Mike Evans? Good luck!

Romeo Doubs? See ya!

Wan’Dale Robinson? Au revoir!

Christian Kirk? Adios!

The Broncos coach has what’s left of his heart in the right place. But he might want to get his eyes checked. Better yet, Payton might want to have the receivers they’re running it back with have their peepers looked at.

Only the Titans (who featured a rookie QB) and Browns (bad QBs, then Shedeur Sanders) elected to punt more times during the 2025 regular season than the Broncos did (75).

And only Jacksonville (8.0%) had a higher team drop rate than the Broncos’ 7.0%.

Don’t know about you, but if I’m sitting on a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract, I’d be sorely tempted to overpay in the short term now for a more sure-handed WR 2 or borderline WR 1. Alas.

“My brother’s the worst at this,” Payton had told reporters just before the 2024 trade deadline. “He’s the worst at free agency, and he’s the worst at the trade deadline. He just wants to see action. Then right after the action takes place, he never goes back and reflects and says, ‘Well, that was a bad signing,’ or, ‘That was a bad trade.’

“I say that, I kid him, but I think that there’s so much more that goes into it relative to whether you’re trading a player (or) acquiring a player. Contracts go into it, vision goes into it, and locker room goes into it. There are a lot of details that go into that.”

True. Fit matters, especially in a place as cold and cynical as an NFL locker room.

But culture can’t catch touchdown passes. Chemistry alone won’t move the chains.

And young, top-shelf quarterbacks on cost-friendly deals don’t last forever.

From 2020-2023, during Joe Burrows’ initial contract in Cincinnati, the Bengals reportedly spent $287 million on free-agent deals — an average of $71.78 million per year.

According to OverTheCap.com, the Chiefs in 2018, the second season of Patrick Mahomes’ rookie contract, spent $57.3 million on 26 players from outside their roster.

After the second year of Bo Nix’s current deal, the Broncos had, as of Monday afternoon, spent zippo on nada.

“Hope what we’ve got will get better” is a strategy, granted, although former Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt has seen how well that one usually works out. Payton’s putting a lot of faith in a good group of coaches to squeeze more out of the status quo. It’s putting a lot of faith in new offensive coordinator Davis Webb. It’s also putting a lot of faith in another first-year wideout, which is a risk in and of itself.

The Broncos have picks No. 30 (first round), No. 62 (second round) and No. 94 (third round) to lead off their 2026 NFL Draft haul. Seven wideouts were taken among picks 25-75 last spring, including Pat Bryant III to Denver at No. 74.

Their average stat line in 2025: 28 catches, 364 receiving yards, three touchdowns, two drops. Bryant has all kinds of size (6-foot-2, 204 pounds), catch radius, and upside, but his production last year (31 catches, 378 receiving yards, one receiving touchdown, three drops), along with all the ups and downs that came along with it, proved fairly typical of rookies drafted around his salary slot.

You may not get more cap value in 2026 from, say, a Doubs, who grabbed 75 balls and six scores last fall and just inked a four-year, $68-millon deal with the Patriots. But you’ll almost certainly get more production, historically, when compared to a low-first-round-to-early-third-round rookie wideout.

“When you have a dominant O-line and a dominant defensive line, people want to come here,” left tackle Garett Bolles told us in January.

“We’ve got a great running back room, we’ve got great receivers. Obviously, we need some key players to come in and do what they need to do by getting points on the scoreboard. We got a phenomenal defense. We have everything we need. We just need a couple more playmakers, and sky’s the limit for this team.”

The sky here, sadly, remains only so high, so long as the Broncos value continuity over, well, math. Take Adam Trautman. Super dude. He was tied for 46th among NFL tight ends last season in receiving first downs with 11. Old friends Greg Dulchich and Noah Fant collected 14 and 13, respectively.

According to Spotrac.com, after his latest Broncos extension, That trio averaged 28.3 catches and 2.3 receiving scores last fall, if you’re curious. Trautman collected 20 and (checks notes) one, respectively.

A Payton quote from last August has been doing the rounds lately. Remember when the Broncos coach likened free agency to garage sale finds? In hindsight, it was a harbinger.

“My parents loved garage sale-ing,” Payton told reporters that day. “That was their deal, one thing they enjoyed together. And I think I had 10 couches growing up …

“So, they come home with a new couch, and you’d remove the old one. And you were so excited — it was a sectional — until you sat in the left corner, and it wiggled. And then you realized why it was a free agent.”

Tell that to Talanoa Hufanga. Fit may catch on. Culture may catch on. But if nobody can catch the darn football, what’s the point?

The not-so-bright ones are the wingtips who gave it to him. With money they didn’t have. And, again, money they might never, ever see.

“I don’t know anyone who’s just kind of ho-hum (on Coach Prime),” former Buffs quarterback Charles Johnson told me Friday. “People will respond (in a) ‘ho-hum’ way, but within two minutes of conversation, I know exactly where they’re coming from. Again, that’s the nature of who Deion is.

“There are no fence-sitters when it comes to Deion, frankly. And I happen to be a huge (Sanders) fan, a big advocate. And I have some of my best friends, some of my dear friends, who are not. It doesn’t cause a divide. This is clearly one of those situations where we can agree to disagree.”

The “situation” landed a few days ago, when one of Johnson’s friends, ex-Buffs great Christian Fauria,

“I’m just not a fan of the coach (at CU). I’m not. I’ll never be a fan of the coach … I love the school, and this isn’t me picking on Deion Sanders, because I picked on Joe Gibbs. The worst coach I ever had was Joe Gibbs. So me picking on Deion Sanders is nothing. I just don’t like the way he coaches football. I don’t think he’s very bright. I don’t think he can manage a game. I think there’s a lot of flash but there’s no substance. And he’s got a lot of people brainwashed.

“And we’ll see what he can do. But I’m just not a fan of him. Not a fan of his coaching style. Not a fan of his messaging. There’s a lot of things internally that I know about that I’m not a fan of. And it����ap just not worth my energy to sit there and follow it and go back and forth with the emperor-has-no-clothes crowd that support him, regardless of how stupid he is sometimes. So, yeah, that����ap the way I feel about it. And it bugs me that a lot of alumni just don’t speak up about it. They don’t say anything. But I will.”

Fauria went too far — and far too low — in attacking Sanders’ intelligence. The former starred for the Buffs from 1990-94 before a 13-year NFL career that included two Super Bowl victories as a member of the Patriots. Christian’s son Caleb was a tight end at CU from 2020-2023, a member of Coach Prime’s first Buffs team.

The younger Fauria left, eventually transferring to Delaware. To the uninitiated, those comments came off like a football father airing out old grievances.

“My son has absolutely nothing to do with it,” Fauria told me. “Everyone wants to kind of make that be the reason I’m critical, almost to rationalize it for themselves. ‘There’s no way he can say this on his own.'”

He did. And he meant it. But Fauria also said Friday that the “bright” part was taken out of context.

“I did not mean to imply Deion Sanders lacks intelligence overall,” Fauria wrote in an email. “As a marketer and self-promoter, he is a genius. He built an empire around his name and created a real revenue stream that benefits his entire family, especially his kids. That’s extraordinary and worth admiring.

“If you evaluate him strictly as a football coach, the guy who’s paid to be an expert in the game itself … you know, all those details that win or lose games on Saturdays … I’ll be polite and non-confrontational: I’d call that part of his profile a developmental need.”

The Buffs are 16-21 under Sanders, bouncing from four wins to nine to three. They’re also 1-4 over their last five games decided by seven points or fewer.

Coach Prime either blows up (2024) or blows it up (2023, 2025), and ne’er the twain. Sanders’ second year was the best by any CU coach since Rick Neuheisel’s 10 wins in 1996. After three seasons, his career record in Boulder looks eerily similar to Dan Hawkins’ 13-24 from 2006-2008.

Brennan Marion is Sanders’ third different offensive play-caller since February 2023. Robert Livingston is his second defensive coordinator in three years. Game management, especially when it’s late and close, is one narrative that refuses to go away.

A roster built largely through the transfer portal has made every Sanders CU team a spin of the roulette wheel. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get — week to week, year to year. Some guys take off. Others check out.

So, yeah, Fauria’s fellow Buff football alums say his critiques of Sanders’ coaching are absolutely valid — especially after last season. And more than a few CU icons still shake their heads when they see Shedeur Sanders’ retired number (2) next to Rashaan Salaam’s and Byron White’s. They just could’ve done without the dad stuff.

“I love Christian; he’s always been a good man, a stand-up, character guy,” ex-CU tailback J.J. Flannigan told me by phone. “I do want to make sure I say that … he’s always showed me respect when he sees me, he makes sure to reach out, give me a hug. I have mad respect for Christian. I just think that comment (on intelligence) right there shouldn’t have been made. It sounds personal. As we say in sports, some things need to stay in the locker room.”

Fauria, 54, recently transitioned from the locker room to the classroom — he’s served as a “professional-in-residence” at Bryant University, a private school in Rhode Island, since the spring of 2025. Earlier this month, he took 10 students to the Super Bowl’s radio row at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Needless to say, the man’s social media accounts have been an interesting place over the last 72 hours.

“Oh my God, dude. Blowing up,” Fauria told me. “I’ve been screen-shotting them. I’m going to use them in my class.”

He also says his comments came from a place of love. Not for Sanders, necessarily. But for the university itself. For the Buffs beast he was a part of building.

“As a proud CU alum who just wants the Buffs to win big and stay relevant for the right reasons, I hope (Sanders) proves me dead wrong!” Fauria said via email. “I hope he shuts everybody up, builds something unstoppable in Boulder, and rubs it in my face. If he does, I’ll be the first one out front saying, ‘Job well done, Coach,’ and give him (credit). Until then, though … for the love of Bill McCartney… learn the (expletive) fight song!”

Bring that smoke.

“I think (what) ties into the comment that Christian made, there’s a bit of a cultural gap there,” Johnson said. “When there’s an individual who creates so much just guttural discomfort, because it’s so different, people repel against that. Coach Prime does that in spades. I think he thrives in creating discomfort.

“And some may say that discomfort is the first step toward progress. I’ve talked to (people), not about Christian’s comments, but about Coach Prime. As you can imagine, everyone has an opinion and a thought. And they’re all over the damn board.”

On Monday, he palled around with contemporaries at a Pro Bowl practice for the first time in his career. He’s up to walk the red carpet at Thursday’s NFL Honors ceremony, with the potential to win both the league’s inaugural Protector of the Year Award and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. And to cap off the most fruitful year of his professional life, Bolles was named the NFLPA’s 2026 Alan Page Community Award winner on Tuesday, honoring a player who “demonstrates a profound dedication” to impacting their community.

Across a few-minute speech — the baritone-voiced giant sniffling with every sentence — Bolles dove into his continued work and Colorado youth in the juvenile system in Arapahoe County. He’s helped remodel the classrooms at the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center in Centennial because he wanted their environment to feel more joyful. Less white walls. Less brown carpet.

Inside Broncos LT Garett Bolles’ work in Colorado juvenile detention system: ‘My life has done a complete 180’

"I want to encourage them," Bolles said in his speech. "Give them a why. Why they do what they do."

Bolles' own why has been set since his days playing for Utah, when he realized — as Greg Freeman recounted — that he could actually be good enough at football to have the influence he wanted to have. In 2011, Freeman picked up a troubled 19-year-old Bolles off the side of the road after he'd been kicked out of his childhood home. He and wife Emily adopted Bolles. There were "many times," Freeman recalled, when a young Bolles would sit at the top of their family's staircase, preparing for them to give him the boot, too.

They did not abandon him. They told him they wouldn't. And on Tuesday, the Freemans stood alongside Bolles, his wife, Emily, and their children on a stage in San Francisco, part of a life that has evolved beyond anyone's reasonable expectations.

"There's some shock to it," Freeman told The Post, after Bolles accepted his award. "But he's always had a heart worth of gold."

Bolles will now receive a donation of $100,000 from the NFLPA to his GB3 Foundation, which partnered with speech pathologist Jennie Bjorem to launch the Bjorem and Bolles Apraxia Training Center in Parker this past year. As his reach across the Colorado community continues to expand, Bolles had the best season of his NFL career in 2025, earning his first First-Team All-Pro nod. He was once a maligned first-round draft pick in Denver, sending groans through Empower Field at every holding call, before he began working with the Foote Center in 2020.

That is not by happenstance, to Bolles. His journeys as a player and as a man have intertwined.

"You talk about a legacy, you talk about – from the start to the finish," Bolles said. "And my quote is – it doesn’t matter how you start, matters how you finish. So continue pushing, continue to be the best version of yourself. And you never know when your name is going to get called. I just hung down. I just kept working, I just kept putting in the work. And it����ap paid off."

Enough, certainly, to bring him to San Francisco, where Bolles is soaking in every second of available Super Bowl shenanigans. On Monday, at an AFC Pro Bowl practice that wholly undermined the word "practice," the Broncos' left tackle hopped in at center and snapped a few balls to rookie QB Shedeur Sanders. And slung on a backwards cap. And then wheeled out and caught a touchdown in the end zone. He came away from the 45-minute period with a cheek-splitting grin and a message for the world, after the world saw him end up flat on his face in Week 7 when he flared out to try and catch an end-zone touchdown.

"I caught a touchdown. But it's gonna happen (Tuesday)," Bolles told The Denver Post, referring to the official Pro Bowl Games. "So then everybody will be able to see it.

"And then coach (Zach) Strief and coach SP," Bolles said, referring to Sean Payton, "back at home, he'll know that I can catch the ball. So don't ever doubt me again."

At the end of the day, though, this platform is a means to an end. In 2023, Bolles earned his first Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination. It meant more than "anything else," as Freeman said; more than the $82 million extension Bolles signed with the Broncos in 2024.

He'll have the chance to actually win the award on Thursday. For now, though, Tuesday's honor was enough of a measure to show just how far he's come.

"To have this family of his grow and become what it is," Freeman said, "is really special.”

We won’t lie: Your friendly neighborhood Grading The Week crew had our collective hearts in our throats during the first half of Nuggets-Clippers at Ball Arena late Friday night.

Would Nikola Jokic’s knee hold up? Did the three-time NBA MVP, the Front Range’s passing prodigy, our hoops hypnotist, still have the goods after a month off the floor?

By the fourth quarter, there wasn’t any doubt.

Floater? Still there.

Sombor Shuffle? Still sweet.

3-pointers from the top of the arc? Swish.

Behind-the-back-dribble to set up a floater in the lane? Money.

No-look passes to cutting teammates? Ask Peyton Watson, whose two-handed slam off a Joker dime with 4:05 left put the hosts up 113-97.

“I was not scared of it,” Jokic told reporters when asked about the left knee he’d hyperextended in Miami on Dec. 29. “I was not scared to use it or thinking about it when I was running or playing. So, I think that����ap a good sign that I’m ready.”

There were others, too. The 31 points. The 12 rebounds. The five assists. The three steals. The eight makes on 11 tries from the floor. All in a span of just 25 minutes. The Big Honey averages about 35 minutes per game. Which means if Jokic wasn’t on a “pitch count,” he was a pace for 43 points, 16 boards and seven assists. All after a month on the shelf.

Nikola Jokic’s return — A

Even the timing was classic Joker. The Nuggets won, 122-109. At one point, the Clippers clawed back, trimming Denver’s cushion to 100-95. Jokic then went on a 1-man, 8-2 scoring run, and his teardrop with 5:22 left put the Nuggets up 108-97.

The pick-and-roll was back, and Murray and the Joker had locked things down to the point where coach David Adelman emptied the bench for the final two minutes.

No, the Clippers aren’t the Thunder. They’re not exactly the Kings or Pelicans, either. The Clip Show hit the floor having won nine of its last 10 games. L.A. had scored fewer than 110 points during that stretch against one other team — Detroit (in a 98-92 win), because nobody really does that to the Pistons, either.

“I really think the One from upstairs protected me,” Jokic told reporters after the game. “And He knows that I did everything how it����ap supposed to be, and I was hoping He would protect me.”

If the Man upstairs takes requests, we’d love a little Light to shine on Aaron Gordon’s right hamstring and Christian Braun’s left ankle going forward. But with Joker rolling like he never left, any Miracles between now and Valentine’s Day would feel like we’re playing with Holy House Money.

Shedeur Sanders to the Pro Bowl — C

Team GTW would suggest reading the Pro Bowl its last rites after the whole Shedeur Sanders kerfuffle this week, but that ship sailed long ago. If a game we — and, frankly, most of the American viewing public — stopped caring about years ago wants to simply play for clicks from here on out, who are we to stop them?

The Pro Bowl itself — F

But if you’re going to go full popularity-contest-mode, Commissioner Goodell, can we make one suggestion? Don’t toe-dip into the idea of turning the Pro Bowl into sort of an MTV Rock N’ Jock clone. Steal that format outright. Have the NFL legends who’re coaching their respective teams draft random celebrities to play in the game. Have Shedeur throwing it to Timothee Chalamet on a seam route, for all we care. Just don’t prop it up as the best of the best anymore. Because that’s gone now. Just like those TV eyeballs.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the NFL has not announced roster changes. Yahoo Sports was the first to report on Sanders’ addition.

The Cleveland Browns rookie was a fifth-round pick after many thought he would go earlier in the draft. Sanders played in eight games, and started the Browns’ final seven games, going 3-4. He had a 56.6% completion rate and 68.1 passer rating along with 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

New England’s Drake Maye, Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo’s Josh Allen were on the original AFC roster when the selections were announced on Dec. 23.

Maye is unable to participate because of the Patriots advancing to the Super Bowl while Herbert and Allen dealt with injuries at the end of their seasons.

Other AFC quarterbacks, including Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Indianapolis’ Daniel Jones and Denver’s Bo Nix also suffered season-ending injuries. Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence was one of the top alternates, but Lawrence opted not to play in the event.

Sanders was not selected as one of the four alternate selections at quarterback when the rosters were first announced.

Finding players to fill out Pro Bowl rosters because of injuries has always been a challenge, but it has increased since the NFL did away with the exhibition full-contact all-star game format and went to a weeklong skills competition and flag football game beginning with the 2022 season.

Tyler Huntley made it as an alternate three years ago after throwing two touchdowns and three interceptions in four starts with the Baltimore Ravens.

The Pro Bowl Games will take place in San Francisco ahead of the Super Bowl. Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (NFC) and Steve Young (AFC) are the coaches for the flag football showdown on Feb. 3.

___

AP NFL:

Jordan Seaton wasn’t liked at CU. He was beloved. this past November.

On Tuesday morning, those hearts were broken.

College football is so, so, so, soooo broken right now.

Seaton, the biggest Buff in terms of sheer size (330 pounds) and importance (22 starts at left tackle), announced late Monday that he was entering the transfer portal.

“I never imagined this journey would come to a close in this way,” “but I am deeply grateful for every moment that led me here.”

A fresh start might be good for Seaton — and for his NFL draft stock. It’s not a good look for CU. Or for Deion Sanders, who treated the young man like one of his own.

. Seaton, a 5-star recruit and the No. 1 offensive line prospect in his prep class, announced his commitment on Fox Sports 1 in December 2023. He was a game-changer. A momentum-driver. A core piece.

He immediately ran with Shedeur Sanders like a bigger baby brother, then protected Shedeur’s blind side during the greatest single passing season in Buffs history. He was a captain in the making. An icon on the climb.

And now he’s … gone?

“Financially, it’s going to be good (for Seaton), I’ve got to believe,” , told me Tuesday. “It’s too bad for the Buffaloes. They’re losing a guy they would have liked to have kept.”

Let’s be clear: This was mostly about the bag. Had to be. Nobody announces a portal transfer a few days before the window closes on Friday unless another party swooped in with some serious cash.

But if Coach Prime can’t keep Seaton around, who can he keep? They’ve even been repped by the same agency, for pity’s sake. The tackle as of Tuesday was listed as one of

Monday’s announcement might have been just about business. But after the last two seasons, it felt more than a little personal, too.

And speaking of personal, the same CU faithful who called Seaton the next Penei Sewell 18 months ago . That the Buffs are better off.

Whether players are coming or going, the spin never ends.

Cooper told me he did feel that Seaton hit a wall late last season, even while the latter was apparently playing hurt. Other scouting services agreed — after netting a 67.2 overall grade (out of 100) from Pro Football Focus as a true freshman in 2024, Seaton’s overall mark dipped to 65.8 in 2025, with his run blocking grade (52.0 grade) dropping significantly from the year before (62.0). Although came away more impressed with last fall’s tape, noting that Seaton committed fewer penalties (four) and allowed fewer QB pressures (seven) in ’25 compared to what he’d charted while watching the kid’s 2024 film (14 penalties, 27 pressures).

“I think he’s got some work to do,” Cooper stressed. “He’s got definite upside. I think as (2025) progressed … his pass protection was pretty solid until the end of the year. He took a dip there. His run-blocking has never been that great.”

Once you take off your Blenders shades, it’s clear that coaching was a factor here, too.

Seaton, who’s entering his junior season, wants to throw his hat into the 2027 NFL Draft. Cooper says he’d give the kid a second-round grade based on his sophomore season. That’s not going to cut it.

“He’s got an NFL body,” Syvertsen said. “He’s got the goods. He’s tall. He’s long. He holds his weight exceptionally well. He’s got outstanding body control.”

Seaton’s also got one season to put better stuff on film for the real money at the next level. If you’re a CU fan, shouldn’t it concern you that he’d rather do it somewhere else?

Sanders has had three different sets of offensive line coach configurations in BoCo since 2023. Seaton has seen four different position coaches, technically, since early 2024. Phil Loadholt, now at Mississippi State, gave way to the trio of Gunnar White (offensive run game coordinator/offensive line), George Hegamin (assistant coach/offensive line) and ex-Buffs great Andre Gurode (assistant coach/offensive line) before last season.

“From the outside looking in, it just seems like the coaching staff is consistently bringing in new people, new faces, new celebrities,” Syvertsen continued. “It doesn’t feel like this coaching staff is there to truly develop guys.”

Was it the system? Haven’t heard a bad word about high-tempo Go-Go system, other than you’d better be in good shape and willing to run — hard — for it to fly.

Was it the culture? Seaton was supposed to be a pillar of the Coach Prime revival, the kind of guy you could build a program around. For the last 10 days, CU has been swapping big names and in and out like it’s 2023 all over again. But if you made a list of five guys the Buffs needed to keep around, ideally, Seaton would land at No. 1. Or No. 2.

Instead, he’s leaving another crack in the foundation. Leaving more questions. And leaving one very large, uncomfortable query in particular: Who’s going to have Julian Lewis’ back now?

There aren’t a lot of big men in the college free-agent pool left who can do what Seaton does when he’s healthy. The dude’s a snowplow with nimble feet and a mean streak. He’s the kind of blocker who becomes a cult legend, the kind of tackle a fun coach feel good about throwing the ball to in the end zone. The next eight on the list were already spoken for.

Some in Buffs Nation will tell you this week that Seaton’s no big loss. They’re fooling themselves. Tennessee wanted him. Alabama wanted him. Florida wanted him. Ohio State wanted him. Georgia. Miami. Michigan. Oregon. Penn State. USC, too. Will the last Louis turn out the lights?

“Just Under Armour,” the former CU Buffs offensive lineman texted me from his vacation in Nashville.

While on the road with his fiancée, Fenske’s also been keeping an eye on an old CU teammate, Oregon’s starting right tackle?

Harkey, a 6-foot-6, 327-pound redshirt senior, is prepping for a Friday night showdown with Indiana — and another former CU player, the Hoosiers’ Kahlil Benson — in one College Football Playoff semifinal. The Ducks’ bruiser helped Oregon put up 245 passing yards and convert four fourth-down conversions on The Best Defense Money Can Buy, blanking Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl.

He’d transferred into CU as a 305-pounder out of Tyler (Texas) Junior College, a 3-star who was weighing offers from Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion. After appearing in 12 games, largely as a reserve guard, Harkey was one of the kids from swept out in the great Deion Sanders roster purge during the spring of 2023.

Fenske, who played in seven games with the Buffs in ’22, was Harkey’s roommate at CU. He got swept away, too. Under Armour was out, Louis Vuitton luggage was in.

“(Harkey has) done incredible, man,” Fenske gushed. “Because when he first came in (to CU), he wasn’t what he is now. And just seeing his transformation from being a (backup) guard on a 1-11 team to being a first-round or second-round (NFL) draft pick …”

Big Alex could play. So could wideout Jordyn Tyson (Arizona State). And And quarterback Owen McCown, once he’d had some more brisket. McCown, who threw for 30 touchdowns at UTSA this past fall — including three in a 57-20 win over Florida International in the First Responder Bowl.

“We just stay connected, support each other’s success,” Harris, who still belongs to a group chat of former Buffs, told me over the weekend. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected. That (purge) hit us all in the mouth.”

CU fans talk a lot — a lot — about 1-11 in 2022. About rock bottom. About Coach Prime lighting the candle for the climb out of obscurity.

All of it true. But what we won’t talk as much about is just how young that 2022 team actually was. Heading into the opener, 33 of the 81 dudes on that CU depth chart were freshmen. Twenty-three were sophomores. It showed.

“I get that it’s a multimillion-dollar business,” Fenske said. “But what’s missing in college football is the developmental piece to it. For Philip Rivers to come back (to the NFL) after five years (retired) and be better than half the QBs in the NFL, that’s not a talent issue. That’s a development issue …

“I want (the Buffs) to do well, but man, they missed out. They really missed out on (Harkey). Even when he wasn’t a starter, he always kind of carried himself with a chip on his shoulder. He wanted to get better. He knows ball. He was a great person to be around.”

Hindsight is a fickle mistress. You don’t have 2023’s sugar rush and 2024’s Big 12 title chase without Coach Prime. Or without Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, if we’re being frank about it.

Yet you also could field a pretty darned good college football lineup out of players who left CU’s program following the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons. Check out tthese Post-Prime All-Stars, all ex-Buffs, and their 2025 stat lines:

OFFENSE

QB — Owen McCown, UTSA, 30 TD passes, 7 interceptions

RB — Anthony Hankerson, Oregon State, 1,086 rushing yards

LT — Isaiah Jatta, BYU, 64.1 Pro Football Focus grade

LG — Zack Owens, Mississippi State, 56.0 PFF grade

C — Van Wells, Oregon State, 63.6 PFF grade

RG/RT — Kahlil Benson, Indiana, 72.5 PFF grade

RT — Alex Harkey, Oregon, 64.2 PFF grade

TE — Seydou Traore, Mississippi State, five TD catches

TE — Chamon Metayer, Arizona State, four TD catches

WR — Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State, eight TD catches

WR — Chase Sowell, Iowa State, 500 receiving yards

DEFENSE

DL — Dayon Hayes, Texas A&M, four sacks

DL — Chazz Wallace, NC State, 70.9 PFF grade

DL — Shakaun Bowser, UTEP, 62.3 PFF grade

LB — Nikhai Hill-Green, Alabama, two forced fumbles

LB — Jeremy Mack Jr., Old Dominion, six sacks

LB — Johnny Chaney Jr., FIU, three sacks

CB — Colton Hood, Tennessee, eight pass break-ups

CB — Simeon Harris, Fresno State, five interceptions

CB — Kyndrich Breedlove, Arizona State, five pass break-ups

S — Trevor Woods, Jacksonville State, three forced fumbles

S — Myles Slusher, Purdue, three pass break-ups

It’s a little light up front defensively, granted. But that’s not a bad offensive bunch. It’s probably a better starting 11, McCown included, than what Pencil Pat Shurmur trotted out this past fall.

“I’m not the only one that’s thought that,” Fenske chuckled.

“It’s funny how we all panned out,” Harris added. “But we all (had) wanted to be at CU.”

Meanwhile, the Buffs’ door keeps revolving. According to the 247Sports.com database, That group included key cogs such as cornerback DJ McKinney, safety Tawfiq Byard, defensive end London Merritt, defensive end Brandon Davis-Swain, wideout Omarion Miller, wideout/all-purpose back Dre’Lon Miller — all of whom could make a future Post-Prime starting 11.

Meanwhile, the Buffs are going to need to import at least 30, and maybe 35-45 transfers, just to fill out a roster whose depth was frequently tested last autumn.

History says they’ll find some dawgs. And recent history says they’ll need twice as many as a year ago.

“I think (CU) is about to go through another rebuild situation,” Harris noted.

Still, the Bulldogs’ defensive back doesn’t harbor any grudges toward Sanders, nor CU. Neither does Fenske, really, despite his exit.

“If I didn’t have the portal, I’m not in the spot I am today,” Fenske said. “The grass isn’t always greener for some. And I would advise people who are going into that position to really think about what they’re doing and to really take a chance on themselves and see if they can develop …

“Maybe the best thing for me was to go down (a level) and be humbled, to re-learn the game of football in a way and re-learn what life is about.”

The Big Guy works in mysterious ways, sometimes. Fenske just wrapped up his eligibility at Southern Illinois, having been named to the Missouri Valley Conference’s second-team offense and to the first team of the league’s Scholar-Athlete squad, thanks to a 4.0 GPA.

Noah also got engaged. He became a foster parent. He . Just because you’re traveling with Under Armour bags doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the journey. However winding.

“I want those guys (at CU) to do well,” the lineman said. “Boulder was really good to me, and I’m glad that Boulder is doing a little better than it was before I got there. It would be foolish for me to be super cynical about that. I want to see (CU) do well. I want to see that area flourish because it was very welcoming to me.”

Let’s hope so.

The Board of Regents checked every box, bringing aboard the 37-year-old Lovo, who sprinkled pixie dust at the .

The school’s press release makes a case for why the well-traveled Lovo is qualified. He hired football coach Jason Eck, who led the Lobos to their first nine-win season since 2016. He landed dynamic hoops boss Eric Olen. And he produced record revenue for the athletic department, improving by 17.6 % year over year.

Now comes the hard part.

Lovo’s first task when he starts Thursday must be to hold football coach Deion Sanders accountable.

Sanders was given the keys to the athletic department when he received a massive contract extension last March. Lovo must take them back And change the locks.

Sanders delivered for CU in his first two seasons. He brought eyeballs to TVs, a spike in student applications, a star quarterback in his son Shedeur and a Heisman Trophy winner in Travis Hunter.

Then last season the wheels fell off and the transmission dropped. Sanders deserves nothing but respect for beating cancer and working through health issues related to having a reconstructed bladder. There are those who want to give him a mulligan for the 3-9 record. Sanders is not among them. He has taken responsibility and insists he will fix it.

Words are not enough. They cannot be enough. He has to answer through actions for this mess.

How long can Lovo expect the scant well-off Buffs boosters to reach into their pockets and endure such failed expectations? And how patient can he be while overseeing a CU athletic department that is staring at a $27 million budget deficit in the fiscal year that ends in June 2026, primarily because of Prime and his players?

When donors see themselves as only funding expenses without a return on their investment — Sanders has a 16-21 record in Boulder — fatigue and frustration will follow.

The current way Sanders is running his program is not sustainable.

Former AD Rick George risked his career three years ago by hiring Sanders with no idea how to pay him. He pulled it off.

Now, Lovo walks into a more difficult spot since Sanders’ salary nearly doubled with his five-year, $54.5 million contract extension that runs through 2029.

CU was terrified at the prospect of losing Sanders, knowing what empty seats and lifeless games looked like under Karl Dorrell.

Left unsaid was that Sanders has to win for the dollars to make sense for CU.

There are no rebuilding seasons when the coach is getting paid in the top 20 of his profession.

And let����ap be real, the Buffs did not just lose a lot last season, they were blown out in three of their final five games, leading to fans clearing out by the fourth quarter of the final two at Folsom Field.

“Everybody deserves much better than this,” Sanders said after CU fell to Kansas State in the finale.

Still waiting.

Since the season ended, things have gotten worse.

Several of CU’s best players and prospects — receivers Omarion Miller and Dre’lon Miller, safety Tawfiq Byard and defensive lineman Alexander McPherson — entered the transfer portal.

All schools work the hack now that Sanders used to overhaul CU’s roster in 2023, and they do it better because they have more money to offer.

Which brings us back to Lovo. A man-to-man conversation with Sanders is necessary to help him embrace and understand how his job has evolved as the state’s highest-paid employee. Barring the rescue by a sugar daddy or private equity firm, the program needs a new direction, transparency, and a pivot in how it recruits and operates.

The days of Sanders not making off-campus visits must end. Recruits in and out of state need to see him. High school coaches need to know him.

Sanders’ best asset is his personality, and yet CU landed one top recruit in the state. He can no longer be so dependent on the portal. If he had a strong local relationships, perhaps he could have swooped in and signed Cherry Creek running back Jayden Fox, a UCLA commit, who profiles perfectly for offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s system.

At the risk of sounding callous, if Sanders can make trips to support Shedeur playing for the Browns, why can’t he get on a plane to find players to uplift his program? Everyone from Indiana’s Curt Cignetti to North Carolina’s Bill Belichick leave campus in search of players. Sanders has to follow suit, health willing.

History shows CU’s staff needs to do more homework and build stronger relationships with recruits, especially with those in the portal. They whiffed on multiple transfers last offseason, most notably quarterback Kaidon Salter.

Blame the kid if you want. But why did Sanders think he would fit with Pat Shurmur given his lack of creativity? And don’t get us started on all the misses on offensive and defensive linemen.

Here’s the thing about history: it shows what it shows. And it will repeat itself if left unchecked. Sanders enters his fourth season on his third offensive coordinator and second defensive coordinator.

His staff features former pros, but lacks grinders, even though records obtained by , including a bodyguard. It is unclear where the number sits now, but only huge success can justify this type of excess.

He knows how the sausage is made. Sanders needs to be his greatest asset. But it has become painfully clear, Lovo must have the courage to direct the coach to follow a new blueprint.

“It sure helped CU when he first got the job,” . “But reliance on the transfer portal is dangerous.”

And in Boulder, three years into The Coach Prime Era, the Buffs are still living dangerously on the recruiting front. The early prep National Signing Day period opens Wednesday morning. As of late Tuesday afternoon, per Huffman and the 247Sports database,

And the Cowboys have been without a head coach since Sept. 23, when they fired longtime boss Mike Gundy.

“I’m of the mindset that the transfer portal is a nice, quick, healthy fix in Year 1 or Year 2,” Huffman continued. “By Year 3 or Year 4, you should have already by then focused on high-school recruiting …

“I think you’re seeing schools such as Florida State, they hit the jackpot with Jordan Travis. The next year, they’re back in the portal, and it blew up in their faces.”

Some shrapnel was felt in BoCo, too. The ’23-24 offseason brought a gold mine of transfers led by LaJohntay Wester from FAU and Will Sheppard from Vanderbilt, topping off one of the best passing games — and passing units — in CU history. The ’24-25 offseason, by contrast, brought QB Kaidon Salter from Liberty, who would lose his starting job twice, while defensive tackle Jaheim Oatis (Alabama) and tailback Simeon Price (Coastal Carolina) got hurt.

“At UCLA, (the Bruins) went with a ‘Moneyball’ approach this year (via the portal),'” Huffman said. “They said, ‘We’re going to chase elite recruits who aren’t playing at their schools.’ Once they came, you could see why they weren’t playing at their previous schools.”

Sound familiar? The 2024 Buffs already had a base in place a year ago that portal players could complement in a Heisman-worthy QB (Shedeur Sanders) and a Heisman-winning, generational talent in Travis Hunter. When that base was gone in 2025, players noted a void in locker-room leadership as well.

Keeler: CU Buffs’ 3-9 record proves Deion Sanders needs better coaches in his ear or another Shedeur on the field

“I feel like the leader, he doesn’t try to lead. It just naturally happens,” CU linebacker Jeremiah Brown told reporters after a season-ending loss at Kansas State left CU at 3-9, 1-8 in Big 12 play. “And we just, unfortunately, didn’t have very many of those.”

To remedy that, Huffman suggested, the Buffs need to reverse course, away from recruiting classes that are primarily transfers, and go young. He'd like to see Sanders focus more on high-schoolers and for CU to throw more revenue-sharing money, and reps, in their direction.

"Especially because, more often than not, if a player is going into the portal, they're going into the portal for a reason," Huffman said. "With revenue-sharing, fewer and fewer guys going into the portal are impact players, because they're getting compensated at the school where they're at."

Money talks. Mediocrity walks. While the Buffs changed admission standards to allow more transfers into CU when Sanders arrived three Decembers ago, Buffs administrators seem to be stymied and financially stressed by the fallout from House vs. NCAA — which, as of July 1, allowed up to $20.5 million of a Power 4 university's athletic revenue to be paid out to student-athletes. that Buffs athletics is anticipating a deficit of roughly $27 million in the '25-26 fiscal year, largely because of House payments and Sanders' $10 million salary. Athletic director Rick George, who told us in December 2022 that he was investing in Coach Prime with money the school didn't have, is retiring from his position in late June.

When asked about prep recruiting recently, Sanders countered that at least half of all prep recruits are more likely to transfer out within their first two years of eligibility. Coach Prime doesn't want to teach and nurture somebody for 18 to 24 months only for them to spend their best years somewhere else.

"Check the statistics so you understand the method to my madness," Sanders said. "You get 30, are they gonna be here in a few years?...  Nowadays, if kids aren't playing by that spring of that second go-around, they're out. They jump in the portal."

You get that. Huffman gets that, too. But isn't the retention of say, 50% of 30 prep recruits after two years a better program base than 50% of say, 10? Especially where depth is concerned?

Growing your own takes time. And money. And work. And patience. To the cynic, CU sounds like a program that isn't interested in investing enough in those high-schoolers — in skill development, strength development, academic development, you name it — to keep them around.

"If you're developing them," Huffman said. "They're not going to leave. They're more likely to stay if you're a Power 4 school and you're taking care of them the way a Power 4 school does. If you get my drift."

We do. Raising underclassmen is a grind that, more often than not, doesn't pay off. It is, effectively, talent gardening. The Coach Prime Method wants its meals prepared, even pre-packaged, so that all you've got to do is add the Sanders heat, pop the transfers in the microwave, and it'll start raining touchdowns all over Folsom Field. That's the theory, at least.

If 2024 was the ideal, we know what a peak Prime team is supposed to look like. The problem is that portal guys are a roll of the dice, even if you've done CIA levels of homework on the front end. Ideally, they're finishing pieces — a QB here, a wideout or edge rusher there — as opposed to your core and your spine.

Recruiting high-schoolers means legwork. Handshakes. Person-to-person relationships. Sanders has said he doesn't like to visit high schools. Or parents' living rooms. Coach Prime can close on a kid like Trevor Hoffman, but it's hard to replicate the bridges built from having your head coach actively on the road.

Sanders insists that's not part of his playbook. Huffman insists the Buffs won't progress — or stabilize — as a program if Coach Prime doesn't adapt.

"I realize college football has changed dramatically, but if you're going to be there for a long time, then develop from within and (strengthen) from within," Huffman said. "Then mix and match a few players here and there from the portal.

"If you keep focusing on the portal, you're not building the culture. You're not building sustenance. (The Los Angeles Times) did a story where Tim Skipper had to show the team a video going over the USC rivalry, because guys didn't understand the importance of it. There's no culture when you keep having one-year or two-year guys. You have to build from within."

Sean Keeler: If we’re setting the O/U at 12.5 wins, I’ll lean the under. But when I say “under,” I mean 12 victories, a delightful dozen. Washington is living a nightmare the Commanders can’t wake up from. The Raiders just threw Chip Kelly into the dumpster for losing to Shedeur Sanders. The Bo Brigade beat Philly on the road and KC without Pat Surtain II — 11-2 is very much on the table. After that, though? Need to start cashing in those Christmas miracles, my friend. This defense has been due an “off” week for a while. This offense is due for a reckoning. And that short turnaround with Jacksonville (Dec. 21) and Kansas City (Dec. 25) around the holidays

Renck: The Broncos’ remaining strength of schedule ranks in the middle of the pack. The idea of running the table is off the table because it is unrealistic to expect Denver to finish the season on a 14-game winning streak. It is easy to see them reaching 11 victories with upcoming games at Washington and Las Vegas. Then it gets greasy. The final four is a Final Four: Green Bay, Jacksonville, at Kansas City and the Chargers. They are all legit. This is where the Broncos make invisible goals tangible. They split down the stretch, giving them a lucky 13.

Keeler: And a home sweep the rest of the way wouldn’t shock me, either. The Jaguars (7-4) could very well come in here with one eye on their visit to the division rival Colts on Dec. 28. The Packers (7-3-1) never seem to love playing at elevation — the Cheeseheads are 1-4 in Denver all-time, and that lone win came in overtime 18 Octobers ago. On the flip side, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has some kind of hex on Sean Payton teams at any altitude. Or any time zone. Or any planet.

Renck: My preseason prediction had the Broncos claiming the AFC West crown at 11-6. Sold them short because of their skill at winning when ulcers aggravate and palms sweat. They are 7-2 in one-score games after going 1-6 last season. It remains a defining characteristic of a resilient team graduating from imposter to contender. The Broncos can beat anyone because of their defense, which will soon welcome back star Pat Surtain II. They can also lose to anyone because of an inconsistent offense that should have learned from the Chiefs game how to balance the strengths of Bo Nix and Sean Payton. And if they want to involve the ghost of Evan Engram down the stretch, so be it. Give me 13-4.

Keeler: My 11-6 presumed we’d get a Burrow Bowl, plus Nix vs. Stroud and Nix vs. Daniels — and we may not land any of those matchups, once the dust finally settles. But in this league, never apologize for any hay made while the sun’s shining on your backside. The football gods reached into their closets in late September, discovered that old, battered pair of , were delighted to find they still fit, and never took them off. “Belief” isn’t just a cliche in an NFL locker room. It’s contagious. Just ask my pal Cam Skattebo. and his face turned orange and blue.  “The Broncos are good… they just find a way to win games,” the ex-Arizona State star said. “I want to say the Giants are gonna win it, but the Broncos are really good.” Can’t argue with that.