— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Hey Ed, thanks for writing in and getting us going in a draft-a-palooza version of the Broncos mailbag.

Denver is almost certain to move some of its picks around. Will they go up from No. 62? Back from their fourth-rounders? Vice versa? That, of course, all depends and the most likely outcome is we won’t know until Friday evening as the second round unfolds.

Teams move picks, though, and the Broncos have moved them at a high volume recently under general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton. Last year alone they made their own selection at No. 20 in the first round — through Paton said they considered trading back from there — and then got busy. They didn’t actually pick at any of their original spots from then on and engineered four trades that included a total of 20 draft picks. They went back from 51 to 57 and then to 60. They went up from No. 111 to No. 101 to draft Sai’Vion Jones and in the process also moved back four spots from No. 130.

Generally speaking, it’d be a surprise if Denver wasn’t similarly active this year. Especially with just one pick on Day 2, it would make sense for Paton and Payton to try to move around. That could mean trying to pick up capital by moving back from their first pick at No. 62. They could get into the third round by moving up from No. 108 or No. 111. It could mean some combination of that or something else entirely.

Paton’s reputation is that of a pick collector, while Payton is more gung-ho about trading up. Paton said last week that their styles have melded together well.

A natural inclination going into the draft with seven picks would be wanting to preserve somewhere around that number, but there’s a pretty good argument for being aggressive and moving up. It����ap basically the same they used when explaining their trade for Jaylen Waddle. Essentially: This is a deep roster as is. It����ap not going to be easy to make. If they take six Day 3 players as their current cache lines them up for, are all of them going to be on the 53-man roster?

The counter: Do you have to move up to get the players you really want? Payton talked last week about the “spray” of evaluations across the league and how it widens as the draft progresses. The Broncos traded back twice in the second round last year and got the guy they wanted in Harvey. They won’t be needlessly aggressive, but their roster is in such a place where they can go get a particular player, even without the benefit of a first-round pick.

What are the top three things you have learned about the NFL draft?

— David Brown, Silverthorne

Hey David, thanks for writing in and great question. I’m going to take this as this upcoming draft particularly.

1. Many of the best players and deepest position groups in this draft are at what the league generally considers non-premium spots. This is a great draft for inside linebackers and safeties. It����ap not teeming with top-end tight ends, but there are a boatload of solid options to work through. Similar at running back after the one true blue-chipper in Jeremiyah Love. It����ap another good year for edge rushers and receivers, so those groups will go fast in the first round — and offensive line will, too — but there’s hay to be made at some of those other spots.

2. Related to that point, a team is always better off draft-wise if it����ap armed with a first-round pick or extra capital, but this weekend actually looks like it sets up fairly well for the Broncos. Their needs — call it tight end, linebacker, running back, safety and offensive line — line up well overall with the deeper parts of this draft class. That doesn’t mean there are going to be Week 1 starters sitting there waiting for them on Day 3, of course, but the Broncos should be looking at their board and seeing realistic options at some positions of need despite having traded away their first- and third-rounders.

3. The 2026 draft is already being colored, to some degree, by next year’s proceedings. You saw it in Denver’s willingness to give up multiple picks this year for Waddle while hanging on to all of its 2027 capital. Teams around the league widely view next year’s class as shaping up to be substantially better than this year’s.

“I think everyone feels like next year is going to be a strong draft and I think that����ap based on the quarterbacks and it feels like it����ap going to be a strong quarterback draft,” Paton said. “We definitely look at that when we’re making trades.”

Paton earlier in the offseason said the Broncos pay attention to the fact that they’re in line for a fourth-round comp pick for next year due to John Franklin-Myers’ departure and perhaps a seventh-rounder, too, but that it doesn’t dictate how Denver operates. Expect a similar approach when it comes to deciding whether to part with 2027 draft capital during the 2026 proceedings.

Extra picks can benefit the Broncos next year in a strong class, but it could also benefit them this week.

“We have 10 picks, we think, next year, including the compensatories,” Paton said. “So it gives us more flexibility if we need to use one of those to help ourselves now.”

Do you think the Broncos will make a splash at the draft?

— Roger, Aurora

Hey Roger, guess it depends on what you mean by splash. Two years ago Bo Nix’s selection got all of the attention, and rightfully so. The Saturday trade they swung with the New York Jets for John Franklin-Myers and subsequent two-year, $15 million extension flew much more under the radar, but obviously ended up being quite consequential.

It would probably be bigger news if Denver acquired a veteran player during the draft — especially if that player were at a clear position of need like tight end  — or if they traded a player off their existing roster to acquire more draft capital.

Not saying one or the other is a guarantee, but certainly you can’t count out the possibility of a trade involving an active player one way or the other.

Any chance we move back into the first round? We need a tight end and if Kenyon Sadiq slips, I could see us making some moves to grab him in the late 20s. What say you?

— Tim, Denver

Hey Tim, thanks for writing in. That would be spicy, but it just doesn’t seem feasible without making a dramatic sacrifice either from the existing roster or from the club’s stash of 2027 draft picks. Even then, the math is tough to square. Let����ap use the Jimmy Johnson trade chart as a guide. There are other ways of valuing picks and every team does so slightly differently, but Payton’s draft trades generally follow the Johnson chart.

Denver’s pick at No. 62 is worth 284 points. San Francisco’s pick at No. 27 is worth 680. So even if Sadiq made it that far and the 49ers were willing to deal the pick rather than take him, the gap is 396 points. Denver’s pair of fourth-rounders (Nos. 108 and 111) are worth 150. Not even close, so now you’re talking 2027 capital. Maybe 108, 111 and a 2027 second-rounder gets you there. Given the way teams generally value future year picks and the fact that Denver is likely to be good this fall, the 49ers wouldn’t be out of line asking for No. 62 and next year’s first-rounder. Maybe with a later-round pick this year coming back in return.

That just seems like an awfully steep price, which Paton said himself last week.

“You never say never, but it����ap unlikely,” Paton said about getting to the first round. “It would cost quite a haul for us to get up there. Most of our draft we would have to trade and then something next year.”

Do you think we’ll find our answer at tight end in the draft? Kenyon Sadiq is expected to go in the first round, so I know it’s not him. How about someone like Eli Stowers or someone else who’s under the radar in the middle of the draft?

— Mike, Denver

Hey Mike, it����ap possible. Sadiq will definitely be off the board and Vanderbilt����ap Eli Stowers may well be, too, by the time Denver’s pick rolls around. There will be options, though.

The terrific draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has an interesting clump of tight ends graded right in Denver’s range. His top 150 includes this run: No. 66 Stowers, No. 71 Oscar Delp (Georgia), No. 81 Max Klare (Ohio State), No. 83 Sam Roush (Stanford), No. 84 Marlin Klein (Michigan).

Stowers and Klare are pass-catchers first. Roush and Klein are more accomplished blockers than receivers in college. Delp is tantalizing as an all-around player but never had more than 24 catches in a collegiate season. There are others that could go in the Day 2 range, among them NC State’s Justin Joly. It’ll be fascinating to see if Denver is set on one of them or if they take the view that the group’s depth will present a quality option somewhere along the way.

Parker, what do you think about the Broncos picking up Washington RB Jonah Coleman? He’s got a little shake-and-bake. I’m not sold on RJ Harvey being our back of the future and J.K. Dobbins is a liability with his injury history.

— Mike, Denver

Hey Mike, I like Coleman and my beat partner, Luca Evans, is even higher on him. The 5-foot-8, 220-pounder — Coleman, not Luca — certainly looks like he fits what the Broncos like and what they need in that room. He visited the Broncos last week, too.

Coleman’s not the only option, of course. Does Denver feel the need to use an early pick on a running back after taking Harvey in the second round last year? Or are they looking more for a late-round add or even a post-draft veteran? One of many questions we’ll soon learn the answer to for certain.

I still don’t understand why they let John Franklin-Myers walk in free agency. I think he was a very good defensive end, an important spot next to Zach Allen, and they re-signed everybody else on the defensive line, why not him? Another thing I don’t get, if Adam Trautman is such a good blocker, how come RJ Harvey couldn’t get more than 2 or 3 yards? And if he is in the game instead of Engram, aren’t you telegraphing a running play?

— Anthony, Venice, Fla.

Hey Anthony, thanks for writing in and for the questions.

First question: Franklin-Myers got as much per year from Tennessee as the Broncos gave D.J. Jones and Malcolm Roach combined, so that����ap part of the equation. They could have paid him, but they knew he was going to make a ton of money and they’re planning around having already paid a bunch of other players while knowing that they may well be looking at a massive Bo Nix extension a year from now. Plus, they like their depth on the defensive line. And they get a fourth-round comp pick in next year’s draft. Doesn’t guarantee that letting him go was the right move, of course, but they didn’t wake up one day in early March and say, oh, dang, we can’t pay JFM. It����ap been part of the plan.

Second question: Easy to point at Harvey’s numbers, but if Trautman is such a bad blocker, then how did Dobbins go through 10 weeks as one of the most effective and efficient rushers in football?

And last: Yeah, that����ap got to be part of Denver’s calculus as it goes through the offseason and puts together its plan in Davis Webb’s first year as the team’s primary playcaller. They have to find ways to play one, the other or both TEs without being too predictable.

Hey Parker, I’ve been hearing rumors about the Broncos being in the mix to sign De’Von Achane. How serious are these talks and do we have the money to sign him?

— Raj P., Centennial

Hey Raj, thanks for writing in. Achane sure is fun, but reporting out of Miami recently is that he showed up for their offseason program in part because extension talks have progressed. Seems like he’s going to be staying in Miami a while.

Who’s making the biggest jump in 2026? My money’s on Jonah Elliss. I think he’s due for a breakout year.

— Adam Miller, Fort Collins

Hey Adam, thanks for writing in and interesting question. If Elliss broke out while making the switch to inside linebacker, that would have present-day and future ramifications for the Broncos. They’d undoubtedly welcome that.

With the caveat that it����ap very early, I’ll put some early breakout chips in for the guy who currently stands to benefit the most from Elliss’ move inside: Second-year outside linebacker Que Robinson. Paton said after the season that Robinson has as much upside as anybody Denver drafted last year. That combined with the flashes on the field are enough to pique substantial interest.

What are the odds that we would bring back some Broncos favorites in Justin Simmons and Von Miller that are available in free agency?  We are very deep at outside edge, so probably a harder sell for Von.  Safety seems to be a point of some need.  Is the price just too high for both of them?

— Michael Horn, Westminster

Hey Michael, thanks for writing. I guess you never say never never, but neither seems at all likely at this point. Miller, of course, would be a tremendous story, but if the Broncos end up adding a veteran edge rusher after the draft I wonder if longtime New Orleans star Cam Jordan is a more likely option.

Peyton Manning is more organized than Kim Kardashian’s closet. His life operates on routines, consistency. Complete the task. Move on.

So after several weeks of rehabbing a plantar fasciitis foot injury that season, throwing to Jordan “Sunshine” Taylor in the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse, Manning was ready to return.

Feeling like he was being spied on, Manning delivered a message to coach Gary Kubiak.

“When you are hurt, you feel left out. Like the kid that doesn’t get to go on the playground. I felt like I was throwing the ball well,” Manning said. “I wanted to see if someone was really watching.”

Turns out, Kubiak was indeed checking on the former MVP. What he saw surprised him. And more than a decade later, it still does.

“The first video I saw, it only had one barrel (flipping him off),” Kubiak said with a laugh. “I knew he was mad. Really he was saying, ‘Hey, dumb (bleep), are you going to put me in?’^”

Wednesday night provided a reminder of how it turned out when Manning returned to the lineup. Joined by five teammates and Kubiak, the 2015 Broncos celebrated the Night of Champions at the Paramount Theatre.

The bulk of the team came together last fall for a 10-year reunion and the induction of the late Demaryius Thomas into the Ring of Fame.

But this was different, more personal, more laughs, showing why Manning decided to hold live events honoring the 2006 Colts, 1989 San Francisco 49ers and Pat Summitt����ap legacy at the University of Tennessee.

“It was special (in October), but we didn’t have the MVP of the team there, Von Miller, because he is still out there playing. So we felt like it was missing something,” Manning said. “This was a chance for the fans to go behind the ropes. When you have a team honored in a stadium it is not the most intimate. This event was all about the fans.”

Based on the reaction of the orange bleached crowd, it is clear Manning read the room like he did defenses for 18 seasons. Manning received a standing ovation. And the roar that greeted Von Miller pierced ears down the 16th Street Mall.

There is a common refrain about seasons that end in rings. The players, it is said, walk together forever as champions.

But the fans become part of the connective tissue as well.

“Why come here? Why wouldn’t I? This was such a special team. This gives us a chance to hear the stories and relive it,” said Leroy Garcia from Colorado Springs, before posing with a replica of the Super Bowl 50 trophy. “There was no way I was going to miss this.”

Manning brought together a cross-section of players whose stories highlighted the special talent and personalities on the Super Bowl 50 team. DeMarcus Ware and Manning are football immortals, enshrined in the Hall of Fame. If Miller ever retires, he will join them.

Star power was required, but unselfishness defined the locker room. Kubiak spoke of the importance of everybody contributing, of playing for the person next to you in the locker room.

The Broncos knew during minicamp that something different was percolating. The offensive had weapons and the defense boasted two fang-bearing edge rushers and a No Fly Zone secondary that humbled All-Pros, MVPs and journeymen without remorse.

“I remember when I joined the team, I thought I was going to be The Man. Then we went through a walk-through and I was like, ‘(Bleep) I am not going to be The Man,’^” Talib said. “We didn’t have one hole. Not one.”

The Broncos opened the season with seven straight wins. The confidence was tangible. Denver believed they could beat anyone because of a defense that closed better than the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera.

“Legendary. The D-line, they had their own special relationship. Our linebackers (Danny Trevathan and Brandon Marshall) were two of the best in the league, straight ballers. And obviously we knew as a secondary we were always going to do what we needed to,” Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward said. “When you perform the way we did, that’s how you become legendary.”

The way sports operate, however, titles are required to bring people together years later. Greatness is measured in championships.

Miller and Ware wrote a diary of havoc in the postseason. And the offense did just enough, squeaking past the Steelers and Patriots. The New England game remains the loudest the new stadium has ever been. The victory required noise and faith.

“I played for (defensive coordinator) Wade Phillips for like 10 years. And he dedicated one game every season to his dad (Bum Phillips). We won all of them,” said Ware. “I am tearing up thinking about it. We couldn’t let him down.”

As the confetti fell, the gravity of what was ahead took shape. Owner Pat Bowlen wanted a third Super Bowl crown. The players wanted one for Ware, who was ringless, and Manning, who was expected to retire. And, they did not know it then, they needed it as a touchstone memory to honor Thomas.

“If there was a Hall of Fame for teammates, he would be in it,” Miller said. “When I had my first child, he was the first person I called and Face-timed. He was one of one.”

The Broncos thrashed the Carolina Panthers, turning regular season MVP Cam Newton into a Fig Newton. That game is remembered in photos of the defense pouncing, taunting, finger-wagging. All of the swag came together in one night.

It took a coach with patience, who was honest and stern. It required role players willing to sacrifice. And it demanded stars meet the moment, no matter how bright the glare and long the odds.

As the calendar has flipped, as the years have passed, the narrative of those Broncos has changed, filling in the gaps. They were characters. But they won because of character.

“Everybody that wins a Super Bowl, they all say it was a unique team. But I am telling you that the word team could not be more personified than with that Super Bowl 50 group,” Manning said. “Everybody had a job. Everybody was completely unselfish. We never argued. It was really special.”

On April 22, the Night of Champions series comes to Denver featuring the Broncos’ 2015 Super Bowl 50 team at the historic Paramount Theatre.

Hosted by Omaha Productions, the event will include Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware, future Canton inductee Von Miller, former Pro Bowl receiver Emmanuel Sanders and the soundtrack of the No Fly Zone, cornerback Aqib Talib and .

Coach Gary Kubiak will join the players for what is likely to be a raucous discussion moderated by CBS NFL sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. The event is designed to give fans all-access insight into the Broncos’ third and most recent Super Bowl title season, which culminated with a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium.

Tickets can be purchased at beginning at 10 a.m. on March 31.

Kubiak and the aforementioned players gathered with their coaches and teammates last October when the Broncos unveiled Demaryius Thomas’ Ring of Fame bust and celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Super Bowl 50 team and Thomas at halftime of the New York Giants game.

Anyone who is familiar with Manning’s humor and Talib’s candor knows the April stroll down memory lane will be entertaining.

From the ESPN “Manningcast” with brother Eli to launching Omaha Productions, Manning has become a media mogul.

Night of Champions is his latest idea, launched last February when he brought together the 2006 Indianapolis Colts championship team. The most recent event honored the 1989 San Francisco 49ers during Super Bowl week.

The Colorado Avalanche staged something similar last December at the Paramount, reuniting players for the 30th anniversary of the organization’s first championship in Denver.

They won 15 games. They reached the AFC Championship in their second-straight playoff appearance. And their roster cements them as an annual contender, faster than anyone thought possible.

Which makes it obvious which big move should happen next.

Give general manager George Paton a contract extension.

You haven’t always liked him. You still might not like him. And if you bought a Russell Wilson jersey, you may never like him.

Too bad. He’s really good.

And, it is time for co-owner and CEO Greg Penner to reward him.

“It is overdue,” coach Sean Payton explained Tuesday. “It will get done.”

Paton is set to enter the last season of a six-year contract. Are the Broncos really going to let the man who drafted the Oregon Duck quarterback enter 2026 as a lame duck?

Penner is too smart for this. The parties have talked. There is no concern that it won’t get worked out. And it should. For several reasons.

Though he is not looking for credit, a new deal validates the vision Penner had for Paton. The GM has evolved, improved from the owner challenging him.

When people ask what’s the rush or are curious why Paton is in line for another payday, they bring up Nathaniel Hackett and Wilson. Paton hired the failed coach, acquired the failed quarterback and ultimately paid Wilson $121 million for two seasons.

He got it so wrong we all assumed — myself included — that Paton would be fired after the Walton-Penner group no longer needed his expertise to navigate a coaching search. Or that Payton would bring in somebody he knew from New Orleans.

Instead, Penner gave Paton a second chance, exercised patience, creating a triangle of leadership. Paton and Payton report to him and have flourished working together.

They watch more film together than Siskel and Ebert. Paton creates equilibrium. He is measured. Payton, especially on game day or when forced to listen to jazz music in San Jose, is nuclear.

The partnership is “very complementary,” as Penner put it. And there’s more depth to Paton that most realize. Under Penner, he has become better at the manager part of his role. He holds people accountable, and not surprisingly, it has helped the Broncos rebound.

Don’t believe it?

These numbers should change your mind. Over the past five years, Paton has secured second contracts with five players he drafted: All-Pros Pat Surtain, Quinn Meinerz and Nik Bonitto and starters Jonathon Cooper and Luke Wattenberg. Bo Nix is on track to become the sixth after next season.

John Elway signed three players to contract extensions in the previous 10 years — Von Miller, Derek Wolfe and Garett Bolles. A fourth, Courtland Sutton, agreed to a new deal under Paton in 2021.

Paton has found his groove, a point driven home when wandering through the Indiana Convention Center, where so much talk focuses on misses, whiffs and busts.

That is why Elway hired him. Paton had a track record for acing the draft and keeping homegrown prospects in the fold.

There is no question that Penner appreciates what Paton has done. He admitted as much when I asked him a few weeks ago, saying, “We’d love to have both (Paton and Payton) here long-term.”

Penner trusts Payton. They can have open, honest conversations.

So why make him wait any longer?

Finding a date to talk with Paton’s representative, who has been busy with coaching contracts, appears to be the biggest obstacle. That is a wrinkle that is easily ironed out.

In a sport where continuity and stability pay dividends, Paton shifted perceptions this season.

The Broncos won their first division title and playoff game in a decade. That does not happen without a balanced roster, one that produced victories even when Surtain and starting running back J.K. Dobbins were sidelined.

Seriously, how many teams are deeper than the Broncos right now?

It is a testament to Paton that his process withstood failure. With ownership in flux and feuding under the Bowlen family, Paton took his shot with Hackett and Wilson. He missed. And admits it.

But instead of waiting for a pink slip, he rolled up his sleeves. While critics believe Payton runs the draft, that thinking misses clear facts. Like the 2021 class.

This group has helped form the foundation of this team. And with Payton clear on what he wants from players as competitors and learners, Paton has become even better at identifying fits.

This is not just a football story. In a transactional business, Paton excels at relationships.

It is not just how he does his job, but who he is. He holds people accountable, but treats them well. His confidence has been built over decades of hard work. During his first combines, he ran errands and kept the suite stocked with snacks.

He has never lost his love for the game or forgotten his roots. He treats people the way he wants to be treated. It inspires fierce loyalty and helps those around him reach their potential.

You don’t think relationships matter? Paton has signed 11 players to contract extensions since July 2024 for nearly half a billion dollars. Money is always the driving force, but so is the faith that players and agents have when Paton gives them his word.

Not surprisingly, he received an ‘A’ grade from the NFLPA players survey released Thursday.

The Broncos are back for a number of reasons. Most have become obvious during games with the man on the headset and the improved talent on the field.

Whatever the terms of his contract, Paton has certainly outperformed them.

It is time, past time, for a new one.

Sean Keeler: It goes without saying that Bonitto has to be great. It also goes without saying that he can be great — the Broncos don’t beat Buffalo without him forcing Josh Allen into two fumbles. The problem? Those turnovers only turned into six Denver points, via two field goals. Which is where Steady Stiddy comes in. I don’t know if Stidham has “great” in his gear box. He just can’t be terrible, or shrink on the stage. Let the defense bring it home. What was Peyton Manning’s stat line in the 2015-16 AFC championship? Seventeen completions on 32 pass attempts for 176 yards through the air — and one massive 12-yard run. Zero interceptions. One fumble lost. The Broncos need that. They need almost exactly that.

Renck: This season is starting to feel like a movie I have seen before. Ten years ago. Patriots at Broncos. AFC championship. Questions about Denver’s quarterback — yes, there were doubts about Peyton Manning — and the nastiness of the Broncos’ defense. Time to run it back. The path for Stidham must be a short one, created by turnovers caused by a menacing pass rush. In the Nik of time, Bonitto is playing his best football. Even when he went into a sack drought during the final quarter of the season, his pressure metrics and pass-rush wins remained steady. Against the Bills, he brought back memories of the Orange Rush. Bonitto is capable of playing like Von Miller, circa 2015. A strip sack or a quarterback hit that leads to a pick-six is very realistic.

Keeler: You know what Stiddy’s got to be great at on Sunday? Getting out of the way. There’s a path with Jarrett. There is. It’s narrow. You’ve gotta squint to see it. But it’s there. Mostly, it’s about accepting your limitations without being handcuffed by them. Losing Nix means losing those legs that can create time and move the chains if Plan A/B/C blows up. Great QBs in this league are measured by their ability to make something out of nothing — think Caleb Williams’ ridiculous back-foot touchdown throw against the Rams late Sunday night, or Those two tosses aren’t in Stiddy’s toolbox. Which means you have to be air-tight when it comes to the basics. No sloppy turnovers. No brain-cramps. In Frank Reich’s two postseason wins as Jim Kelly’s understudy, he threw for six touchdowns with just one pick. If Stiddy’s half that sharp, the Broncos have a chance.

Renck: There are nuances to my take. Most notably, Stidham must protect the ball, but not turtle. He can keep the sticks moving with RPOs — he is more mobile than people think — that will open up play action strikes to Marvin Mims Jr. or Courtland Sutton. This will be a close game, especially if J.K. Dobbins returns. Without Nix to go into a phone booth and find a cape in the fourth quarter, it will be on the defense to win it. The group was not great against the Bills, but five takeaways camouflaged the blemishes. Tom Brady played some of his worst games in Denver because of the noise and altitude. Denver must follow this blueprint by hitting Drake Maye early and often. Bonitto causing havoc, getting sacks, or even taking on double-teams that clear the way for Zach Allen is required for the Broncos to return to Santa Clara.

Keeler: If there’s anybody I’d want coaching with a backup QB in a “money” game, it’s Sean Payton. That’s where all that mad-scientist tinkering works to your advantage. Just ask Taysom Hill. Or Trevor Siemian. Or Teddy Bridgewater. If the defense does what it’s done all season, Stidham doesn’t have to worry about being a “game manager.” He just needs to manage to not screw this moment up.

One last time.

Just to be sure.

All the way back in Week 1, Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward, scrambled and scarred after making his NFL debut against a buzzing Denver defense, still had a chance.

Not much of one, but the Titans had the ball, fourth-and-10 in their own territory with 47 seconds left and trailing 20-12.

They needed the end zone.

They weren’t getting close.

Denver nickel Ja’Quan McMillian came roaring off the defense’s left edge, the free runner in a six-man pressure.

He blasted Ward and knocked the ball loose. Broncos rookie Jahdae Barron dove and recovered the ball.

Ballgame.

Denver’s defense put forth a powerful start to the season. Not only in badgering a quarterback making his first start or in holding Tennessee without a touchdown. Not just in surrendering just 133 yards and seven first downs.

That late fumble recovery was Denver’s second of the day — its safety pair of Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones teamed up to force and recover one, respectively, in the first half.

A defense as disruptive as the Broncos figured to be and one that takes the ball away, too? That set up a scary proposition.

Except then a strange thing happened. The turnovers dried up. The group has smacked around quarterbacks, tackled well and dominated most key areas but hasn’t taken the ball away like an elite defense.

Now the playoffs are just about here and head coach Sean Payton is doing his version of sounding an alarm bell.

He spent Monday’s team meeting talking not about the club’s first AFC West title in a decade but about the fact that only one team in 25 years has won a Super Bowl with a negative turnover differential in the postseason.

“So that����ap something we have to improve on,” he said.

It was a message to Denver’s defense in particular, though turnover differential involves offenses, too.

The question: At what cost? What Denver’s done defensively so far this season has worked. Payton essentially said it won’t in the playoffs. So what now?

A dry well

To Hufanga, the great takeaway question has a simple answer.

Why does such a good defense not take the ball away? And how can it start doing so at this late juncture of the season?

“I’ve got to catch the ball,” the 25-year-old playing his first season in Denver said. “Once I catch the ball, it����ap going to start raining. Because I’ve dropped a lot this year.”

Hufanga’s not wrong about that.

There are at least six instances this season in which the standout safety has had his hands on the ball. He’s still stuck at zero interceptions.

In the third quarter Week 5 against Philadelphia, he came free on a blitz, batted a Jalen Hurts pass into the air and then had it on his fingertips. It looked like a walk-in touchdown. Instead, incomplete.

Against Houston, he first undercut a throw in the flat to running back Woody Marks. Then he ranged over the top of a deep ball to Nico Collins. Both times in great position. Nada.

Against the New York Giants, either he or Brandon Jones could have ended the game with 1:01 remaining and spared that wild ending when a Jaxson Dart deep ball fluttered for Beaux Collins. Instead, they collided, Jones was hurt and the ball hit the turf.

Hufanga is not the only Broncos defender who has dropped chances at interceptions — Barron and inside linebacker Alex Singleton both have and others, like defensive lineman Zach Allen, have come close, too.

His point is a fine one, though. Denver’s missed its share of chances. Maybe more.

There are also structural explanations. The Broncos play more man coverage than anybody in football by most measures and sometimes that can result in fewer chances at interceptions. There may be fewer overlap players coming to help in coverage and there are fewer players patrolling zones, letting the quarterback lead them to the football.

Payton, for example, brought up Jacksonville’s propensity for intercepting the ball last month before the teams played and said, “I’m not going to say they’ve played (no) man-to-man, but there are a lot of snaps where seven (sets of) eyes are on the quarterback in their zone coverage.”

A year ago Denver tied for eighth in interceptions (15) and in 2023, Payton and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s first year here, the Broncos tied for 18th (11).

All of those are logical pieces to the puzzle.

The confounding part: Denver’s disappeared fumble production.

That fumble Barron recovered in the final minute of the Broncos’ season opener is the last one the defense captured. Over 15 full games since, including 12 wins, Joseph’s group has forced a paltry four fumbles and recovered none of them.

It is particularly strange because a frequent source of fumbles is when quarterbacks get hit and the Broncos hit quarterbacks more than anybody in football.

They’ve re-set last year’s franchise record with 64 sacks and have 156 quarterback hits.

Payton on Monday cut off a question about declining sack production and said, “We’re not focused on the sack numbers. Those can actually be numbers that help a quarterback climb up in the pocket. A lot of it maybe has to do with who we’ve been playing relative to the quarterback position, but I’m not interested in the sack numbers.”

Payton, though, is clearly interested in turnovers and this defense should be a reliable producer of them. It just hasn’t been.

“The sack record, obviously that����ap not what Coach Payton wants to talk about, but that����ap just a fact that we’re getting to the quarterback,” inside linebacker Justin Strnad told The Post. “Usually there’s strip sacks and things. It����ap on us to just make it’s more of a point of emphasis and put more into it when we’re out there.”

In 64 sacks, the ball has come out just twice — the Week 1 Barron recovery and a Nik Bonitto strip sack Week 13 vs. Washington that the Commanders recovered.

The Broncos’ unselfish play style may actually factor into the equation some. They are disciplined and they crush pockets down from the front. One of Payton’s most frequent adages is that the worst place to be on the field is behind the quarterback.

“You’re boxing the quarterback in and making him throw from the pocket,” Joseph explained Thursday. “And obviously if you’re rushing with four, the coverage should be pretty good. You make him hold it and you sack him that way.”

That also means fewer fly-by sacks and fewer times where an edge rusher like Nik Bonitto flirts with being too far up the field but ends up bending enough to get to the quarterback’s elbow or hand has he prepares to throw.

Still, with the number of times Denver has hit and sacked quarterbacks, two fumbles forced and one recovered is difficult to square.

The anomaly

Four years ago, the Los Angeles Rams went minus-2 in the turnover battle through four postseason games, then hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

They are, as Payton pointed out, the only team since 2000 to post a negative turnover differential in the postseason and win the Super Bowl.

“The rest add up to some crazy number,” Payton said.

Indeed, the other 24 champions in that span have gone a combined plus-119, an average of plus-5 per playoff run. Last year the Eagles rumbled to plus-12, the widest margin of the century to date. Interestingly, five of the seven teams before the Eagles went either plus-1 or even, the only five instances of that narrow a margin since 2000.

The 2015 Broncos? They went plus-4 and won the turnover battle in all three postseason games. That team and the current one already have much in common and here’s another: Von Miller, Peyton Manning and company went minus-4 in the regular season before turning it around in the playoffs.

Payton’s 2009 Saints? They went plus-7 and also won the turnover battle each of their three games. That group forced 39 turnovers in the regular season, second-most in football and more than triple this year’s Broncos.

Sean McVay’s 2021 Rams are the anomaly.

How did they do it?

First, they won the turnover battle in the Wild Card round and were even in the NFC title game.

In the divisional round, they turned the ball over four times and blew a 27-3 lead before sneaking out a 30-27, walk-off win against Tampa Bay.

The Super Bowl might mark the most promising note for Denver given its output this year. The Rams turned the ball over twice and didn’t take it from Cincinnati, but they sacked Joe Burrow seven times, including the championship clincher from Aaron Donald. They held the Bengals to 3 of 14 on third down and 1 of 3 in the red zone.

Those are 2025 Broncos-type numbers.

It can be done. For a game and for a postseason. It����ap just not easy.

“We’ve been really good at everything else, so it����ap just taking that next step to where we want to go,” Singleton said.

Need for change?

Turnover differential, of course, is a two-way street. It����ap about takeaways and also committing turnovers.

The focus for this Broncos team lands on Joseph’s shoulders because the offense, while it hasn’t lit the world on fire, also does not have a turnover problem. They’re not elite in the department, but only 11 teams have fewer giveaways on the season.

That led Payton this week to put the pressure on Denver’s defense to find more takeaways.

Which leads to an interesting question.

The Broncos’ defense has been really good across the board and elite in several categories. Should the group change its approach, play higher-risk ball or try to remake its identity on the fly in January in pursuit of turnovers?

Joseph had a clear answer to that.

“Playing defense in general, you have to be in good positions, right? And you have to win the critical downs,” he said. “That starts with stopping the run, winning third downs and red zone. I think we’re doing that. The turnovers haven’t come. We have to coach that better, obviously, and strain more to create more turnovers. I want more. We need more turnovers. But we have to focus on playing the right way. That����ap the first thing.

“Obviously, if you’re in a good position, and you’re playing fast and attacking elbows as pass rushers, you can create more turnovers. I think we will create more turnovers.”

So, no. The Broncos are not going to change.

“How we play is aggressive,” Joseph said. “How we play is with good leverage and gap control and it����ap worked. I’m not going to chase turnovers. I want guys tackling. I want guys in great leverage. I want guys doing their job the right way.

“I think it����ap a fine line between chasing that and not playing good football. When you win third downs, that����ap a turnover. We’re second in third downs. We’re second in red zone.

“For me, that����ap the critical parts of football and playing defense.”

Strnad thinks Denver’s defense can keep playing by its rules and to its standards and end up with the ball more frequently. Turnovers come in bunches, the saying goes. He figures they’re going to for the Broncos, too. They have to, right?

“You’re only going to continue to play better and better teams and at that point it can come down to getting one stop, getting one turnover that can change the game,” he said. “We’ve definitely got to be able to force more turnovers. … I think we’re going to get some.”

2025 NFL turnover differential

2015 Broncos

2009 Saints

But they yell out of anger as much as joy. Not since Will Byers disappeared from Hawkins, Ind., in the 1980s have we witnessed such “Stranger Things.” The Broncos boast a 13-3 record, but ����apountry cannot decide whether to embrace or endure them.

It is the optics. A team with this record should be pretty. And instead the Broncos spray graffiti, vapors of paint speckling the air and tags left everywhere.

After the latest ugly victory, one that has the newly-crowned AFC West champion Broncos positioned to secure the conference’s top seed with a win against the Chargers, it was time to get insight from the last Denver team to achieve this goal.

Remember the 2015 Broncos? How could you forget? They won the franchise’s third Super Bowl, and its last playoff game.

As the Broncos aim to return to Santa Clara for Super Bowl 60, coming full circle, players from a decade ago have a simple message: Relax. Feel good. Enjoy.

The 2025 Broncos win in ways that are difficult to explain, but the results cannot be dismissed, especially after the franchise wandered in the darkness from 2016 to 2023.

Even after Denver let the JV Chiefs linger on Christmas, suggesting the Broncos’ resume does not match their statistics, the 2015 Broncos responded with belief when posed with this question: Do you have more hope of a strong finish or anxiety because every game is close?

“I am not concerned at all,” former running back C.J. Anderson said. “They are frustrating and fun to watch. Go back and look at Kansas City last year and all the games they had like this. The NFL always has close ones. I bet the Denver media was writing the same thing about us. But we kept winning.”

As someone who covered the team 10 years ago, it is true. There were doubts about an offense that went 17 drives without a touchdown at one point under coach Gary Kubiak, about why the Broncos struggled to beat the Browns, Bengals and Bears.

In this way, the teams mirror each other since the Broncos have slithered away with victories against the hapless Jets, Giants, Raiders and depleted Chiefs.

Former star defensive end Malik Jackson sees a similar ending.

“It doesn’t matter how many points you win by,” Jackson said. “I think they are building the grit of a team that finds a way to win. So it’s a Super Bowl run for me.”

And yet, the Broncos sure give off 2022 Minnesota Vikings vibes, don’t they? That team went 13-4 and got upset in the first round of the playoffs. Would anyone be surprised if that happened to Denver?

The alums, who, thank God, are not jealous and protective of their legacy like so many former champions, are not buying it.

“They are giving me more hope, especially after last week’s loss and this week’s win. The loss to the Jaguars was actually relieving to me because I wanted us to get the kinks out before the playoffs,” said former Broncos defensive back and special teams stalwart Omar Bolden. “I see us as the favorites to come out of the AFC — 100 %!”

So does former All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris Jr. — with a caveat. He remains connected to the sport through coaching kids and doing a weekly podcast. He likes what he sees, but needs to see more this weekend.

“Oh yeah, they got a chance to (reach the Super Bowl) if we get homefield,” Harris said.

This does not mean these Broncos view the current team as flawless. Not even close. The 2015 group had better skill players on offense — Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and Anderson — and two, to possibly three Hall of Famers on the other side of the ball (DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, Aqib Talib). The defense produced 27 takeaways and returned four interceptions and one fumble for a touchdown in the regular season. The current Broncos rank 28th in takeaways with 12, and have zero defensive touchdowns.

The reality is that this year’s team is a lot younger when comparing the receiving corps, the secondary and Bo Nix to Peyton Manning.

“That 2015 season will always be special. And this team they have now will be special, too,” Miller said. “Nik Bonitto with his get off (on the snap). Jonathon Cooper bullies guys with his strength. And Zach Allen makes everything go. He is like Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson mixed together. And that offensive line is better than the line we had in 2015. We had some guys I loved, but come on? We were glued together.”

Ryan Harris, part of that line, remains bullish on the current Broncos. But he also knows history favors the team that stays grounded, as in trusting its running attack.

“I have no concerns about the players. They have fought in every game,” Harris said. “The concern grows when you have 12-to-17 rushing attempts. The KC game had a bit more called (32). That number has to stay between 22-to-30, especially with this great offensive line.”

Those Broncos speak from accomplishment. This current team hasn’t technically done anything yet, unless you consider winning 11 one-score games and demonstrating a clutch gene an achievement.

“We were not blowing out anyone either. There were a lot of close ones,” Anderson said. “I know everyone is making a big deal about how they are winning. But we were the same, and we found a way. They can, too.”

Star pass-rusher Nik Bonitto nodded Sunday night, tugging on a shirt in the Broncos’ locker room after another win and another step toward history.

“We’re trying to get that balance of getting there, and — being able to be smart at the same time,” Bonitto told The Denver Post. “So, I mean, we know the goal. And we keep rushing the right way, we’ll do it.”

Forty-one years ago, when the Chicago Bears went to Detroit in the final game of the 1984 regular season and put the Lions’ Eric Hipple and John Witkowski on their backsides 12 times, defensive end Simon Fletcher was a 22-year-old soon-to-be draftee of the Denver Broncos. He saw Chicago finish with 72 sacks as a team, just a couple years after the NFL started counting them as an official stat. Fletcher saw Denver’s roster, with All-Pros Karl Mecklenburg and Rulon Jones, and figured: We can do it, too.

“We were having fun playing football,” Fletcher recalled, “and so we thought — anything was possible.”

Fletcher played 11 seasons and set the Broncos’ all-time mark for sacks (eventually surpassed by Von Miller), and was a part of multiple AFC championship pass-rush units. He always had Chicago’s record in the back of his mind. But Fletcher’s Broncos never got there. Nor has anyone for four decades, those Ditka-era Bears authoring one of the NFL’s all-time marks.

Forty-one years later, though, a different group in Denver is now clawing after it. After three second-half sacks in a 34-26 win over the Packers last week, this 2025 Broncos defense sits at 58 sacks through 14 games. They need 15 in their next three for history. The . The . The now-63-year-old Fletcher is watching them.

This Broncos group feels it. As the takedowns stacked up into November, defensive end John Franklin-Myers reflected, Denver’s pass-rushers focused so much on that ’84 Bears number that they actually began chasing it for a game or two. Too much. They averaged 4.5 sacks in their first 11 games; just 3.0 in their last three.

“Half the time, it����ap not so much in the building,” Franklin-Myers told The Denver Post on Thursday. “It����ap everybody else. We don’t talk as much about that sack record as — every time you hop on this social media, somebody’s talking about it. And naturally, it����ap, ‘Oh, man, we’re that close. Anything I can do.'”

What they can do — as defensive-line coach Jamar Cain reminded his group in a Thursday positional meeting — is what they did to get here. Bonitto, Franklin-Myers, Jonathon Cooper, Zach Allen and the rest of the room have spent two years together in a Vance Joseph scheme that demands they feed off one another. This group is predicated on that concept of “rushing the right way,” as Bonitto said. Each has their lane to fill. At their best, they squeeze pockets from enough angles to pop opposing quarterbacks right into someone’s waiting arms.

“It����ap like they’re rushing on a string,” said Nate O’Neal, a longtime NFL pass-rush development specialist who works with Cooper. “Everyone’s supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there.

“They’re rushing four men as one man. And it����ap eating people alive.”

Do the work. Don’t focus on the record.

“If we rush together and don’t worry about the record, it����ap gonna come,” Cain repeated Thursday.

“It����ap gonna come.”

In mid-October, as the Broncos’ sack artists were painting their first strokes, head coach Sean Payton brought in Hall of Fame pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware to speak to the team. Ware watched practice and saw flickers of aggressiveness that reminded him of another great pass-rush in Denver: his 2015 Super Bowl champions.

Ware saw more reminders of that group, too, in how tight-knit this room was.

“I was like, ‘So, how are you guys gonna get pressure?'” Ware recalled in October. “And they were like — ‘All of us are gonna get pressure, bro! We’re all making plays.’ And I wanted to hear that.”

This Broncos season is the perfect confluence of team construction and individual development. The 25-year-old Bonitto, who’s on pace for a career high in sacks after an All-Pro nod last year, has learned how to get jumps on offensive linemen like few rushers across the league. Cooper, whose own production has slowed after a torrid start, has combined power with newfound speed. And Allen, who has become the second defensive lineman in NFL history to record 40 QB hits in back-to-back years, is continuing to find new ways to attack on the interior next to Franklin-Myers.

A year and a half ago, Cain sat down to watch Franklin-Myers’ tape as the Broncos were mulling trading for the defensive end from the New York Jets. He saw an interior defensive lineman who could play in any alignment. And play off Allen. And break down the entire side of an offensive line next to Cooper.

“Bringing him,” starting nose tackle D.J. Jones said of Franklin-Myers in July, “was the last piece of the puzzle.”

O’Neal has studied plenty of tape of this Bronco rush. And O’Neal, who spent last year as the defensive line coach of the CFL’s Edmonton Elks, respects Joseph’s scheme — “so much.” Each member of this pass-rush quadrant has their role to play, as O’Neal listed in a conversation with The Post. Cooper shrinks the width of the pocket with power off one edge. Bonitto turns the corner on the opposite edge. Allen, Franklin-Myers, Jones and key defensive tackle Malcolm Roach work to collapse the pocket vertically.

“You’re pushing the depth, you’re pressing the width, and you’re literally taking those five offensive linemen and folding them around the quarterback,” O’Neal said.

This scheme often functions to “cage the quarterback,” as Joseph described after an October win over the Eagles. The Broncos have played an endless stream of mobile QBs this season, from Hurts to the Jets’ Justin Fields to the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, and allowed just 198 rushing yards in 14 games this season to opposing signal-callers.

Their most porous game of the year? Washington in Week 13, when backup QB Marcus Mariota scrambled for 55 yards on 10 carries as these Broncos too often abandoned their rush lanes. That Bears mark was weighing, coming off a bye.

“It was just kinda on the forefront of our minds,” Franklin-Myers reflected.

Creation of a ringleader

Growing up in Florida, a young Bonitto didn’t much like football.

“It wasn’t something he loved,” said trainer Javon Gopie, a fellow Florida product who’s watched Bonitto since youth ball. “But he loved to compete.”

Some decade and a monster contract extension later, Bonitto is the ringleader of an outside-linebacker group in Denver that verbally accost each other inside the locker room (mostly just Bonitto and Cooper, and mostly in jest) and compete in most every rep inside the facility. During Thursday’s practice, as Bonitto lined up for get-off drills alongside Cooper and reserve Jonah Elliss , Bonitto chided Ellis to not jump early: Can you back up? Can you back up?

They took off on OLBs coach Isaac Shewmaker’s hard count, and quality-control coach Brian Neidermeyer declared Elliss the victor. Elliss yelled. Bonitto jumped around the turf in semi-mock frustration. Some version of this happens every Thursday.

“If I give him a time, if I give him a weight, if I give him any type of objective number,” Bonitto’s offseason trainer Rich Pruett said in the fall, “then he wants to be No. 1.”

Early in each game week, Gopie pores through film of upcoming opponents and hops on a FaceTime with Bonitto to discuss his matchup’s tendencies from recent weeks. How does he set? How many kick-steps does he take before punching his arms out? Does he punch with two hands? Together, they create a pass-rush plan.

They’ve been doing it since Bonitto arrived in Denver in 2022, then a raw second-round rookie. The difference from then until now, Gopie believes, is sheer confidence. One has to be mentally tough enough to lose as a pass-rusher for 17 straight reps and still “go out and hunt,” Gopie preaches, on the 18th.

Bonitto hunts, now. He takes his risks. His calling card will always be his first step; he has ascended to the NFL’s elite by sharpening that first step with preparation. Bonitto told The Post in September he’s been studying tape of opposing quarterbacks’ cadences to get a better jump, and Gopie now sees him anticipating the play-clock, breaking off the line as the seconds tick down.

In the second quarter in Week 4 against Cincinnati, Bonitto glanced up — presumably at the scoreboard — as the play-clock hit single-digits. He bent and flew forward on the very twitch of the snap, an elastic band yanked to its limit and then released. Bengals tackle Orlando Brown Jr. didn’t even have time to get a single slide-step down before Bonitto already had two steps towards Cincinnati quarterback Jake Browning.

One problem: Cooper was already at the scene of the crime when Bonitto arrived.

“I see ol’ Coop coming from the other side … I was like, ‘Aw, damn,'” Bonitto joked after the game, on a split-sack for both.

Cooper improved his own jumps off the ball with reaction-time work in the summer. He and Bonitto’s ability to capitalize one-on-one matchups is the single most important factor on the march towards the Bears. And yet they still pick their spots.

In mid-November, Joseph that Bonitto could have “double the sacks” if he was allowed to simply try to beat his man every play. Instead, he and Cooper often create shared opportunity for Denver’s entire defensive line by containing quarterbacks from escaping around the edge.

“We probably have the best connection, I feel like,” Bonitto said in early October, “in the league.”

Interior telepathy

When Franklin-Myers was seven years old, his grandfather, Billy Ray Myers, adopted him out of foster care in California, and instilled in him one foundational lesson before he died.

If you’re going to do something, you’re not going to quit.

“I wasn’t born with a quit button,” Franklin-Myers told The Post in September. So, win, lose, draw, I’m ready for a war.”

Across eight years in the NFL, the 29-year-old Franklin-Myers has been cut by the Rams the year after playing in the Super Bowl, and traded by the Jets after three years as a starter, and now may be left hanging again by the Broncos. He wants sacks. Sacks mean millions on the open market.

He has only five, in 14 games. He hasn’t chased them. Chasing them throws the operation in jeopardy, and he would not quit on the operation. He has enhanced it, across his year and a half in Denver, by becoming a foil and another half to Allen.

Allen said Monday he’s “forever grateful” for Franklin-Myers, and that it’s no coincidence his career has taken off in Denver since the former Jet joined the fray in 2024.

“Them two out there, it����ap low-key telepathic,” marveled rookie Jordan Miller.

“We understand each other better than anybody in the league,” Franklin-Myers said.

Countless examples litter this 2025 tape of the two opening doors for each other. And, importantly, opening doors for edge rushers. On a 3rd-and-12 against the Raiders in November, Allen drew both Las Vegas center Jordan Meredith and guard Dylan Parham to the right side of the line, leaving Franklin-Myers and Bonitto with one-on-ones on the left side. As Bonitto dusted Raiders tackle DJ Glaze, Franklin-Myers shoved Las Vegas’s Jackson Powers-Johnson back so deep that quarterback Geno Smith had no space to step up.

Bonitto brought Smith down, and Allen threw his arms up to the sky.

“We always find ways to find who’s going to get the 1-on-1, or help the guy out, or whatever the case may be,” Allen said Monday, of he and Franklin-Myers. “And Coach Cain and BT Jordan have done a hell of a job, too, at helping us out with that.

At times, Cain says, sitting on a bench after the Broncos’ practice Thursday, his wife DeCarla will have to remind him he’s doing something pretty good. College coaches tell Cain that they’re using these Broncos for teach-tape. Colleagues across the NFL text Cain with questions about his rush approach against specific teams.

“And I’m just present,” Cain says, laughing. “I’m like, ‘We’re not that good.'”

Cain rattles off a list of complaints. Franklin-Myers, he says, could have three more sacks. Allen, sitting at 6.5, has missed one. Bonitto’s missed some. Cain’s still pissed off, too, about a 40-yard touchdown run by Packers running back Josh Jacobs from last Sunday’s win.

“My goal, personally, is to be known as the best,” Cain said. “And I want to finish first in rushing yards per game. First in sacks. I want ones, ones, ones. ”

At the same time, there’s not a long way left for this room, with Franklin-Myers’ contract set to expire.

“Sometimes I always think about, like, ‘This is a special group,’ and we won’t be the same,” Cain says. “Lord knows what happens to John. You know what I mean? So I have to do a better job of living in the moment.”

That is the key, ultimately, to any Broncos hope of actually snagging the crown from the 1984 Bears. Each and every member of this defensive-line room, as reserve ILB Levelle Bailey told The Post this week, wants that sack record. But they will not break it by chasing too hard after the past, and veering from the present.

They went into halftime against the Packers last week with no sacks, Cain reminded the room Thursday. Rush together, he reminded them.

“If we get to this record,” Cain says, “we all eat together.”

Before we get to the good stuff, just know that what applies to Von Miller and Payton absolutely applies to Justin Simmons, too. Even though the Broncos now have a starting safety slot wide open while a former Pro Bowl safety in Simmons is local and looking for a gig, the locker room in Dove Valley might not be big enough for the both of them. Although stranger things have happened, and it’s almost Christmas.

Speaking of presents, the Chiefs finally returned the AFC West throne to the store, receipt and all, after hogging that thing for 3,270 days. Eight years, 11 months, and 14 days, officially.

A child born on New Year’s Day 2017, the actual start of the Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC West dynasty, would be halfway through third grade as of Monday. At last, Heaven help us, we can clearly see the end, a light at the end of long, red tunnel of darkness.

The Chiefs were mathematically eliminated from the postseason this past Sunday. Kansas City is slated to be $43.8 million over the cap in 2026. Travis Kelce just turned 36. Chris Jones will be 32 next summer. Mahomes will be 31 next September, and his left knee just went kablooey in a home loss to the Chargers. Legends live forever in our hearts, but every anterior cruciate ligament comes with an expiration date.

The second-hardest thing in the NFL is to win a championship. The hardest is to pull it off multiple times. It never ceases to amuse me how the most popular sports league in America, land of me-first, is simultaneously a screaming bastion of socialism and enforced parity. The good of all before the one.

Bad teams get the best draft picks. A salary cap that prevents elite teams from hoarding all the elite players, so long as those elite players want to get paid. And they do.

All that being said, the Broncos (12-2) aren’t just poised to win a division title this fall. They’re in a really good position to follow in the Chiefs’ cleats and go on a little dynastic run of their own. And we’ll give you five reasons why:

1. The Chiefs’ best players are getting old

Even if Kelce, who can become an unrestricted free agent next year, elects to return, the Chiefs’ books are looking fairly lopsided. Kansas City will have 44.9% of its cap space for 2026 taken up by four players who will be 31 years or older: Jones ($44.85 million), K Harrison Butker ($7.3 million), LB Drue Tranquill ($7.5 million) and Mahomes ($78.2 million).

The Broncos’ 31-and-older club,

2. The Chargers’ best players are already old

The Bolts have 33.3% of their active roster cap tied up in 17 players who are at least 29 years old.

QB Justin Herbert is better with one good hand than most NFL signal-callers are with two. He’s just 27. Although working with Jim Harbaugh has been known to age people prematurely.

3. The Broncos’ best players are … not

The Broncos went into Week 1, per PhillyVoice.com,

Bo Nix, the QB1 who keeps rising to the moment, is 25 and on a rookie contract through 2027 (for now).

Also signed through ’27, per Spotrac.com (deep breath): CB Pat Surtain II, RT Mike McGlinchey, DL Zach Allen, WR Courtland Sutton, LT Garett Bolles, OLB Jonathon Cooper, OLB Nik Bonitto, S Talanoa Hufanga, DB Jahdae Barron, DL D.J. Jones, LB Dre Greenlaw, G Quinn Meinerz, DL Malcolm Roach, C Luke Wattenberg, OLB Jonah Elliss, RB RJ Harvey, CB Kris Abrams-Draine, K Wil Lutz and P Jeremy Crawshaw. Oh, and WRs Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant.

Pretty good core, that. Especially when you consider that only five of those guys are 30 years or older — and one of those five happens to be Lutz.

4. GM George Paton has the drafting part down

And he always did. Nine of Denver’s 11 starters are former Broncos draft picks or former collegiate free agents. As are five of the 11 guys who usually start for Vance Joseph’s defense. The more expensive Nix’s contract becomes, the more important hitting on rookies immediately is going to get.

5. Sean Payton has done this before

Yes, Sunshine Sean loves the screen game more than Homer Simpson loves Duff Beer. Yes, he holds fools and journalists in equal disdain. But the man also won seven division titles in New Orleans, including four straight (2017-2020) after his 2012 suspension. From 2018-2022, talk about the Broncos largely focused on the franchise’s sagging floor. Now it’s about the ceiling. Whether you like him personally or not, there’s no denying the degree to which Payton flipped the script.

Tom Brady was 42 when he signed with Tampa Bay and 45 when he retired for the second time. Savor the now. When a window opens, you don’t walk through it. You sprint like there’s a raging, snorting Nederland moose in hot pursuit.

In the NFL, age is a running clock. As any Broncomaniac can tell you, there’s one defensive coordinator worse than Belichick, a mastermind not even Mahomes, Brees, Elway or Manning could lick: Father Time. For the first time in a decade, he’s finally on the Broncos’ side.

Here is The Denver Post’s stock report from a shootout win over Green Bay.

Stock up

Zach Allen: The man is inevitable. Quiet Thanos. A 285-pound titan who holds opposing offensive lines in the palm of his hand. Allen’s 2024 earned him a second-team All-Pro nod after recording a league-best 40 quarterback hits in 16 games, an absurd number for an interior defensive lineman. How’s this for an encore? Allen’s now up to 40 QB hits in just 14 games in 2025, after smacking the Packers’ Jordan Love six times Sunday afternoon.

Former Broncos legend and current Commanders pass-rusher Von Miller told Denver Post columnist Troy Renck in early December that . Miller’s not wrong. The Broncos’ ability to create pressure starts and often ends with Allen, collapsing stars from the interior and paving the way for edge rushers or Vance Joseph blitzes to finish the job. Allen won’t get many votes for Defensive Player of the Year this season, but he probably should.

Parker Gabriel’s 7 Thoughts after Broncos’ heavyweight win vs. Packers, including Bo Nix’s on playing for Sean Payton

Troy Franklin: No single player on the Broncos' roster has ping-ponged more between the Stock Up and Stock Down sections of this entry with each passing week. But after a standout game against the Packers on Sunday -- six catches on six targets, 85 yards, a touchdown -- Franklin sits with 57 catches for 626 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games in 2025. That's a more-than-acceptable line for a Year Two leap in Denver.

Overall, Sunday was Franklin's best game of the season. His strength at both the catch point and the top of his route is the key to his ceiling as a receiver; against the Packers, Franklin created massive cushions for himself off separation and showcased sticky hands. Bo Nix's end-of-third-quarter touchdown connection with Franklin was notable for quarterback-receiver timing on a tight window to the end zone, a welcome development for the Broncos in this stretch run.

Keep thinking about this throw. This was heat check on heat check. Also a perfect example of how far Bo Nix has come from first quarter of the year. This is a whole new level of footwork/poise.

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans)

Reserve OLBs: It was telling, first off, that Joseph had enough trust in reserve outside linebackers Dondrea Tillman and Jonah Elliss that they were even in the game on a crucial late fourth-quarter drive. It was telling, too, that they rewarded the faith, continuing seasons that have made it incredibly easy for Joseph to buy rest for starters Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper.

With Green Bay down eight and driving into Denver territory, Tillman finished off a 2nd-and-7 collapsed pocket with a massive sack on Packers quarterback Jordan Love. A play later, Elliss dropped into coverage on a 3rd-and-15 and wrapped up Packers receiver John FitzPatrick in the open field well short of the first-down marker. It was an impressive sequence and further evidence of enviable Broncos defensive depth heading into the playoffs.

Bo Nix, leaguewide: The efficiency over 14 games is still hit-or-miss, as Nix now ranks 19th of 32 qualified NFL QBs in passer rating (89.7) and tied for 26th in yards per attempt (6.5). But Nix's overall body of work is starting to take solid shape after a heater against the Packers: he's ninth in the league in passing yards, tied for sixth in passing touchdowns, and 11th in expected points added, according to Next Gen Stats.

It's a bit bonkers to say, given the complete mixed bag of Nix's season. But the Broncos' record (12-2) and his performance across the last four weeks -- a -- could put Nix in some down-ballot MVP discussion.

Stock down

Run game: Both Payton and Nix had a lot of praise postgame for Denver's offensive front after Sunday's win, pointing out that the Broncos didn't surrender a single sack against a mighty Packers pass-rush. That defensive front, too, made it plenty hard for the Broncos to run the ball. This is partly situational. But ever since J.K. Dobbins went down, the Broncos have faced a slightly alarming trend: They've averaged fewer than four yards a carry as a team in three of their last four games, including a 2.9 mark against the Packers on Sunday.

RJ Harvey continues to develop in all phases and largely took what was given in a 19-carry, 65-yard, one-touchdown performance Sunday. But Jaleel McLaughlin hasn't been able to capably spell Harvey as an RB2, and that's an awfully heavy load to put on a rookie. Payton might need to get creative here.

Tyler Badie: Speaking of the ground game. Badie's been excellent in pass-protection this season, and has deservedly earned Payton's trust with that lone skill. But he continues to struggle in other facets, lacking the heft to be a consistent between-the-tackles runner and the breakaway speed to be a consistent threat in the screen game. Badie's had his moments this year, but somehow drew a second-quarter false start while simply lining up in the backfield.

With Harvey's rapid development in pass protection across the last few weeks, it might be time for Payton to glance at elevating recent practice-squad signee Sincere McCormick on gamedays to take some between-the-tackles pressure off of Harvey.

�ձ𲵲���:��The Broncos , after Denver came into a home matchup as Vegas underdogs against a now 9-4-1 Packers squad. Evidently, anyone putting money down on the Packers on Sunday should've just listened to Nix's mom.

It's a dangerous gamble in the NFL to thrust one's own back against the wall consistently and hand-pick national narratives to galvanize internal faith. That, however, is exactly what these Broncos are doing. And it's working.

Vance Joseph's intermediate area of the field: The Broncos still did more than enough Sunday to put the Packers away defensively. Pat Surtain and Riley Moss made huge plays on the back-end. Allen, John Franklin-Myers and a cavalcade of edge rushers created major pressure on Love in the second half. But the first half of Denver-Green Bay cannot go ignored, as the Packers moved the ball at will on Joseph's defense.

The main issue: matchup issues in the intermediate passing game. Teams have started to outright pick on safety Talanoa Hufanga in coverage, or look for Alex Singleton or Dre Greenlaw if either is matched up on a faster skill player. That'll happen from time to time, but this is a glaring warning light for the Broncos.