regular season and playoffs. There’s direct precedent here with the name ahead of Robinson on Denver’s depth chart: Nik Bonitto, a high-upside pass-rusher who took time to develop as a rookie and jumped from 1.5 sacks to eight in his second NFL season.

The Broncos already wanted to create more snaps for Robinson in 2026, and now face an uncertain situation at OLB, as starter Jonathon Cooper is facing a felony assault charge in Douglas County District Court that could lead to league discipline. Regardless of how Cooper’s legal process plays out, Robinson will see the field more in his second season and is poised to capitalize on snaps playing alongside Zach Allen and Denver’s interior pass-rushers.

No. 5. Payton convinces Taysom Hill to come out of semi-retirement midseason.��

Payton loves his guys. Hill, a quarterback-turned-something��who played a key part in Payton’s offenses late in his time in New Orleans, is one of his guys. He is also currently unsigned, and his NFL career might be over at 35 years old after a season averaging 3.3 yards per offensive touch with the Saints.

At least one interesting name seems to find its way into Payton’s locker room every season with depth necessities, though. Remember Marcedes Lewis last year? I have no idea what role Hill would play, or if he’d even get a snap in 2026. I’m just thinking it’ll happen.

And one crazy extra: Frank Crum accounts for at least three offensive touchdowns.

The world changed on Jan. 17, 2026, the day that reserve tackle Frank Crum became an eligible receiver. Crum’s goal-line touchdown in the Broncos’ wild-card win over the Bills was lost in the immediate emotion of Bo Nix’s season-ending injury, but should not be forgotten.

Payton loves gadget players, and the 6-foot-7-plus Crum is agile and versatile enough to legitimately handle a handful of short-yardage touches. Plus, longtime Payton ally John Morton gave him the idea for that Crum play, and Morton is now back permanently on staff. The cards are perfectly aligned for some Crum-mania.

Assuming Denver makes it through training camp and the preseason relatively healthy, here’s another safe bet: Sean Payton’s starting lineup figures to look an awful lot like the 11 that took the field for the first snap of Week 1 last fall against Tennessee.

There’s always the chance for a rogue opening formation to open offensive coordinator Davis Webb’s tenure as the Broncos’ primary play caller, but overall it����ap possible that the only change will be Jaylen Waddle in place of tight end Lucas Krull.

The other 10, in the form of the same starting offensive line, quarterback Bo Nix, running back J.K. Dobbins, tight end Adam Trautman and wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin all figure to have major roles again this fall for Denver.

There are, of course, twists and turns every summer. Injuries happen over the course of training camp. Last August the Broncos traded a potential starter in receiver Devaughn Vele. Sometimes a young player puts together such a strong camp that he snatches a job clean away from an established veteran.

Overall, though, Payton is betting that returning nearly every major contributor from Denver’s 2025 offense while adding Waddle and installing Webb as the play-caller is enough to elevate the Broncos’ offense away from the middle of the pack and toward the league’s upper echelon.

That means, on paper, there are not many starting jobs to be won. At most offensive positions, normal 53-man roster thresholds are met or nearly so before true competition for spots enters the equation.

And yet, there are many roles to be solidified and at least a handful of roster spots up for grabs as the Broncos near their reporting dates for rookies (July 22) and veterans (July 28). Here’s an early look at a projected offensive two-deep, with the obvious caveat that this represents a starting point ahead of camp’s outset.

Quarterback

1. Bo Nix

2. Sam Ehlinger

Starting point: The reality of life in the NFL: Much of what the Broncos want to accomplish in 2026 rests on Nix not just staying healthy for all or most of the season, but also on his game taking another step forward in Year 3, as well. Nix has a talented defense and an experienced, improved offense around him, plus Payton’s leadership and a new play-caller in Webb. He had played in every NFL game over his first two seasons until fracturing his ankle in the divisional round in January. Two operations and six months of combined rehab later, Nix and the Broncos say there’s no reason for concern. If they’re right, Denver’s in great shape. If the ankle issue lingers or comes back, that would be trouble.

Projecting Ehlinger as the No. 2 is perhaps a bit out on a limb considering Stidham has earned considerable equity with the front office, staff and locker room as he enters his fourth season with the Broncos. The notion that Ehlinger could beat him out is not rooted in Stidham’s performance in the AFC title game, but rather just in the staff’s excitement about Ehlinger a year ago, his mobility and a potential jump in performance in his second summer with the Broncos. Whoever ends up No. 3 might have the chance to be a No. 2 somewhere else at the end of August. That makes it basically a straight-out battle to be Nix’s primary backup. If there’s a way for Denver to keep all three — especially if the Broncos can get one to the practice squad to start the season as they did with Ehlinger last year —the club will almost certainly give it strong consideration.

Running back

1. J.K. Dobbins

2. RJ Harvey

Starting point: Dobbins is adamant he would have played in the Super Bowl after a November Lisfranc injury to his foot. He’s been healthy through Denver’s offseason program and enters camp as the clear lead back. Through 10 weeks last year, he was one of the most efficient runners in the NFL. The pecking order after him is likely to shape up more by role than anything else, unless Harvey takes a major leap in Year 2 – which, of course, the Broncos would more than welcome.

Harvey enters camp as the favorite to be second in terms of playing time and is the kind of player who, in Payton offenses, previously has racked up touches in the passing game. Rookie Jonah Coleman, a talented pass protector in college, looks like Denver’s third-down back right off the bat. That����ap a cleaner-fitting trio than last year if Coleman earns that trust right out of the gate. One interesting wrinkle here is what would happen if Dobbins were to get hurt. There’s a world in which Coleman might be a better lead back than Harvey; Harvey’s role stays about the same or expands some, and somebody else – a practice-squad Tyler Badie, perhaps — becomes the third-down back. The Broncos, naturally, hope Dobbins plays his first healthy season in the NFL and as long as the group stays on the field, it has the makings of a dynamic, dangerous trio.

Wide receiver

1. Courtland Sutton

2. Pat Bryant

1. Jaylen Waddle

2. Marvin Mims Jr.

1. Troy Franklin

2. Lil’Jordan Humphrey

Starting point: Waddle’s arrival changes this room in ways big and small. It goes from being one of the Broncos have seemed to like better than the industry does over the past couple of years to one that has a chance to be among the most dangerous in the NFL. They’ve got a dynamic pairing in Waddle and Sutton atop the room and they’ve got a myriad of skill sets behind. One of the most interesting questions of training camp is what the pecking order will look like behind Sutton and Waddle. The answer, at least early in the season, might be as simple as what the game situation is. The Broncos can mix up looks with Mims and even play him out of the backfield. They can be fast with Franklin on the field alongside Waddle. Or they can be big and physical with Bryant as the third man. One thing is certain: Denver is shaping up to play a ton of three-receiver and even four-receiver sets in Webb’s first season as a play-caller. The group is a clear strength on offense with Waddle’s addition.

Tight end

1. Adam Trautman

2. Evan Engram

Starting point: Engram, assuming good health, should easily lead the room in receiving targets again in 2026. Trautman, though, outpaced Engram in playing time by a wide margin last year (57% to 40%) and it would be a surprise if he didn’t do so again this fall. They are different types of players —��Trautman more blocking with a bit of pass-catching ability and Engram essentially a receiver who is referred to as a tight end —��but they are similar in the sense that Denver could have tried to replace either on the free agent market this spring and ultimately did not. What the Broncos did do, however, is use a pair of Day 3 draft picks to add players to the room who look like potential longer-term replacements. Fifth-rounder Justin Joly fits the Engram mold while seventh-rounder Dallen Bentley is more Trautman-esque. Payton spoke highly of second-year man Caleb Lohner and Denver also has Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull back on the 90-man roster for training camp. One of the positions where there are perhaps multiple 53-man roster spots up for grabs and where the Broncos hope the future of the position starts to come into focus this fall.

Offensive line

LT: Garrett Bolles, Matt Peart

LG: Ben Powers, Kage Casey

C: Luke Wattenberg, Alex Forsyth

RG: Quinn Meinerz, Alex Palczewski

RT:�� Mike McGlinchey, Frank Crum

Starting point: The front five is set to return for a rare third straight season together unless a surprise trade pops up, injury hits or somebody like Palczewski can cleanly beat out Powers for a starting job. Above, the second line is essentially only placeholders except for Forsyth, who will have to fend off veteran Michael Deiter to retain his hold on the No. 2 center job.�� “Palcho” could end up as the primary backup at both guard spots and right tackle. Or, he could be the next man in at guard and Crum at tackle, regardless of side. Either way, it����ap pretty easy to find nine for the 53-man roster here: The starters plus Palcho, Crum, Casey (a fourth-round pick this spring) and Forsyth. Denver not only has one of the best starting groups in football but also some proven, functional depth. It����ap not just going to be a task to make the 53 for anybody on the outside of that nine looking in, but there will be competition for practice squad spots, too. That could come down to choosing between veterans like Peart, Deiter and Calvin Throckmorton and younger players like rookie tackles Tyler Miller and Gavin Ortega or Nick Gargiulo.

That is the conclusion drawn when digesting ESPN’s quarterback list as ranked by league executives, coaches and scouts. Mahomes was No. 2, Herbert seventh and Nix 18th, the Broncos’ star the equivalent of a college team in the “others receiving votes” in the Associated Press poll.

On the surface, it makes sense. When considering careers, Nix pales to Mahomes, an all-time great, and Herbert, who has long had head-turning numbers. But the inference is that the rankings implied where the quarterbacks stood entering 2026.

Instead, it comes across as a lifetime achievement award because a strong case can be made that Nix has been as good or better than both over the past two seasons.

Blasphemous? Let’s go to the stats.

Take the names off:

Quarterback A: 21-9 record, 65.3% completion, 7,515 yards, 48 touchdowns, 22 interceptions, 70 sacks, 729 rushing yards, 7 TDs.

Quarterback B: 22-11, 66.1%, 7,597 yards, 49 TDs, 16 INTs, 95 sacks, 804 rushing yards, 4 TDs.

Quarterback C: 24-10, 64.8%, 7,706, 54 TDs, 23 INTs, 46 sacks, 786 rushing yards, 9 TD, 1 TD receiving.

Mahomes was A), Herbert B) and Nix C). And are we sure that is the order in how they have played since 2024? Again, not saying Nix is better overall, namely because he must get more consistent in the middle of the field and against zone defenses, but he has better numbers.

Nix has accounted for 64 scores, compared to 55 for Mahomes and 53 for Herbert. He is not as accurate, but by a whisker. He is every bit the ground threat, something he promises will remain as he returns from ankle surgery and a follow-up cleanup procedure. He has more rushing touchdowns than Mahomes and Herbert, and sits 18 yards shy in yards from Herbert.

All three take care of the ball at a similar rate. Mahomes has 22 picks and five fumbles, but none lost for 22 turnovers. Herbert boasts 16 picks, 13 fumbles and four lost for 20 total. And Nix checks in at 23 interceptions, seven fumbles, two lost, for 25.

And perhaps most salient is how Nix prevents negative plays. We can all agree he needs to become more explosive, and the onus is on offensive coordinator Davis Webb to use a simplified run game and Jaylen Waddle in concert to make this happen.

But Nix has only been sacked 46 times in his career, compared to Herbert’s 95 and Mahomes’ 70 over the same stretch.

Mahomes will be ranked in the top 10 for the next 10 years given the NFL industry’s inability to assign a year-over-year WAR value like major league baseball.

The love for Herbert is more puzzling. He looks the part, but has never won a playoff game. And miss me with blaming the offensive line the past two years. He played terribly against Houston and New England. Mike McDaniel could help Herbert reach his potential this season. But at some point, he has to meet the moment in the biggest games.

By comparison, Nix is tied for the lead in fourth-quarter quarterback comebacks (eight) and game-winning drives (10) since entering the league.

It comes down to this. Nix must improve. But he deserves more respect.

Rock on: Under new management, the Rockies received high marks for the most recent draft, especially with first-round shortstop Tyler Bell and starting pitcher Logan Reddemann. Both profile well for the new philosophies implemented at the plate and on the mound. Bell struck out at an 18.5% rate, while walking 15.4% of the time last season at Kentucky. And Reddemann features a live fastball with a varied arsenal of five to six pitches. This is how change happens, by identifying what a future Rockie looks like before he enters the organization

Horsepower: Five Broncos made Pro Football Network’s Top 100 entering the 2026 season: Pat Surtain (seventh), Garett Bolles (24), Quinn Meinerz (35), Zach Allen (56) and Nik Bonitto (59). If Nix cracks this list before next season, it means the Broncos will have likely reached the Super Bowl.

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On the roster (seven):��Evan Engram, Adam Trautman, Justin Joly, Nate Adkins, Lucas Krull, Dallen Bentley, Caleb Lohner

How many on the 53?��Four or five. This is an overstuffed room with several guys who have complementary skillsets, meaning the Broncos will likely whittle the group down through training camp.

Most impactful offseason move:��Drafting Joly and Bentley.

The Broncos went double-tight-end in April’s draft, trading up for the athletic Joly in the fifth round and swinging on Utah’s Bentley with the second-to-last pick of the proceedings. The emphasis was clear after Engram turned in a less-than-stellar season in his first year in Denver: add more youth with pass-catching upside at the position.

Both will give Denver options to pad out its roster with two types of TEs. Joly is a versatile “F” tight end similar to Engram, a sort-of hybrid slot receiver who can shift across a variety of alignments; Bentley profiles as a more traditional in-line option, similar to Trautman. In that vein, the Broncos essentially drafted younger versions of the 31-year-old Engram and recently-re-signed Trautman. If Joly and Bentley show in camp they’re ready for roster spots right away, get ready for a bunch of reshuffling in this room.

Biggest question to answer in camp:��Can Davis Webb unlock Engram?

On March 13, 2025, a day after agreeing to a two-year contract with Denver, Engram tweeted a GIF of Heath Ledger’s Joker from Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” He has not typed out and sent a single tweet since. It was a strange year.

On one hand, Engram finished third on the Broncos in catches (50) and racked up the most receiving yards (461) of any Broncos tight end since Noah Fant in 2021. On the other hand, he finished 13th on the team in offensive snap share and turned invisible for long stretches of games. Looking through any prism, Engram’s 2025 season paled in comparison to fanbase expectations for the franchise’s heralded “Joker” signing last season.

Denver explored alternatives in the TE market in free agency but didn’t find an upgrade at the right price. The Broncos could still save themselves $6.5 million in cap room by cutting Engram; entering training camp, though, he still currently stands as Denver’s best receiving option at tight end, in part because the Broncos feel there’s more they can unlock from the two-time Pro Bowler. Engram signed with the Broncos last free agency in large part because of his relationship with new play-caller Davis Webb, with whom he played in New York at the beginning of his career in 2017 and 2018.

Webb won’t reveal the entire bag of tricks this preseason, but keep an eye on training camp for reports on how Engram’s looking in Denver’s offense.

Battle to watch:��Anything involving Caleb Lohner.

Will the 24-year-old Lohner��actually��compete for a roster spot in camp? Who knows. Impossible to say, actually, because the 2025 seventh-round flier was absent from OTAs and minicamp with injury. But head coach Sean Payton set off a buzz when he talked up Lohner during May’s rookie minicamp, and it would certainly give Denver’s offense a new element of dynamism if the 6-foot-7 Lohner can show he’s grown enough as a blocker and route-runner to earn a roster spot for red-zone work in 2026.

It’s highly unlikely that Lohner beats out Joly, and he’ll have his work cut out for him to shake veterans Krull and Adkins for a spot. But Lohner did substantial work with former Pro Bowl wide receiver Donald Driver this offseason, and is entering just his third full season of full-time football at any level after switching from basketball before his final year of college. The upside will be fun to monitor.

Under the radar:��Adkins, the Swiss Army Knife

The 27-year-old Adkins played just nine games in 2025 thanks to a seeming never-ending string of injuries, and his functionality might be diluted with the emergence of fullback Adam Prentice. But Payton has repeatedly talked up Adkins’ importance to the offense as a blocking tight end/fullback hybrid — enough to keep him off injured reserve when Adkins was set to miss multiple games at the start of the 2025 season.

“He’s too good a football player for us,” Payton said last August.

If Adkins is healthy during camp, he should have an early foothold for a roster spot at tight end, which would significantly squeeze the rest of the room.

No one gets motion sickness from watching the Broncos offense. Or from playing in it.

The Broncos ranked 32nd in pre-snap motion last season. Oh, they had movement. They collected 26 pre-snap penalties. But Payton has long created mismatches with personnel groupings, something former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi called a non-negotiable.

It is something to remain mindful of when recalling that the Broncos won more close games than anyone could imagine last season. They won in more ways, rallying past the Eagles, stunning the Giants, paralyzing the Bills, than anyone thought possible.

But they lost the offseason, acquiring one player with star power in receiver Jaylen Waddle. Which pales in comparison to what they could lose next: their status as an AFC bully.

For the Broncos to avoid the next-season fate of teams that led the league in one-score wins, they need a fix. They must improve significantly on first and second down, particularly early in games.

As impressive as their final record was — all praise for exceeding expectations with 14 victories — the offensive numbers were sobering. According to Warren Sharp Football, the Broncos ranked 23rd overall in early down efficiency. Which tracks since Denver finished with 75 punts, and the most three-and-outs of any of the final eight teams in the postseason.

But the deeper the dig, the worse it gets, like , only to reveal an empty bottle.

In first halves, per Sharp, the Broncos ranked 27th in drives that reached the red zone, 26th in scoring drives and 25th in points per possession.

It is no wonder they needed Bo Nix to sprinkle pixie dust with a league-best seven game-winning drives. How unlikely was the success? The Broncos became the first team ever to win 14 games when trailing in 15.

All together now, this is not sustainable. Never has been. And certainly won’t be with the 2026 schedule.

“Trying to win like that puts a lot of stress on the players and coaches,” said Super Bowl 50 champion and NFL Westwood One analyst Ryan Harris. “They cannot continue to wait to change during the season.”

Payton appears prepared to do something about it. He promoted Davis Webb to play-caller, who seems intent on simplifying the offense to make it more consistent.

At first, I figured his focus would be on verbiage. But for the offense to click, let’s be real, it must go far beyond that.

“Part of that is what I talked to Davis Webb about: core philosophies. What are your core run plays that you can run against anything? What will you stick to? Of those core plays, how many passing concepts can you have that look identical and put defenders in major conflict?” explained Mark Schlereth, a former Pro Bowl offensive guard and current Fox NFL color commentator and 104.3 The Fan morning host. “There needs to be a real philosophical shift.”

Think of it in terms of a restaurant. Is it better to feature 60 dishes or six entrees?

Going from a Waffle House play sheet to the In-N-Out menu could mercifully end the slow starts over the past two seasons.

“Running the ball is like saving money. We all know we should do it, but we never do it enough. I can’t blame Sean Payton when you look at how he put together a team that reached the AFC Championship in (three years),” Harris said. “But, right now, opponents look at their offense and believe they want to pass with Bo Nix. They have to prove they are going to run.”

From the outside looking in, there was confusion about the scheme. The offseason was used to introduce the wide zone. It was a topic of conversation during training camp. But the Broncos rarely used it during the season. Complicating matters, Payton has a pattern of never repeating run calls in the first half. So 12 rushing attempts could include 12 different concepts.

That is no way to establish a rhythm. And the production bore this out in the statistics of starter J.K. Dobbins (4.1 yards per carry in the first half, 5.6 in the second) and R.J. Harvey (3.5, 3.9).

Don’t want the Broncos to press their luck in nail-biters? Abandon the potluck run game.

“Mike Tomlin told me once that every play is not a smorgasbord. Dobbins realized that a physical 3-and-half-yard run is a freaking awesome play,” Schlereth said. “They have to get to a place where they are not trying to do everything. When we were winning a ton of games with (coach) Mike (Shanahan), we ran six plays. I would joke about it. But it was true. It’s the 10,000-hour rule. You have defended it 100 times. We have spent 10,000 hours on it, so we don’t care if you know what is coming, we are going to execute it.”

If Webb can take Payton’s offense and retool the run game mix, everything would feel different. The middle of the field would no longer be radioactive. Everybody talks about Waddle delivering 70-yard plays, but what the Broncos need are 15-yard gains against safeties in between the hashes before going deep.

“And that’s where Davis Webb can bring the player’s perspective to the calls,” Harris said. “Don’t run play action until we have run for two first downs.”

If the Broncos impose their will on the ground, nothing is off the table for this team.

Dobbins will become the Broncos’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Phillip Lindsay in 2019. Rookie Jonah Coleman, who has an appetite for contact, will reinforce the identity. Even Harvey might figure it out and stop trying to bounce everything outside.

Nix is fantastic in the clutch. On this, we can all agree. It did not happen by accident. He waved the fourth-quarter wand practically every week. He got good at it.

Run with purpose on early downs, and Nix will become more accurate, more consistent. Run with balance that opens first-half leads, and the defense will double its meager 14 takeaways.

Gaining horsepower sounds simple. It is not.

But if the Broncos improve early-down efficiency, their late-season run will end at SoFi Stadium.

On the roster (seven):��J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman, Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie, Adam Prentice (fullback), Cody Schrader

How many on the 53-man roster?��Four. Same number as in 2025, and no reason for change there. Dobbins, Harvey and Coleman will almost assuredly form some kind of three-man carousel, with McLaughlin or Badie as a change-of-pace insurance option. Prentice will likely start the season on the practice squad and find his way to the active roster once he runs out of elevations, as the Broncos have done with the Ghost of (Michael) Burtons Past.

Most impactful offseason move?��Drafting Coleman.

Re-signing Dobbins — for a surprisingly high $8 million in guaranteed money — is the correct answer here. That’s boring.��History, both old and recent, suggests the 27-year-old Dobbins will run like a top-10 running back in the NFL for anywhere between eight and 15 games and get banged up at some point in the process,��as high as he is on himself for 2026.��The��real��kicker here for Denver is drafting an injury stabilizer in Coleman, a fourth-round pick out of Washington who profiles as a capable runner and an instant upgrade over Tyler Badie for possible third-down touches.

“You ultimately have a three-headed monster in the run game,” Coleman told reporters after he was drafted in April.

The 5-foot-8, 220-pound Coleman looked ready for instant NFL snaps in OTAs and minicamp this summer, and could spell Dobbins for short-yardage touches in the early going and pick up plenty of slack if anyone in the room misses time. Don’t forget, too, that Badie played 17% of Denver’s offseason snaps last year and ranked seventh on the team in targets (31). Coleman could substantially juice that 17% in a season where Denver will try and improve on the margins to prevent regression to the mean in close games.

Biggest question to answer in camp: How do the Broncos change their run-game identity under new playcaller Davis Webb?

More scheme-specific than room-specific here. Last August, several players directly mentioned that the Broncos were emphasizing more of an outside-zone-heavy rushing attack, a scheme that pops with laterally quick linemen and running backs with good vision to cut back upfield.

“I think we’ve always wanted to be kind of an outside zone team,” tight end Adam Trautman said in 2025 training camp, “and we’re just kind of committing to it.”

They didn’t. According to rushing data collected from Pro Football Focus and assembled by The Denver Post, the Broncos finished with the second-lowest percentage of zone runs (42%) among all AFC teams in 2025. Head coach Sean Payton has repeatedly pointed to Webb’s promotion as a fix for Denver’s run-game consistency, which fell off a cliff after Dobbins’ injury in Week 10 last year. It stands to reason, then, that the Broncos’ general ground scheme could look drastically different come training camp.

Battle to watch:��McLaughlin or Badie for RB4.

Scintillating! No, seriously. McLaughlin began the season as a healthy scratch and suddenly blossomed into one of Denver’s most effective per-touch skill players down the stretch after Dobbins’ injury shifted him into an RB2 role. With Coleman in the mix, McLaughlin’s path to a fourth straight season on Denver’s opening 53-man-roster looks dicey.

“Man, I’ve been out there killing myself in the weight room,” McLaughlin said at a charity event in June. “Spitting up a little bit, throwing up a little bit. But it’s been amazing, and I’ve been working my tail off.”

Badie, meanwhile, is trusted by the staff and Nix for his pass-protection skills and veteran instincts. Both Badie and McLaughlin beat out former fifth-round pick Audric Estime for a roster spot in last year’s training camp; they will now face a direct head-to-head competition this August.

Under the radar: Adam Prentice the Menace.

After trusted veteran Burton landed on injured reserve in training camp, the 28-year-old Colorado State product signed with Denver close to the start of the season and quickly filled an integral role as a run-blocker and pass-protector at fullback. Quietly, he played 19% of the Broncos’ offensive snaps last season and nearly half of their special teams snaps. He re-signed for a reason in March and could easily end up playing in all 17 games again in 2026.