This is not the weekend for the Broncos’ front office to be sensible with its Walmart money. Oh, no. The 2026 NFL Draft is a free hit. An open goal. A chance to patch holes on a good roster by taking some chances.

Denver was an ankle away from the Super Bowl last season. A freak injury from waving high enough for everybody in Kansas to see.

Act like it.

Be bold.

Be brave.

Please don’t be an inside linebacker.

We’re wringing our hands about pick No. 62, of course, a second-round selection that, as of Monday, is the Broncos’ first — and maybe only — chance to make a draft weekend splash.

Six of the Broncos’ seven picks are slated to fall on Day 3 (rounds four-seven), and three of those six currently lie in the final round. History says Paton and Payton will move around some if they see someone specific they like. But a class this small needs to be about quality — not quantity. So as the weekend approaches, here are five things you’d hope general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton keep in mind as they shop for depth:

1. If Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers is available at No. 62, or close, move Heaven and Earth to make him yours

Linebacker or tight end? Defensive lineman or slot weapon? You nuts? Did you watch the Commodores? Don’t overthink this. Stowers is a tight end who looks like a wide receiver (6-foot-3, 239 pounds), runs like a wide receiver (4.51 in the 40) and jumps like a wide receiver (45.5-inch vertical).

He’s a matchup nightmare, the kind of target who leaves linebackers eating his dust and safeties flailing to reach jump balls they can’t touch. Stowers the draft epitome of a “Joker,” the TE/WR/inside triangle hybrid that Payton spoke about so lustily in January 2025. He’s Evan Engram. Only younger. Sure, Stowers doesn’t grade out well as a blocker. Guess what? You’ve got plenty of “blocking” tight ends on hand already.

2. Grab a contributor Friday — save your projects for Saturday

Could you find a starting-caliber linebacker late in the second round, too? Sure. Assuming Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez is still on the board, he’d make a perfect understudy for Alex Singleton, who’ll turn 33 in December. Or Justin Strnad, who turns 30 in August.

But with only seven picks, and a ton of contracts slated to end after the 2027 season, isn’t time of the essence? Shouldn’t you be saving the understudies for Saturday?

This is a back-filling draft, not the foundational one that 2024 turned out to be, thanks largely to Bo Nix. But winning now means getting guys who can play, and contribute, from the jump. Ideally, that means finding someone in Round 2 who could start for you in a pinch as soon as Week 1. Nail that, and the rest is gravy. Because if you don’t …

3. Don’t fall in love with BPA if that BPA has nowhere to play

See: Barron, Jahdae. Paton’s 2025 BPA with selection No. 20 a year ago. As in, “Best Player Available.” Or is it, Best Pick Again?

You can never have too much of a good thing in this league, given the volatility and injuries. Unless, of course, it’s nickel backs, especially when you’ve already developed an undrafted one (Ja’Quan McMillian) into one of the best in the AFC. At the time of Paton and Payton picked Barron, last spring’s first-round selection, folks didn’t whoop and holler. Barron, a speedster who raised Cain at the University of Texas, made folks sort of shrug and go, ‘Yeah, well, makes sense.’

The Broncos late in 2024 got badly exposed along the perimeter in the passing game — that Cleveland game on Monday Night Football was wild — while Pat Surtain II was out and a still-young Riley Moss was forced to cover more WR1s.

Fast forward to the fall of ’25, where Moss improved and cut down on his penalties. McMillian upped his game another level and rarely left the field on passing downs.

Before last spring’s draft, pundits and fans pleaded for the Broncos to add more help at running back, tight end and wide receiver. By and large, they’re making the same pleas in 2026 — which doesn’t exactly speak well for the early returns on Barron in the first round or for RJ Harvey in the second.

There’s time. But 2027, when so many of the contracts for this current core are slated to run out, gets closer by the day.

4. Remember Bo Nix — and Nix’s costs down the road

If someone offers you picks — even late ones — for the 2027, 2028 or 2029 drafts, you’d be wise to listen. Nix’s four-year rookie deal The Bo Show is slated for a $5.08-million cap hit this fall, and a $5.92-million hit in two seasons. Justin Herbert’s first post-rookie-contract extension had an average annual value of $52.5 million. Joe Burrow’s post-rookie extension featured an AAV of $55 million.

That raise is coming. More rookies will need to be coming, too.

5. Secure a RB you can trust in January

Here’s an idea. Actually, think of it as an exercise. At some point on Saturday, or before, look at the tailbacks most likely to be on the board after Round 2 or Round 3. Ask yourself, very simply, one question: Which one would I feel good about starting, at home, in late January, come rain, sleet or shine?

Because, presuming that J.K. Dobbins is going to be there is pure hubris. Or ignorance. Or both. Presume he’s not. Presume the rest of your options are still best used as pass-catchers in space (Harvey) or as special-teamers (Badie). Which of these prospects can pound the rock between the tackles 12-15 times per game against a salty defense? Which one could help grind me to a Super Bowl?

I’m partial to Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, a workhorse for the Cornhuskers last year, a volume carrier with power who recorded just three fumbles over 550 touches as a collegian. A born closer. Johnson averaged 6.7 yards from scrimmage last November every time he saw the ball, scoring five times on 120 touches that month. Sounds like the perfect fit, on paper, for a franchise that won’t just be judged on how it finishes next season. But where.

Kris Bryant’s last at-bat in Rockies pinstripes happened a year ago this past Sunday. April 12, 2025. Haven’t seen him since.

“Hey, look, I get it — baseball is a business,” Bryant’s father Mike told me during a short conversation last spring. “They want (Kris) hitting 40 home runs and hitting .300 … you got your Todd Heltons for that, and you’ve got your other guys. Kris is happy. When it’s all said and done, (Denver fans are) going to look back on Kris favorably.”

As a person? Without a doubt.

As a contract? As an investment? No chance.

Which is where the Broncos enter the picture, riding to the rescue on The Penner Sports Group, fronted by Broncos owners Carrie Walton Penner and husband Greg Penner, now possesses a 40% stake in the Rockies. As reported by The Post’s Patrick Saunders last Friday, the Walton-Penners are the largest minority investors for Colorado’s Major League Baseball team, topped only by the Monfort family, who retain team control.

The Broncos needed leadership and money to get out of the darkness and back into the AFC Championship Game. The Rockies need … well, everything. But more money and better leadership would be two welcome steps in the right direction.

Because, lest we forget, the Broncos had to bottom out before starting their three-year climb. The Penners and Waltons went all-in on Russell Wilson. They got a 5-12 train wreck in 2022 to show for it, all while fans counted down the play clock. At home.

Sean Payton wanted to wash his hands of Russ, who was clearly toast. So the Broncos ate $85 million in dead cap money over the ’24 and ’25 seasons for cutting Wilson, the kind of hit that’s supposed to punish a franchise for its free-spending folly.

Only a funny thing happened: The Broncos got better. Much, much, much better. And fast. Bo Nix hit. Nik Bonitto hit. Jonathon Cooper hit. Quinn Meinerz hit. Brandon Jones hit. Talanoa Hufanga hit anything within six feet of him. A lot of shrewd drafting, a pinch of smart free-agent signings and good coaching hoisted the Broncos from outhouse to penthouse.

The road is longer for the Rockies, who’ve lost 100 or more games for three straight seasons and will flirt with a fourth. The NFL is designed for parity, competitive socialism at its finest. Major League Baseball is the last of the major North American sports leagues without a salary cap.

But the Broncos couldn’t move forward until they chucked Wilson’s contract overboard and let Payton build a roster in his image.

And any hope for a new dawn in LoDo, any tailwind that pushes the Rockies forward, starts with getting Bryant’s seven-year, $182-million contract off the stinkin’ books. And as quickly as possible.

Not his fault, mind you. Nice guy. Amazing dude. Bryant’s spirit, like his smile, was always willing. His body, alas, had other ideas.

Since signing with the Rockies in March 2022, KB23 has played in only 170 games over the first four years of his deal. In what’s amounted to basically a full season of stats over the last 48 months, KB’s Colorado line to date is 632 at-bats, 29 doubles, 17 home runs, 61 RBI, a .244 batting average and a .695 OPS.

In other words, for $26 million per season, the Rockies have gotten 42 games a year of (.244 career batting average, .695 career OPS) in the middle of the order.

The surface takeaway from the Walton-Penner family’s investment was that all that sweet Walmart dough would wipe away debt. Most MLB clubs lost some serious change with the collapse of regional sports networks — the Rox reportedly collected at least $57 million from AT&T SportsNet in 2023, the last season of their old TV contract.

Given inflation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that $57 million in March 2023 would’ve been worth $58.98 million in March 2024, $60.39 million in March 2025; and $62.4 million in March 2026.

That’s an estimated $181.7 million shortfall for the Monforts, even before factoring in returns from the direct-to-consumer/subscriber model. You need cash to patch the wound and stop the bleeding.

The other purple elephant in the Monforts’ room, of course, is Bryant, a deal that’s aging the way

A bad idea at the time looks even worse now. Counting this season’s salary, the Rox still owe Bryant, now 34, another $81 million through the end of the 2028 season.

Word leaked that Bryant was signing with Colorado the same day that Wilson was introduced as the new QB savior of the Broncos in Dove Valley — March 16, 2022, a date that will forever live in Front Range infamy.

The Waltons and Penners quickly saw the error of their ways, although it helped that NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed beyond the signing bonus. MLB deals are. Bryant is repped by Scott Boras, and baseball divorces aren’t cheap. An injury settlement feels like the most logical path at this point. Which is why it’s also not hard to picture the Monforts asking Walton-Penner and her husband if they’d like to chip in to help the Rockies get past their version of the Wilson deal.

“It’s just been very frustrating (here),” the elder Bryant told me. “We came in with high expectations for him to really enjoy himself and it was killing him (to not play). Then to listen to the B.S. that goes along, people running their mouths about how he wasn’t worth the contract …

“It’s not like he was trying to play at 80% (health). He was trying to play at 50%. You can’t do that in this game. There’s just too many good pitchers. It’s a brutal game.”

With brutal realities. If the Broncos can make two of the worst deals in Denver sports history go away, that would be almost as impressive as sticking a fork in the Chiefs’ AFC West dynasty.

After two decades of operating the Rockies as a mom-and-pop grocery store, it was time for owner Dick Monfort to bring in Walmart as a partner.

In what amounts to a home run for baseball fans in this state and region, Monfort has agreed to sell a 40 % minority stake in the Rockies to the Penner Sports Group, composed of Broncos’ co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner.

With a roughly $672 million investment based on Forbes’ most recent $1.68 billion valuation, the Penners will provide funds to pay down debt and financial resources that give Monfort runway to determine his future vision for the franchise as a labor stoppage looms following this season.

For Monfort, it was past time in the national pastime to treat the Rockies as a civic institution. By bringing on the Penners, he shifts the conversation about his ownership from selfish to selfless. At last.

It is wise, if not belated, recognition that family-run sports teams are becoming archaic and lack the wherewithal to consistently chase championships.

Monfort has groused in recent years, including in an interview with The Post before the 2024 season, about Major League Baseball’s lack of a salary cap. The concern about competing became amplified with regional sports networks dissolving, siphoning a source of revenue for a Rockies team that is already heavily dependent on attendance.

In the most recent homestand, the Rockies posted their smallest crowds in Coors Field history.

But lost in that nadir is that Monfort finally realized in October that significant changes were needed.

His decision to promote son Walker Monfort to vice president and give him freedom to hire baseball president Paul DePodesta, general manager Josh Byrnes and a battery of new business people was the clearest signal that he understood how dormant the team had become after seven consecutive losing seasons.

Until Friday.

This is a seismic event. A grand slam for Rockies fans.

By bringing the Penners on board, it creates a pathway for the Rockies to become relevant.

In 34 seasons, the Rockies have managed only five playoff berths, never won a National League West title and appeared in one World Series in 2007, swept by the Boston Red Sox in a buzzkill end to the most magical run in baseball history.

The obvious question: Why wouldn’t Dick Monfort simply sell the team?

This is something understandably frustrated fans have been chirping about for years.

It was not time for that. On multiple levels. Could that change down the road? Perhaps.

But starting with conversations a year ago, the Penners were motivated to get involved rather than take over. This is not a palace coup. It is a partnership. But it is also one (heck) of a safety net.

The new partnership continues momentum for Monfort, which has been evident on the field with the team’s 6-7 record after starting last season 7-33 en route to losing 100 games for a third consecutive season.

And it gives the Penners an opportunity to become financially tethered without dealing with the minutiae of running another team.

Can we pause for a second and acknowledge the commitment to sports and this community the Penners have shown since the summer of 2022?

As they enter their fifth year owning the Broncos, they have built a $175 million team headquarters, moved forward on a privately-financed new stadium for billions of dollars, created a $12 million initiative to donate over 15,000 helmets to high school football teams and and turned the franchise from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender by hiring Sean Payton and signing players to in-house contract extensions for more than $400 million over the last 18 months.

To Colorado sports fans, it’s worth even more.

The Penners have shown at every turn that they are amazing stewards, setting a standard for excellence in everything from how their players travel and eat to how they increase alumni involvement.

Before you ask, their roles with the Broncos will not change. Owning the team has exceeded their expectations in how fulfilling, challenging and rewarding it has been. They will still attend practice a few days a week and mingle at the facility.

The Rockies, make no mistake, piqued their interest as a business investment.

Like many who have lived here, they recognize that baseball is a sleeping giant, a potential No. 2 sport in Colorado if Rocktober returns semi-annually. Coors Field, despite being the third-oldest ballpark in the National League, remains a destination spot with its timeless appeal and charm.

Fans have shown they will come if the team is good. It just takes several flips back in the calendar to remember when that was.

Overall, baseball is on the right track, benefiting from the pitch clock, eliminating shifts and creating the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System.

The Penners obviously saw this.

For the Rockies, for Monfort, this move makes sense.

Just look at all the Penners have done, how deep their pockets are, and how much they commit to ventures. They are unbelievably curious people who look for answers, never satisfied with the status quo or mediocrity.

They will learn baseball just as they did the NFL. There is no reason to think they cannot help make the Rockies better.

Everyone will wonder if they will eventually buy the team. That is for a later day and could hinge on the outcome of the labor talks, in which Monfort serves as a hawk in the negotiations for commissioner Rob Manfred.

Since back-to-back playoff berths in 2017 and 2018, the Rockies have nosedived, bottoming out with 119 losses last season.

By bringing in the Penners, Monfort is letting the respected neighbors down the street spruce up the place. Their money matters. But more than that, it provides hope for the future.

And for this city, this state and the fans, that is priceless.

“To me, personally, it speaks about the rich getting richer, and (everyone else) has to absorb the cost of everything,” Hayes sighed when I reached her by phone on Monday. “Honestly, I don’t know how you get around that.”

Mary is a Josh Allen gal in Bo Nix territory, a Bills Mafia transplant, a Rochester, N.Y., native who’s lived in Boulder County for eight or nine years now. When she hears talk about the Burnham Yard stadium site and the Walton-Penner Group, or when folks start whispering about “Personal Seat Licenses,” or PSLs, in Denver, she circles back to her ex-father-in-law.

Almost every adult Broncomaniac has met somebody like Mike from upstate New York at some point. He had Bills season tickets for five decades. He was a combat veteran who served in Vietnam, was awarded a Purple Heart, and became a true Don of Bills Mafia. Now in his 70s, Mike recently elected to give up his tickets rather than pony up for a PSL — a fee paid by customers of some NFL franchises to gain the right to purchase season tickets. In essence, it’s a cover charge for a cover charge.

Major pro franchises that agree to foot the bill for privately financed stadiums these days often seek to defray at least some of those costs by adding PSL fees to their customers’ bills. The Walton-Penner Group is working on a privately financed stadium and entertainment district for the Burnham Yard area near I-25, with an estimated $4 billion price tag. It’s not hard to do the math on the possibility of PSLs landing here.

The Bills announced last December that it had sold out its PSLs — reportedly more than 53,000 —  The average annual cost of a PSL at its new Highmark Stadium ranged from a reported $750 to $50,000 per seat, depending on location. Just to give you a ballpark figure, literally, of what might be coming down the pike for ����apountry. And why she thinks of Mike.

“And those are the people who are behind the scenes, with personal stories,” Hayes continued. “Growing up a Bills fan, to me, that was all about family. I remember watching games with my dad on the couch on Sunday afternoons. And him taking us to games that we could afford … it’s just become this thing, now, where that (tradition) is getting lost in everything. To me, that’s the heart of being a Bills fan or a Broncos fan, is generational memories. And its connection.

“Those were the people that want it and need it the most, that are struggling to make ends meet every day. And now you’re taking away the one thing that they look forward to year-round.”

That one thing — the Broncos — is more than a line item on a tax return. It’s fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. It’s woven into the fabric, baked in the blood. It’s passed on, like a grandfather clock, from generation to generation.

“But we’re winning now,” chuckled Lori Hosmer of Rochester, N.Y., child of two massive Bills fans “We have to pay up. If you want Josh Allen, you’ve got to pay Josh Allen. If you want James Cook, you’ve got to pay James Cook.”

The Bills are not a perfect comp, granted. For one thing, the new Highmark is jointly funded by public and private sources, with at least $850 million coming from New York taxpayers. For another, the Bills’ home upgrade is estimated to feature about 10,000 fewer seats (62,000) than the current version’s reported 71,608. Empower Field features a capacity of 76,125 for football.

But in terms of passion, devotion, organization, loyalty, national presence and a blue-collar ethos, ����apountry and the Mafia are cousins cut from the same AFL cloth. And the ones in upstate New York have some advice for Denverites on the fabric of PSL life:

1. Do your homework

If you treat PSLs sales like Black Friday at Walmart and storm through the doors at midnight, you might get your bank account trampled, Hosmer noted. Have a plan.

“Understand what your budget is before you walk in, so you don’t get excited about the hype,” she said. “Your experience depends on who your rep is … we had some (fans) who felt very pressured (initially).”

Hosmer’s old seats were above one of the Bills’ tunnel entrances, but that section wasn’t offered to her in the new Highmark.

“It’s a very good idea to have written down what you can actually want to afford and what you can afford, and what you actually want to spend on (seats),” Hosmer said, “before going forward. It’s a big commitment. It’s easy to get caught up in that (sales pitch).

“Our rep said, ‘Guys, no pressure, but all these other people are going to have a chance to (have these seats) the next couple weeks, I’m not sure where you’ll land.'”

2. Be patient and prepared to change seats

Hosmer described the PSL selection and confirmation process as “very long” and “very confusing, because you had no idea when you’d be called … that was just an odd thing.”

Another layer of odd? Her PSL ‘rep’ was not the same person as her season-ticket rep.

“My understanding is that every team does it how they want to do it,” she stressed, “but (Buffalo) was not based on seniority, because seniority didn’t matter. People spending the most money got first dibs. That makes sense. It’s a business.”

While preaching patience, Hosmer also would advise Broncos fans to “be prepared to change seats.”

“Someone who was sitting next to me (for years) was like, ‘I’m not paying $2,500, I’m not paying $3,000 (for this),’ so he ended up in a different (section),” she said. “He said, ‘I wanted to be in the new stadium, but it was too much of a (financial) ask. It was just too much.'”

3. Brace for sticker shock

Hosmer’s end-zone seats cost $450 a head in 2010. The ones she’ll be getting this fall landed at $1,895 — and that’s before parking.

“If (a Broncos fan) is not sure (about a purchase), you make sure you find out before you sign any paperwork,” she said. “People in our group were really mad to find out afterwards, after we signed our (contract), that the Bills were actually going to go in and out at the end of the half and at the end of the game by their bench and not by (the end zone).”

The community hand-wringing picked up when the Bills began charging $8,000-$50,000 annually per patron on PSLs for club seats. Late last year, Bills ownership introduced a $1,000 PSL cost for an upper-deck seat, and some higher-up end zone seats were offered at a three-figure level — $500-750 per patron.

In all cases, Hosmer said, financing options were made available, “so it’s not killer .. you have to have a credit card, you have to put down a deposit.”

She recalled being offered a six-year plan to pay off her PSL at an interest rate of around 8.7%. Hosmer was also told she couldn’t sell her PSLs until at least a year after its purchase, and that there were restrictions as to how those licenses could be resold, and to whom.

“I’ve heard fans complain about the (lack of stadium giveaways and bobbleheads) here,” she said, “and I’m like, ‘You don’t get that, but you get Victory Mondays.’ Take your pick. Do you want cheap sunglasses, or do you want AFC Championships? I know what I’m choosing. Every time.”

The nonprofit law firm, Towards Justice, sent to Sheriff Lou Vallario after months of allegations raised by Glenwood Springs-based advocacy group Voces Unidas. That group said Vallario had sidestepped state law to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in transferring immigrants into ICE custody.

The letter asks the Western Slope county’s sheriff to stop that practice, as well as any prohibited information-sharing with federal immigration authorities.

“Sheriff Valerio and other law enforcement across the state seeking to collaborate with ICE must know that they are not above the law,” Towards Justice executive director David Seligman said in a statement.

Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shannon Stowe said in an email that she hadn’t yet seen Towards Justice’s letter. She pointed to a Feb. 7, 2025, statement from Vallario, in which he wrote that he works “with ALL law enforcement agencies, from local to international, to the degree I legally can.”

“As it is a legal matter, it will need to be reviewed by the County Attorney’s Office before any action is taken,” Stowe wrote.

Voces Unidas and Towards Justice accused a Garfield County deputy and an ICE agent of arresting an immigrant outside of a Walmart last June. The deputy then drove the man from Glenwood Springs to the town of De Beque, the organizations said, where he was turned over to ICE custody.

Alex Sánchez of Voces Unidas and Toree Lindblad of Towards Justice said the man had no federal or state criminal charges, and he was later deported from a detention center in Aurora.

The incident report, which is included in the letter, states that the ICE agent was part of a joint task force with the sheriff’s office. The deputy helped transport the man into the custody of “ERO,” or Enforcement and Removal Operations, which is the branch of ICE that handles civil immigration and deportations.

Five other deputies were present at the initial arrest, Towards Justice alleged.

Colorado law broadly prohibits local law enforcement from participating in civil immigration enforcement activities, and it also blocks any sharing of personal information with ICE outside of criminal probes.

Stowe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Walmart arrest.

The letter from Towards Justice also accuses the sheriff’s office of allowing ICE agents into the local jail to pick up immigrants before they’re released. Sánchez said his group had documented nine cases of in-custody transfers, and Towards Justice released a statement from a woman who said she’d exited a jail bathroom after paying her bail, only to find a sheriff’s deputy waiting with an ICE agent.

But that practice may not violate state law. Colorado law prohibits jails from holding people at ICE’s request, or from holding them longer than necessary to allow ICE to come and pick them up.

However, it’s not illegal for ICE to arrest someone in a jail or for a jail to alert the agency that an immigrant is set to be released.

Last year, Colorado lawmakers briefly debated blocking ICE agents from entering nonpublic areas of jails. show Vallario criticizing that provision as dangerous and saying he would “not comply” with that part of the bill, if it were passed.

But the provision was later stripped from the bill.

Vallario told The Denver Post last year that he did not delay immigrants’ releases and that he was bound by state law. In his statement last year, Vallario wrote that people who are eligible for release must be set free from jail custody within six hours.

“However, local ICE agents review our public jail website that shows the status of everyone in jail,” he wrote. “If ICE has an interest in detaining one, or more of them because of the seriousness of their crimes, they notify the jail and ask that we let them know when that person of interest is going to be released, and we do.”

The emails obtained by Voces Unidas also show Vallario criticizing state Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, a Glenwood Springs Democrat who sponsored last year’s bill proposing to further limit ICE cooperation by state and local officials.

In a June email to other law enforcement officials, Vallario sent a picture of Velasco carrying an anti-ICE sign, and he called her a “POS.”

Foran has a reputation as a tech-savvy and detail-oriented leader. He led Walmart����ap U.S. division from 2014 to 2019, where he focused on cleaning up stores, ensuring items were in stock and improving the fresh produce selection. He also introduced online ordering and pickup, and accelerated Walmart����ap digital capabilities.

Walmart has reshaped itself into a that has leaned heavily into automation and artificial intelligence, and it����ap one of the biggest competitive threats to Kroger, the largest standalone U.S. supermarket chain.

Shares of The Kroger Co. rose nearly 7% in early trading Monday after Kroger said Foran would lead the company.

Walmart has become a larger challenge to Kroger and other traditional grocers as Americans increasingly pick up their groceries along with other general goods that Walmart sells. Walmart currently controls around 21% of the U.S. grocery market, compared to 8.5% for Kroger, according to the market research company Numerator.

Kroger has also felt pressure from fast-growing discount chains like Aldi and Lidl and online behemoths like Amazon.

Kroger with Albertsons in 2022 as a way to better compete with its rivals. But the and two states — and — sued to block the merger in 2024, saying it would raise prices and lower workers’ wages by eliminating competition. Judges ultimately ruled that the merger should not proceed.

Kroger has struggled to adjust as customers increasingly embrace delivery, pickup and ship-to-home for their groceries. The company said in December that its e-commerce sales jumped 17% in the latest quarter.

In November, Kroger in Wisconsin, Maryland and Florida and said it would monitor its five remaining facilities. The company said it found that delivering directly from its stores was faster and cheaper than using the automated facilities, where robots pick and pack groceries. Kroger said the closures could help make its e-commerce business profitable this year.

Kroger also recently with the third-party delivery services DoorDash and Uber Eats. For years, Kroger had limited what third parties could deliver and instead tried to meet demand with its own delivery drivers.

But Kroger has also found that it needs to tread carefully when experimenting with new technology. When some of its stores switched to , which allow stores to change prices instantly, state and federal lawmakers questioned whether the company would use the technology to surge prices.

Kroger also got heat from lawmakers about a partnership with Microsoft that would place cameras in aisles and offer personalized deals to shoppers based on their gender and age.

Foran succeeds Ron Sargent, who has been Kroger’s interim leader since former CEO Rodney McMullen resigned last March. McMullen had been Kroger’s CEO since 2014 and was also the company’s chairman. Kroger said he resigned after an investigation into his personal conduct, which was unrelated to the business but violated its ethics policy.

Sargent will continue to serve as Kroger’s chairman to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

“Greg is a highly respected operator who knows how to run large-scale retail businesses, strengthen store execution and lead high-performing teams,” Sargent said in a statement. “His leadership style, focus on the customer, commitment to associates, and disciplined approach to execution are the perfect fit for Kroger.”

Foran, a New Zealand native, most recently served as CEO of Air New Zealand, where he also improved digital capabilities, led negotiations with the airline’s union and guided it through the pandemic.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, has 2,731 stores operating under various brands, including Ralphs, King Soopers, Smith’s and Fred Meyer. It has 409,000 employees. In Colorado, the company has 120 King Soopers and 32 City Market locations.

The Broncos were the only NFL team to place three players among the league’s top 15 in dropped passes during the regular season, per Pro-Football-Reference.com — wide receiver Courtland Sutton (eight), tight end Evan Engram (eight) and running back RJ Harvey (seven).

No wonder a 15-4 record feels like such a Boverachievement, in retrospect.

It’s going to be a beast to repeat if Payton and GM George Paton don’t add an experienced, proven wideout for Bo Nix in 2026. Or a big-time tight end. Better yet, both.

What the heck. Russell Wilson is off the books, right? Paton is rolling into the offseason with diamond encrusted Walmart gift card in his wallet. Go nuts.

“I think the position that this team, the position that we’re in, (we) have a win-now mentality,” Engram said Monday at Dove Valley as the Broncos cleaned out their lockers following a 10-7 loss to New England in the AFC Championship. “And there are some things that we can work with to even make our roster even better.

“So, yeah — I have the utmost faith in the guys upstairs, all the decision-makers, the coach. They’ve done a great job since they’ve been here. They’ve built (a) championship team. Being able to add to that already, we’re in a great spot. We’ll be in a good spot for a while.”

Yeah, but you’ve got to strike now. Nix is on a rookie contract through 2027. That time is going to fly by. Like the Nuggets with Jokic and Murray and the Avs with MacKinnon and Makar, this is the window. Right here. We going for this? Or not?

“Obviously, we need some key players to come in and do what they need to do by getting points on the scoreboard,” veteran left tackle Garett Bolles noted Monday. “(We’ve) got a phenomenal defense. We have everything we need. We just need a couple more playmakers, and sky’s the limit for this team.”

Almost everything. Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day. What do the Super-Bowl-bound Seahawks have that the Broncos don’t? A bell cow tailback (Kenneth Walker) who has averaged 15 games per season over his career. And a No. 1 wideout (Jaxson Smith-Njigba) who’s putting up seven catches and 86 receiving yards per game this postseason.

Over two playoff games in ’25-26, Sutton’s collected seven catches and 70 yards through the air. In total.

That’s not to dog Big No. 14, who, at age 30, has been healthy and productive on the field — and a much-needed leader off of it.

It is to say that the man needs more help. And more outside help, especially.

Pat Bryant Jr. made strides, but you worry about all those repeated dings as of late. Troy Franklin had some amazing flashes. Yet while they might be cost-effective, neither of them has the kind of consistency of, say, a Tee Higgins. Or a Jaylen Waddle. Or a Cooper Kupp. Or a Davante Adams. Or a Garrett Wilson.

Payton has it backwards. He thinks he can turn anybody into a WR1 with his system. In truth, the system needs another potential WR1 to take off.

OverTheCap says the Broncos should have $27 million in cap room for ’26. Time to go shopping. And not in the discount section, either.

Giants wideout Wan’Dale Robinson is a free agent coming off his first 1,000-yard season. His drop rate was 2.29% — 10th lowest among players with at least 90 targets. The Colts’ Alec Pierce, who’s got the kind of size (6-foot-3) that Payton craves, is also hitting the market after his first 1,000-yard campaign. The former Cincy Bearcat sported a miniscule 1.2% drop rate this past fall and a 3.4% rate for his career.

The Broncos went 13-3 in one-score games in 2025, 12-2 during the regular season. It wasn’t luck. But it’s also tough to repeat, at least at that pace. Those fine margins are only going to get finer. And more fleeting.

Ideally, you build an offense that can pile up more leads, which eases the burden on that defense. Vance Joseph’s unit seemed to carry a game for three quarters until Nix and the offense came to life in the last eight minutes. You might sustain that over a season. It’s a lot to sustain it for two. Ask the Chiefs.

Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, only the Jaguars (45) logged more drops (43) than the Broncos did during the regular season. And Denver ranked second to Jacksonville in drop rate (7.0% to the Jags’ 8.0%.)

For a coach who thinks running the ball is for squares and suckers, that’s not exactly adapting one’s philosophy to fit your personnel.

Unless, of course, you change said personnel. A year ago, Payton vowed to upgrade the inner triangle of running back/tight end/slot receiver. J.K. Dobbins was a step in the right direction in the backfield — at least before he got hurt. Engram’s impact at TE1 was erratic, though, to put it kindly.

“I can only do the most with the opportunities that I get,” Engram said Monday. “There (were) times where I had opportunities. There (were) times where they were a little slim.”

Or none. Engram logged one or zero catches four times over the course of the season and logged three or fewer targets on six different occasions.

“Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, that’s kind of out of my control,” Engram reflected. “I do think there are opportunities in this offense. I think that the tight end position can bring a lot more than it should. Even speaking for the other guys, there’s a lot more that we honestly could have helped with.”

Moving the chains, mostly. Which is why it’s time for the Broncos to put their money where Payton’s mouth is.

Denver ranked 19th in NFL cap spending on wide receivers, The Broncos were 28th in 2024. When it comes to wideouts, you tend to get what you pay for. Right between the hands.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s this week approved a program that will create free statewide recycling, shifting the cost to companies that produce packaging and away from residents and local governments. It’s called the Producer Responsibility Program and is expected to begin its rollout in 2026.

The program will add recycling to an estimated 700,000 residences across Colorado, said Wolf Kray, who oversees recycling programs at the Department of Public Health and Environment. And it should eliminate recycling costs for those who already pay for curbside recycling in their cities.

“This will be a free recycling service statewide,” Kray said.

It will take several years to fully roll out the program across Colorado as cities and towns, along with trash haulers such as Waste Management, Republic Services and other companies, figure out the logistics.

“This isn’t a switch,” Kray said. “It’s more of a dial.”

The program will be run by , a nonprofit managed by 20 companies from the food and beverage, consumer goods and retail sectors that create and use packaging. The list of companies includes Amazon, Colgate-Palmolive, Mars Incorporated, the Coca-Cola Company and Walmart, according to the Circular Action Alliance’s website.

The alliance will decide how much companies should be charged for the waste they produce in Colorado through cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other containers, and then those fees will be used to reimburse companies that haul recyclable material from people’s homes to recycling facilities.

The recycling program does not erase the fees people pay to dispose of other household garbage.

Environmentalists applauded the new program, which they believe will divert millions of tons of waste from Colorado’s landfills each year and save consumers and local governments money.

“The purpose of this is to transform our current system where all residents have had to pay to get recycling service in order to do the right thing,” said Suzanne Jones, executive director of Eco-Cycle, a Boulder nonprofit that promotes recycling and runs a recycling center. “Right now, Colorado has a pretty lousy recycling and composting rate. So let’s provide recycling service to everyone in the state that is as convenient as their trash service.”

Studies have shown that Coloradans diverted about 16% of their waste from landfills over the last six years through recycling or composting, which is half the national average.

Diverting waste, especially paper products, will reduce the amount of harmful gases such as methane and carbon dioxide that are released from landfills. Those gases contribute to global warming and harm human health. Fewer greenhouse gases oozing into the atmosphere also would help the Front Range address its ground-level ozone problem.

Once the recycling program is fully running, it’s projected to keep 400,000 tons of waste out of the state’s landfills annually by 2035, Kray said. And that should reduce landfill emissions by 1.3 million metric tons each year — the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.

The Circular Action Alliance will be responsible for public education about proper recycling, so people are aware of how to separate their household waste. There will be a single list of acceptable items for recycling statewide to eliminate confusion about which plastics and other materials go in the bins, Kray said.

Every city has its own method of providing trash service.

In Denver, residents pay for trash pickup but not recycling or compost because the city wants to promote those services. The city of Aurora does not provide trash pickup as a city service, so residents choose from a handful of companies to pick up their garbage and decide whether or not they want to pay for recycling.

In Arvada, the city uses Republic Services to provide citywide trash and recycling pickup that homeowners pay for, but the city also allows residents to hire their own service for a small fee.

Cyndi Karvaski, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, said it’s too early in the process to say how the new program will play out for the city’s residents. But the department looks forward to working with the state and the Circular Action Alliance.

All the different systems for waste disposal make it hard to sort out just how much Colorado homeowners ultimately will save on their garbage bills.

“The residents should see that savings in their bill,” Eco-Cycle’s Jones said. “We will be looking to make sure that happens.”

“For the first time in a while, I can give the good news that actually, the cost of a meal looks like it’s going to be down this year,” said Dawn Thilmany, professor of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University.

Thilmany said turkey prices are a major reason for the shift, after several years of inflation tied to avian influenza and supply chain disruptions.

“Everybody has a different statistic out there, but it’s probably between 5 to 10% (lower) and it also depends on on what you buy,” she said.

“A turkey is not a turkey anymore. There’s frozen turkeys, there’s fresh turkeys, there’s organic turkeys — but I would say the most consistent number I’ve seen for someone who plans to buy a typical frozen turkey, a pretty normal size, is that it’ll be 5% cheaper this year.”

However, Thilmany said some canned and processed foods may still cost more because of higher labor costs and tariffs on imported materials such as aluminum for cans.

“This might be the year to try to make your own cranberry sauce, because anything that’s going to be in a can in the middle of the aisles is going to have a slightly higher price point,” she said.

Tariffs that previously affected items such as chocolate and coffee have , so home bakers may see some relief. But certain ingredients, including sweet potatoes, could be impacted as farmers are still feeling the repercussions of Hurricane Helene that destroyed crops in North Carolina, Thilmany said.

However, she said consumers and retailers are adapting in different ways.

Grocers are pushing bundled holiday-meal deals to help shoppers save, including grocery giants like Target, Costco, King Soopers, Safeway and Walmart, which is offering a Butterball turkey for 97 cents per pound,

“We know every dollar and minute counts — which is why we are offering a low priced, one-click Thanksgiving Meal Basket featuring iconic brands like Butterball and Stove Top alongside trusted Walmart private brand items,” said John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., in a recent news release.

“We want every family to be able to share a meal and celebrate without compromising on quality, quantity or tradition.”

Customers are buying the bundles, but they are also planning meals more carefully, eating out less and trying to reduce food waste, Thilmany said.

“The real way to keep this cost-effective is to do as much of it from scratch as you can, because basic food ingredients are always going to be cheaper than something that’s had a lot of work or hours spent on creating it for you,” she said.

Looking ahead, Thilmany said ongoing and reversed tariffs will continue to influence the price of key holiday and everyday foods. While some tariffs have recently been lifted, future policy decisions could shift prices again.

Thanksgiving meal bundles across several grocers:

• Walmart����ap Thanksgiving meal serves , the lowest price since Walmart launched the program in 2022.
• Target����ap Thanksgiving meal , or less than $5 per person.
• Costco is offering a , while supplies last. The bundle serves eight to 10 people.
• King Soopers has Thanksgiving meals for a Boneless Turkey Dinner that serves four to six people, and up to $170 for a Thanksgiving Feast Bundle that serves eight to 10 people. The meals are customizable, with à la carte sides available, and must be ordered at least 24 hours in advance.
• Safeway is offering a for $80 that serves six to eight people.

The 19 people needed hospital care and four died after eating foods linked to the nationwide listeria outbreak.

So far, Colorado doesn’t have any known cases, but some of the recalled foods went to stores in the state.

Listeria is most severe for people who are over 65 or have compromised immune systems. It also carries severe risks during pregnancy because of the possibility of premature birth and severe illness in the baby.

The products distributed to Colorado that could have listeria contamination include:

• , sold at Safeway and Albertson’s
• , sold at Walmart
• , sold at multiple retailers
• , sold at Walmart
• , meal delivery service through Kroger and affiliates
• , sold King Soopers and other Kroger affiliates

Other recalled products sold in Colorado include:

• products that may contain wood, sold at multiple retailers
• that may contain metal, sold at multiple retailers
• Aquastar and Kroger , that could contain trace amounts of a radioactive element, sold at King Soopers and City Market
• , distributed through the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Agriculture commodity program