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 �󲹱�����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-���dz���ٳ󾱲Բ���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.

On the roster (12): Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Michael Bandy, Hakeem Butler, Kolbe Katsis, Dane Key, Joseph Manjack IV and Cameron Ross

How many on the 53? Five as a baseline. Six or even seven would be unlikely but not impossible.

Most impactful offseason move: Trading for Jaylen Waddle

This wasn’t just the most impactful roster move of the offseason for the Broncos’ receivers. It was the move of the offseason for the franchise. Combine Waddle’s addition with Davis Webb taking over the playcalling duties and you’ve got most of what Denver is hoping will elevate its offense this fall. Waddle was expensive — the Broncos gave up a first-round pick and more — but he’s also exactly what this unit needed. He can play from the slot or outside; he’s the kind of explosive playmaker Denver has lacked for years, and he’s got a mentality that already seems to fit Payton’s mold. Webb himself, in June, likened the acquisition to his time in Buffalo, when the Bills landed Stefon Diggs ahead of quarterback Josh Allen’s third pro season. If third-year QB Bo Nix and Waddle have anything like that kind of connection, look out.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Could the receiver room see another trade this summer?

Last spring and summer, the Broncos were adamant they liked their receiver depth and adamant they didn’t need to trade anybody. In the middle of the preseason, though, they got an offer they couldn’t refuse and shipped Devaughn Vele to New Orleans for a fourth-round pick and more. Broncos brass once again say they love their depth and don’t need to trade anybody after acquiring Waddle. They can stick to that, reminded by what it looked like when they were down to a couple of healthy bodies in the postseason. Or they could once again be tempted if the overlapping skill sets of some players — most likely Waddle, Franklin and Mims — make somebody dispensable. Mims is heading into the final year of his rookie deal, while Franklin has this season and 2027 before free agency.

Battle to watch: The quest for targets after Sutton and Waddle

Franklin and Mims are two of the key players in this conversation, as is second-year man Bryant. It����ap not impossible others could get in the mix, too, but that trio is clearly in the running. Franklin had a breakout second season with the Broncos last fall, catching 65 passes for 709 yards and six touchdowns. His 104 targets were second only to Sutton’s 124, well more than third-place Evan Engram (76) and more than double any other receiver (Mims third at 51). From Week 6 onward, though, Bryant closed the gap some. He averaged 4.5 targets per game to Franklin’s six. Mims had a tough time finding consistent playing time, but when injuries hit down the stretch, he turned in big performance after big performance and left Payton after the season swearing, again, that he needed to find more ways to get his multi-talented former second-round pick the ball more. Sutton has averaged 130 targets in two years playing with Nix. Waddle should come close to (or slightly exceed) Sutton’s mark atop the room, though it����ap possible each is slightly below Sutton’s dominant target share over the past two seasons. Either way, figure that if both are healthy, they’re good for well north of 200 targets and perhaps pushing toward 250. In the past two seasons, Denver’s receivers have totaled 351 targets (on 612 attempts in 2025) and 359 targets (on 570 attempts in 2024).

Under the radar: Humphrey

There are names that might be a little bit more fun — the undrafted rookie Ross, for example, made some plays in the offseason program and could be an intriguing camp story if he can keep it rolling into August, as could jumbo-sized UFL summer addition Butler — but that����ap kind of the reason Humphrey gets the nod here. Humphrey’s not that exciting. He’s been shuffled on and off the practice squad here over the years. But he appeared in every game for Denver in the 2023-24 seasons, then seven more last fall after starting the season with the New York Giants. He played 36% of snaps after jumping back into the fold in the middle of the fall. Is he a lock to make the initial 53-man roster out of training camp? Hardly. But is Humphrey likely to make an impact in some way, shape or form for Denver this fall? There’s no reason to bet against it at this point.

What’s the biggest battle going into training camp? I know everyone’s talking RB2, but WR3 is going to be interesting after the Jaylen Waddle trade. Between Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr. and Pat Bryant, we’re not going to have enough touches going around.

— Marshall, Parker

Hey Marshall, thanks for writing in and getting this midsummer edition of the mailbag going. We can all enjoy July for a few more weeks, but three weeks from now, the Broncos will be gathered for training camp — boarding the aircraft carrier for a multi-month tour, as head coach Sean Payton likes to say.

The two battles you mentioned should be interesting, and they get at a broader sense I have as camp approaches. There will be jobs up for grabs on the roster bubble, but most of the interesting battles in training camp will be among players who are sure bets (or at least strong candidates) for the 53-man roster. That����ap a sign of a deep, talented team.

This group doesn’t have a ton of roster spots up for grabs, but there are a pretty decent number of snaps up for grabs.

We’ll start with the normal summer caveat that injuries happen during training camp and we haven’t yet seen this rendition of the Broncos in pads. A lot will happen between now and Sept. 14 at Arrowhead Stadium.

This year in particular, perhaps it����ap also worth pointing out something interesting that offensive coordinator and playcaller Davis Webb brought up this summer: He noted that the Los Angeles Rams didn’t start leaning into their three-tight-end personnel groupings until about six weeks into last year. Then it became, in many ways, their offensive identity.

So, just remember that, particularly with a new playcaller, the early part of the regular season often brings more shifting and role changes as teams, like Payton always harps on, race to improve over the first quarter of the season.

All of that being said, the receiver group is among the most interesting in terms of how playing time will shake out. Assuming good health, Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton will be on the field together. A lot. So that����ap two spots occupied by nearly every-down players.

Last year, the Broncos were No. 11 in the NFL in 11-personnel (three receivers, one running back, one tight end) at 63%. They have not been dynamic at tight end in recent seasons and have the same personnel, plus rookies Justin Joly and Dallen Bentley back this fall. From here, that looks like a recipe to play a ton of 11 personnel and maybe even a healthy dose of four receivers. Interesting for a team that wants to pride itself on running the football, but outside of a stretch early last year, really has not been able to forge that identity under Payton.

Maybe Denver can play WR-heavy, force defenses to play light and then run the ball efficiently thanks to blocking work from a guy like Pat Bryant. That����ap a good argument for him being a go-to third receiver. At times, Denver will want to pair Troy Franklin’s speed with Waddle and really threaten secondaries. Payton continues to say that Marvin Mims Jr. doesn’t have to prove he belongs on the field and that the staff just has to do a better job of making sure he is.

Beyond those three contenders, Payton and the Broncos staff clearly trust Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Michael Bandy. They have some interesting undrafted rookies in training camp, too. Overall, though, the question entering camp feels like whether one of Bryant, Franklin, or Mims can separate himself. Can one of them help push the Broncos’ offense toward an identity? Or will the offensive direction shift more broadly and end up dictating which of those three has the biggest role?

Tight end was our weakest position last year. Why did we keep the same guys instead of going out to find an improvement? Jonnu Smith is still out there. Why don’t we bring him in to battle in camp?

— Levi, Los Angeles

Alright, let����ap keep it going on the offensive side. Thanks for writing, Levi. The answer to your first question has multiple layers.

First, the Broncos didn’t think their tight end play was as bad as perhaps others outside the building did. They value Adam Trautman as not only a blocker but also as a leader, culture-keeper, and Sean Payton playbook encyclopedia, which is helpful to a young quarterback like Bo Nix. Evan Engram made some big plays, even though overall it was an underwhelming first season in Denver. Nate Adkins battled injury and never really got into rhythm. Similar for Lucas Krull.

Teams also tend to value their own players more highly than external options due to familiarity. So, did the Broncos think free agents like Cade Otton or Charlie Kolar could have represented an on-field upgrade over Trautman? Yeah, but not so much as to justify the gap between where Trautman ended up ($5.7 million per year) and where the market went on Otton ($10 million per), Kollar ($8 million) and others. The Broncos had pretty solid thresholds in the free-agent market that they didn’t want to exceed. Ultimately, they mostly opted for retention over swinging in free agency. Not saying that����ap right, wrong or otherwise. It����ap just the path they chose to take.

As for adding a veteran, never say never, but the more likely option (again assuming good health) is internal competition. Perhaps it����ap unlikely this summer, but can Bentley or second-year man Caleb Lohner push Trautman for some work? Can Joly show he’s ready to play right away and compete with Engram for snaps? With the depth Denver has elsewhere on the roster, it would have to be counted as a surprise if all of Joly, Bentley and Lohner make the initial 53. Even if two make it, that probably means turnover at the expense of Adkins and Krull. Or Denver could make a big change and jettison Engram, though the more common time to make a move like that would have been this spring.

The bottom line in all of that: Denver is banking on the development of young players, a second year in the system for Engram, and potentially some role shake-ups, with Webb calling the plays, as a recipe for better results at tight end.

Do you think the Broncos will re-sign Riley Moss after this year? His rookie contract runs out after this year and we have bit of a dilemma. If he plays great, he’s due for a big payday. If he regresses, would we even want to re-sign him? What do you think?

— Mac, Castle Rock

Yeah, Mac, great question and one that I’m not sure anybody outside the building knows the answer to at this point. I wrote about Moss last week and we’ve covered pretty extensively the fact that he and Ja’Quan McMillian are both entering contract years while 2025 first-rounder Jahdae Barron waits his turn for full-time work.

Surprises are always possible, but it certainly feels like the Broncos will eventually have to choose between Moss and McMillian for a long-term extension. Denver has typically done most of its extensions just ahead of or during training camp, or around the bye week (this year, in the middle of November). So, that����ap definitely something to watch as training camp approaches and then gets going.

Payton spoke highly of McMillian in June when asked about him and said emphatically that he’s the kind of player the Broncos want around long-term.

“Absolutely,” Payton said then. “He has all the things you’re looking for.”

To be fair, Payton wasn’t asked about Moss specifically this summer but has consistently referred to him as a high-level player.

Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph likes both players but calls McMillian the heartbeat of the defense. At the same time, Joseph himself could be a head coach somewhere else a year from now.

This all adds up to perhaps the most interesting roster question for the Broncos to answer over the next year. The way this defense under Joseph is currently aligned, there’s a good argument to be made that Moss is a really good player, but McMillian is indispensable. Maybe it����ap that simple. At the same time, coaches, approaches and personnel change all the time in the NFL and paying your two outside corners and letting your prized first-round pick take over in the slot — his most natural position — would be a more typical resource allocation.

Parker, what happens next with Jonathon Cooper? Do we release him? Surely, he’s not on the roster come Week 1, right?

And how do we fill his spot? Do you see Jonah Elliss or Dondrea Tillman rising up the depth chart to become a starter?

— Mark, Arvada

Hey Mark, there’s a lot left to play out in Cooper’s legal case, but suffice it to say the Broncos and the league have several options for handling the football side as training camp approaches. The Broncos could simply release Cooper. The NFL could decide on a suspension sooner rather than later. Roger Goodell could place Cooper on the commissioner’s exempt list, which would mean Cooper doesn’t count against the 53-man roster but does get paid.

It����ap really probably best not to speculate about what might happen on that front. Do I think he’ll play for the Broncos in Week 1? I don’t, but I also can’t categorically say one way or the other. Beyond that, it����ap best to let the process play out.

As for filling his spot, you nailed it with Elliss and Tillman, but don’t forget about Que Robinson. Joseph said this summer that he thinks Robinson can be a starter for the Broncos, and he’s done nothing but impress when he’s had chances to play. This summer will also be a big opportunity for Drew Sanders to prove he can stay healthy. When he’s been available, he’s shown tantalizing flashes. He just hasn’t been available much the past two years. Add him to the list of interesting players entering contract years.

Do you think Von Miller coming back to Denver is back on the table with this Jonathon Cooper debacle?

— M.K., Aurora

Hey M.K., thanks for writing. Wouldn’t that be a heck of a story? Again, never say never, but there just hasn’t been much movement on the Broncos-Von Reunion Tour front. Cooper missing a chunk of the season or being jettisoned altogether would leave a production gap, but there are few positions where the team seems better-suited to internal solutions.

Miller, though, has certainly put the hard sell on Denver this offseason. Imagine the fervor if he signed the second week of training camp or something like that.

What would be the cap implications for the Broncos if they would trade Jonathon Cooper? Can you even trade a suspended player? Thanks!

— Chieflittleeagle, Little Eagle, Utah

Hey Chief, not sure what the trade value of Cooper would be before his situation is resolved. Once it is, the Broncos would theoretically want him either on the field or off the team. Hard to see a scenario in which Denver decides it����ap done with Cooper, but other teams are lining up to give up draft capital for him.

Still, the cap implications will come into play if the Broncos release Cooper.

Before any other considerations, if Denver cut Cooper today, they’d take his 2026 cap number of $5.78 million as dead cap this year and an additional $13.02 million dead next year.

Denver, though, could try to avoid paying Cooper $10.275 million in 2026 money, which the team converted to a signing bonus. That could more than cut in half the total dead cap hits the Broncos would face, dropping the numbers to $3.725 million this year and lopping more than $8 million off of the 2027 dead cap hit.

In the most extreme scenario, the Broncos could go after all of the signing bonus money that����ap been prorated into the future on Cooper’s deal, meaning they could try to recoup about $17 million that����ap already been paid or is due to be paid this year. That would undoubtedly come with a fight, likely in the form of a formal grievance filed by Cooper and the NFLPA.

If the Broncos did that and prevailed, they’d get a salary cap credit for essentially all of their remaining obligations for Cooper.

How it plays out, of course, remains to be seen, but the Broncos will be working through this situation well after they (or the NFL) makes an initial decision on Cooper’s status for the 2026 season.

Parker �Ҳ����������:��Well, Troy, I am just a humble beat reporter who stumbled into the debate room this week and I certainly am no betting man, but every time we venture to the desert for AFC West football, I am reminded that the bookmakers seem to be pretty good at what they do. Imagine the electric bills in those casinos. I tend to agree with you that 23.5 feels a little light, though there are multiple factors — some that would be fine for the Broncos and some that definitely would not be — that might be pushing the line a little bit lower. Nix has a new play-caller in Davis Webb, which is being largely hailed as a good thing, including by head coach Sean Payton himself. But perhaps Webb will stay more committed to running the ball. Perhaps it will take him a bit of time to get his sea legs, especially given Denver’s brutal stretch of opponents to open the season. What if Nix gets hurt and misses four games? So much talk about his ankle this offseason, but an aggravation there obviously isn’t the only issue that could cost him time over a long season.

Renck: Put it this way: If Nix goes under the betting number, he is taking the season down into the deep with him. The Broncos want to run the ball more effectively. Payton writes it on his play sheet and will yell it into Webb’s ears on game day. However, the Broncos are a passing team, leaning on the short game. No one has dropped back more over the last two years than Nix. He led the league in attempts last season with 612. Even if that number dips, the addition of Jaylen Waddle screams that Nix will throw at least 25 touchdowns. Why? He threw 29 as a rookie and 25 a year ago. There is no way that number drops unless he or Waddle gets hurt.

�Ҳ����������:��Could be, but — and this is strictly a guess from this hazy, early-summer vantage point — perhaps Webb wants Nix not only to not lead in pass attempts but also to come down considerably. That wouldn’t be a knock on his faith in his quarterback. Instead, it would be trying to take some pressure off him. Payton talks all the time about not putting quarterbacks on the high dive, but Nix has spent his first two seasons in the league working mostly from the 10-meter platform. If the Broncos build the kind of running game they think they can, 24 touchdown passes can be just fine. Denver had just 12 rushing scores in 2024 and only one of them was on an explosive run. That was all of 14 yards. The rest came from 8 or closer in. Last year, those numbers jumped to 18 and six. Good, but not great. The 18 TDs tied for No. 11. Their 10-plus run mark overall (51) was tied for No. 15 and their run rate (41.8%) was No. 22. All of those could realistically improve. A year ago, Seattle threw for 25 touchdown passes and finished third in the NFL in scoring. The play-caller, Klint Kubiak, got a Super Bowl title and a head coaching job out of it.

Renck: Webb was schooled in the Air Raid before the invention of the Air Pod. He is a few years removed from playing in the NFL. And he has a catalytic weapon in Waddle. The Broncos’ receivers ranked nearly last in yards per reception last season — 27th at 11.7 yards per catch, to be exact. Waddle averaged 14.2 in 2025. He is not a high-volume scorer, but posting eight touchdowns remains in reach opposite of Courtland Sutton because of his ability to turn short strikes into pay dirt. Realistically, Waddle, Sutton (eight) and Troy Franklin (five) should combine for 21 touchdowns. That means if the tight end position returns from witness protection and RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman catch a few well-timed wheel routes, Nix should finish closer to 30 touchdown passes than 25. I know they call Las Vegas Lost Wages for a reason. Casinos are built on bettors’ losses. But with Webb in charge and Nix healthy, the quarterback will establish a career-best, not a career-worst, in passing scores. Book it.

But a few days after the Broncos’ summer minicamp ended last week, quarterbacks Bo Nix and Sam Ehlinger organized a throwing session in Austin, Texas, with a handful of skill players. Ehlinger, an Austin native who is the “sheriff over there,” as receiver Troy Franklin put it, organized a few additional activities. And thus, a few key Broncos — from receivers Courtland Sutton, Franklin and Pat Bryant to tight end Evan Engram — found themselves posing for a photo on a boat with Nix and Ehlinger, that such a picture .

This is cool:

A number of Broncos, including Bo Nix, Courtland Sutton, Evan Engram, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and RJ Harvey, spent the weekend together.

— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR)

One key new face was missing. Star receiver Jaylen Waddle, of course, will have a massive impact on Denver’s ability to avoid a post-boat slump — like those Giants of yesteryear.

But the photo, too, was a reminder of the holdovers who still need to grow in 2026 for the Broncos to truly bloom as Super Bowl hopefuls. Chief among them is the 23-year-old Franklin, throwing up a peace sign on that Austin boat.

“He’s a guy who’s coming in who’s a first-rounder,” Franklin told The Post Tuesday at his youth football camp hosted at Englewood High. “We traded high value for (Waddle), and he’s gonna get his touches, you know?

“But I think the same thing to where we’re not just going to be predictable … ‘Oh, yeah, we’re giving 17 the ball every play,'” Franklin said, referencing Waddle’s number. “It����ap just one of those deals where I think we just always gotta be ready.”

Franklin, Denver’s 2024 fourth-round pick, stands to be impacted as much as anyone on the roster with Waddle’s arrival. Just four months ago, Franklin told The Post he was aiming for a 1,000-yard season in 2026. Any path there has become improbable with the Broncos’ trade for Waddle, a 27-year-old burner who has gone over 1,000 yards in three of five NFL seasons.

On Tuesday, Franklin was asked his immediate reaction to the Waddle trade: Did he think more on his own decreased targets, or on easier looks opening up for him?

“Obviously, I think it’s a bit of both,” Franklin told The Post. “You got a guy coming in like that — obviously he’s getting paid more than me, or whatever the case is,” he said. “I feel like that����ap the thought any receiver has when they get somebody coming into the receiver room, you know?

“But I know me, personally, I’m always up for a challenge, competition. I think I’m hyper-competitive. I know what I can do out there, man. Especially just building off of last year. And I’m just building now, with him there. Trying to figure out my role in the offense now, and all that good stuff. And it����ap been going good, man.”

Franklin’s mental focus in offseason training, he told The Post, has been working with receivers coach Drew Lieberman in Atlanta to “attack, and kill.” It is a broad concept, with specific applications to a promising mixed bag of a 2025 season. Franklin finished tied for 25th among all NFL receivers in catches last season; he also caught just 54% of his targets that didn’t come via a screen, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Anything can happen, as Franklin pointed out. But it’s highly unlikely he sees the same total target volume in his third NFL season, given the presence of Waddle and Denver’s 2025 leading receiver Courtland Sutton. If his overall touches decrease, Franklin’s growth needs to come in his ability to make them count — finishing dead-last in catch rate among 29 NFL receivers with more than 25 targets on vertical routes last year.

And Franklin is well aware, himself, that he may have to trade volume for efficiency in 2026.

“I just gotta go out there and be consistent and make plays when the ball comes my way,” Franklin said. “And to be real — say I do get like, what, two to three targets a game? If I make a play each target the whole season, nobody’s going to say anything.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Jahdae Barron will compete at outside cornerback

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. There could be a QB2 battle brewing

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

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

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

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

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

6. The Broncos love the UFL, for demonstrated reason

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

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

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

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

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

Nix has been ramping up his activity as he rehabs from a pair of surgeries on his fractured right ankle this offseason, and, no surprise, he’s excited to get to full-speed work with new Denver wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

“There’s an element of explosiveness that I think as an offense we’ve lacked for a couple years,” Nix said Tuesday. “We’ve had plenty of explosive plays, plenty of points, all that kind of stuff. We’ve made great strides, but there was a level of explosiveness that a guy like that adds. So you could be first-and-10 and starting a drive and go one-and-done because he takes it 75, 80 yards.

“That����ap the kind of weapon that we added, and that����ap I think what we all have been out here watching and sort of really enjoy watching.”

Several Broncos players said after the season that the club needed more offensive playmaking ability and Waddle should deliver it atop a receivers room that also features Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims Jr.

“You just can’t replace speed,” Nix said. “That����ap what he brings to the table. He’s extremely fast with the ball in his hands. He looks like he doesn’t really slow down to make cuts, which is pretty tough to do for a fast guy. …

“I think a guy like that makes everybody on the offense better, and then it obviously helps the defense in the same way.”

LG Ben Powers out, but ‘right on schedule’ according to Sean Payton

Left guard Ben Powers hasn’t done much during the offseason program practices open to reporters. He was one of a few players not seen on the practice field Tuesday.

“Ben’s right on schedule to where we thought he’d be at this point,” Payton said, without specifying why the veteran offensive lineman has been sidelined. Powers tore his left bicep last October and missed 10 games but returned for the team’s stretch run and postseason games.

Broncos waive two, host eight tryout players for minicamp

In order to make room for WR Hakeem Butler and CB/return man Sean Fresch Jr., the pair of UFL standouts Denver signed this week, the club waived veteran receiver Michael Woods and cornerback Paul Manning. Each of the two had an injury designation on the league’s transaction wire.

Meanwhile, the Broncos had eight tryout players on the field at Tuesday’s minicamp practice, including rookie quarterback Sawyer Robertson from Baylor.

The others: DLs Herbert Gums and Marlon Tuipulotu, DBs DeCarlos Nicholson and Blake Cotton, OLs Jack Walsh and Reid Holskey and FB Trent Howland.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fast and smooth

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

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

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

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

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

Hufanga, though, defined it well enough.

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

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

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

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

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

Enter Waddle.

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

Low maintenance, high potential

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Denver started the first of two weeks of organized team activities on Tuesday. The team is on the field three days this week and three days next week for voluntary work, then has its mandatory minicamp slated for June 16-18.

The next three weeks, then, are the only time Sean Payton’s team will be on the grass in any formal capacity until training camp begins at the end of July.

It����ap football without pads. It����ap more than three full months before the regular season begins. There is a lot of time left in the offseason and the rush to blow small developments or highlights out of proportion this time of year runs rampant across the league.

Nonetheless, these three weeks do mark important waypoints on the Broncos’ path toward training camp and, ultimately, a “Monday Night Football” opener Sept. 14 at Kansas City.

So, here are four storylines that could realistically be moved forward over the coming weeks.

Is Bo Nix nearing the end of his rehabilitation?

It’s the story that will be a story until it����ap not. And even then, questions about the third-year quarterback’s ankle will linger until he puts another long stretch of healthy play together this fall.

Payton indicated last month that he expected Nix to be around for OTAs, but also that he was more confident Nix would be actually involved in some capacity later this month during the minicamp.

“If it were up to him, it’d be earlier,” Payton said May 9. “But we’re going to be smart.”

Nix fractured his ankle in January late in a postseason win against Buffalo and had surgery shortly after. Payton and others originally indicated that Nix would be full speed at the start of Denver’s offseason program, which started in early May, but a second procedure on the ankle in late April pushed that timeline back.

“You’ll see him (in June),” Payton said. “I’m sure you’ll see him in, probably minicamp maybe, but he’ll be full speed throwing everything in July before we even get back here (for training camp).”

The Broncos have expressed confidence in Nix’s rehab both after the initial surgery and after the second. The coming weeks will give a bit more clarity on where the 26-year-old is in that process.

Who will win playing time in the Broncos’ revamped wide receiver room?

Aside from Nix, the single biggest item of interest when reporters are allowed into OTA practice Thursday will be seeing Jaylen Waddle on the field for Denver for the first time.

The star wide receiver, acquired in March from Miami, will likely have to wait a bit longer to start building rapport with his starting quarterback, but his impact is sure to be felt right away in the receiver room.

Not only does he make a dynamic pairing atop the room with Courtland Sutton, but his arrival and sure-to-be-heavy workload have an impact on the rest of the room.

Exact roles and playing time will be up for grabs through the summer, but that competition is already on.

The list of contenders is long but starts with Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims Jr. The Broncos have used all three in different ways over the years and each has his strong suits. Franklin can fly and his production jumped last fall from 28 catches, 265 yards and a pair of touchdowns as a 2024 rookie to 65, 729 and six, respectively. Bryant is tough over the middle and in traffic, has run-after-catch ability and is the group’s best blocker. Mims is explosive and has shown he can play any of the spots or out of the backfield in addition to being a terrific returner.

Maybe by September it����ap as simple as rotating those three guys in with Waddle and Sutton depending on game situation. Maybe somebody grabs control of the No. 3 spot. It’ll be one of the best summer battles on the roster.

Can Jonah Elliss make the ILB transition stick?

There’s no substitute for actually playing full speed and, eventually, tackling, so this will be an ongoing process. The staff has confidence, though, that Elliss can play in the middle of the field and he can begin to show signs of that — or plant the seed for question marks — depending on how the next few weeks go.

One player who’s confident Elliss can make the move smoothly: Veteran inside linebacker Alex Singleton, who will be part of the group trying to help get the 2024 third-round pick up to speed.

“It����ap fun. Anytime a guy can learn more, all the better,” Singleton said Friday of welcoming Elliss into the inside linebacker room. “I actually played inside backer with his brother (Christian), too, so I know, kind of, the mindset he’s going to have about it.

Several players this offseason have noted Elliss’ overall talent and concluded that he needs to be on the field some way, somehow. If him moving inside helps create playing time for young edge rushers like Que Robinson, all the better.

The first steps: Learning the responsibilities and communications in the middle of the field. That’ll be Elliss’ challenge this summer before attempting to show he can play regularly inside during training camp.

Is Jahdae Barron headed for a similar role in Year 2?

The personnel in Denver’s loaded secondary has not changed. Pat Surtain II is the premier cornerback in football and has a new, $5 million raise, too. Riley Moss and nickel Ja’Quan McMillian are both valued players and are both entering contract years, too.

So, where does that leave Barron, Denver’s 2025 first-round pick? He played a modest 30% of defensive snaps as a rookie — and less than that outside of the stretch Surtain missed due to injury.

Will he again compete with McMillian for the nickel job in camp? Will he compete for a starting job outside against Moss and Kris Abrams-Draine? Is he perhaps the third option behind starters Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones at safety after P.J. Locke’s departure this spring? All of the above?

Barron’s time is likely coming with McMillian and Moss both in line for big paydays after the 2026 season, but what does the shorter-term future have in store for him?