On the roster (16): Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, Mike McGlinchey, Alex Palczewski, Frank Crum, Alex Forsyth, Kage Casey, Matt Peart, Calvin Throckmorton, Nick Gargiulo, Michael Dieter, Reid Holskey, Gavin Ortega and Tyler Miller.

How many on the 53? 9-10.

Most impactful offseason move: Re-signing Palczewski to a two-year, $9.5 million deal

The Broncos really made three decisions that all float in the same nexus and could have made the cut here. They made an offseason priority of keeping ‘Palcho,’ the versatile fourth-year man out of Illinois, in the fold for multiple years going forward. They drafted Casey in the fourth round in April’s draft. They also did nothing with Powers’ contract, a quietly impactful move in absentia.

The nod goes to Palcho, though, because he started 10 games in 2025 and could theoretically be Denver’s primary backup at three spots going into the regular season this fall — left guard, right guard and right tackle. His ability to move to the left side and hold down Powers’ spot when Powers tore his bicep last fall was hailed throughout the building as an incredible feat. It seems a matter of time before he’s a starter, though where that will be remains to be seen.

Biggest question to answer in camp: Can the starting quintet stay healthy and keep this run going?

Yeah, there are some interesting developmental figures and potentially even maybe some playing time up for grabs — more on that below — but this is one of the most experienced, highest-rated and most expensive offensive lines. They have a pair of returning first-team All-Pros in Meinerz and Bolles and three others making top-10 money at their positions. They  have combined to start 321 games for the Broncos (426 overall in the NFL). They have played in postseason games here and elsewhere. They’re an elite pass-protecting group and a good run-blocking one. If Webb taking over the play-calling helps Denver find a real identity in the run game, this can be the best group in the league. At the same time, Bolles (34), McGlinchey (32) and Powers (29) will all be on the back side of 30 by the time Denver hits its bye week. So, this is a group that����ap expected to continue its run from the past two years and also carries a moderate dose of age-related risk.

Battle to watch: Left guard (maybe)

Powers has been Denver’s starting left guard for the entire Payton era when he’s been healthy. Palczewski filled in ably last year, but Powers raced back from a substantial injury and, as soon as he was ready, the Broncos worked him back in. Not only that, but they could have cut him this offseason and saved considerable cap space or pushed hard to get him to take a pay cut. They obviously did not cut him and if they asked him to take a pay cut, they eventually blinked because just ahead of free agency this spring, the Broncos informed Powers they wouldn’t be touching his contract. So now Powers goes into the final year of his deal with the second-highest cap charge on the team ($18.16 million), which makes him look clearly like the starting left guard. The question: Can Palcho make a run at his job? Does Denver want him to in camp? If the offensive coaches start rotating them or pitching this as a battle for the No. 1 job, it’ll be a really good one. If not, the Broncos can be confident Palczewski is ready to play there should he be needed.

Under the radar: Casey

The rookie enters his first training camp in terrific position. He’s got coaches in Zach Strief and Chris Morgan who are considered top-shelf developers, he’s got veterans in the room to learn from regardless of which position of the several he could end up playing longer-term he’s looking at on a given day. At the same time, though, there will be a sense of urgency to get Casey ready to play. You never know when your number might get called. If this is indeed Powers’ last year in Denver, Casey could compete with Palczewski for the job next summer. He could end up competing with Crum for a tackle job instead. Or he could become what Palcho is at the moment — a valuable depth piece capable of playing up to four (or, if we’re stretching it a bit, all five) positions. The Broncos would be happy if they only have to replace one starter over the next two-ish seasons. They also know that number could, in a worst-case scenario, be three or more.

Well before the sting of Denver’s loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game wore off, before anybody headed out of town to decompress and before, even, players had fully cleared out of the locker room, Payton paid a visit to offensive line coach Zach Strief in his office.

The topic of conversation: The need to run the football better and more efficiently than the Broncos did in 2025, particularly after J.K. Dobbins was injured in Week 10.

“I feel like we’re far enough along with the RPOs and some of that, but when we want to run it under center and control a game, we’ve been able to do it a few times, but not as much as I’d like,” Payton said Jan. 27. “That’ll be an important study. And with urgency.”

Nearly five months later, Payton, in some way, shape or form, has mentioned run game consistency nearly every time he’s talked with reporters. The Broncos must find ways to run the ball efficiently when they want to this fall, but just as critically, they must be able to do it when they have to.

The extent to which the Broncos are able to improve or fail to, of course, will not be known for a couple more months, and the full answer won’t come until January. There are pieces to the puzzle that will be critical, like exactly how Payton and new offensive playcaller Davis Webb develop their mix in the run game, that are still to be determined.

With only training camp and the preseason left before the 2026 campaign begins, though, there are already months of moves and tweaks that show how Denver hopes the puzzle fits together more completely this fall.

The Broncos are likely to rely on the same offensive line that powered the attack last year. Beyond that, virtually everything else will be at least somewhat different.

Start with the backs themselves. The Broncos re-signed Dobbins and have RJ Harvey heading into Year 2, but they also drafted Jonah Coleman in the fourth round. If Coleman is the pass protector the Broncos believe he can be as a rookie, then Denver has a cleaner-fitting set of three backs than it did last year, with Dobbins as the lead man, Harvey as a No. 2 and terrific pass-catcher and Coleman as a third-down back. They are also better fortified should Dobbins (or somebody else) miss time due to injury.

“I think it����ap important to stack that position,” Payton said Tuesday. “We drafted to a strength again.”

The Broncos found themselves short at the position last year when Dobbins sustained a Lisfranc injury in Week 10. They went from averaging 4.8 yards per carry and 128.6 yards per game over the first 10 games to 3.9 yards per carry and 104.5 per game in the final seven. Denver averaged 3.2 yards per carry and totaled 149 rushing yards across two postseason games.

The Broncos, though, didn’t just struggle in the second half of the season. Over the course of the year, they also ran the ball better late in games once they had established some rhythm.

Harvey’s average was marginally better (3.9) in the second half compared to the first (3.5), while Dobbins’ was substantially better, jumping from 4.1 early to 5.6 late.

Some of those marks could be driven by game situations — a rugged Broncos offensive line leaning on opposing defenses or the comfort of playing with a lead — but another possible factor is Payton’s preference to throw a lot of different looks and calls early in a game and then tailor from there.

If the Broncos can identify things that they can truly hang their hat on, perhaps Webb will get to them earlier and hammer them harder out of the gate.

“It����ap going to look a little different, obviously, there’s a different guy calling the plays,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Wednesday. “That’ll be a little different and I think that will be an advantage, especially early for us. We open up with a division opponent and they don’t have any tape on you, that����ap always helpful.”

Once the element of surprise wears off, the key will be how Webb approaches calling the run game. He said earlier this month he expects Denver’s approach will change throughout the year and noted that the Los Angeles Rams didn’t commit to playing with three tight ends so frequently until six weeks into last year.

Still, what Webb sees as the Broncos’ bread-and-butter should be clear before that. Is it the smorgasbord approach Payton’s taken? Is it more reliance on the outside zone principles the Broncos talked up last summer and never really fully leaned into during the season? Something else?

McGlinchey sounded like a guy who’d played in an outside zone-based system for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco the first five years of his career on Wednesday when outlining another key.

“I think having play(-action) pass work off of it will be a huge factor as well,” he said. “If you can make everything look similar, it makes it hard to diagnose what����ap about to happen. We’ve been working on those things wholeheartedly.”

A lot has to go right in order to have a consistently productive run game. The Broncos could certainly use better blocking overall from their receivers and tight ends. They need a Year 2 jump from Harvey, and perhaps nothing would go further than Dobbins staying healthy and playing the first full season of his career.

Time will tell on all of that. In the meantime, though, Denver has pieced together several changes that amount to a fairly substantial revamp. The Broncos have retooled the running back room itself, changed the offensive playcaller and appear poised to take a somewhat different approach schematically.

All of that must come together around a front-line group that has established itself as one of the best in the business.

“At the end of the day it����ap an attitude and I think we have that attitude,” McGlinchey said.

A few weeks shy of his 32nd birthday, why is he playing the best football of his career?

“Just work. And I started to find the belief and understanding of what we are doing,” McGlinchey told The Post after the Broncos’ final day of mandatory minicamp on Wednesday. “It’s a funny thing that even nine years in, you still battle those mental demons because you are so competitive.”

McGlinchey should have earned All-Pro honors last season. He was that good, building off consistency that started when he returned from an MCL knee injury on Nov. 17, 2024 at New Orleans.

He allowed two sacks in 2025. He was a force in the run game.

The idea that he would age better than Ryan Seacrest seemed preposterous during his first season in Denver. McGlinchey had seven false starts and seemed out of sorts. He signed a five-year, $87.5 million free agent contract, a reward for a lifetime of work.

Then came the hard part: He had to live up to it.

“That can go one of two ways, as you know,” McGlinchey said. “And Zach Strief changed my life.”

Strief, the Broncos offensive line coach, walked in McGlinchey’s shoes as a longtime right tackle for Sean Payton with the Saints. Strief understood what McGlinchey needed to do to reach his potential. But McGlinchey was not initially ready for the advice.

“We butted heads at practice, on the sideline, in the meeting rooms,” McGlinchey said.

McGlinchey cared about football too much, his passion blending into obsession. It led to unintended consequences of selfishness and doubt.

“I just think I wanted it so bad. I was told by somebody that if your greatest strengths aren’t disciplined, they very easily can become your greatest weakness. So my love for this was getting channeled in ways that were not helping me. It was becoming too pressurized. The expectations were externally focused instead of inwardly focused,” McGlinchey said. “At some point, you have to just let yourself play football. And Zach and I have done a lot of work on that. He has such a unique ability to connect, teach and make you believe.”

Standing a few pointy strands of hair shy of 6-foot-8 and weighing 315 pounds, McGlinchey fills the doorway to the Broncos locker room. His voice straddles somewhere between Alan Roach and Barry White, deep, unmistakable. It is difficult to imagine him wavering at anything.

Creative tension with Strief ultimately became his compass direction. McGlinchey listened, let go. He also let himself relax, realizing there were things more important than a three-point stance with two kids — 2-year-old son Tripp, 4-month-old daughter Rosie — and a loving wife, Brooke, at home.

“Being a dad has helped. It’s the first time there was something more important than what I was doing on the field. It has given me freedom,” McGlinchey said. “Even if I stink out here, my kids don’t care. Nor will my wife. It really puts things in proper perspective.”

Entering his fourth season in Denver, the focus has narrowed. The buy-in is a given. McGlinchey remains a critical piece in a Broncos offensive line that ranks among the NFL’s best. Pro Football Focus graded them seventh in run blocking and first in pass blocking.

The linemen play with violence and technique. McGlinchey said he has never been around someone who coaches pass protection better.

“It’s all based on, can you stop power? Can you stop bull-rushes?” Strief said.

Bo Nix might as well have been behind a paywall last season. The Broncos’ 23 sacks allowed were tied for the fewest in the league.

“The entire offensive line is solid,” said Matt Ryan when he was a CBS analyst before becoming the Atlanta Falcons president of football this offseason. “I think Mike played some of his best football. And there’s no one tougher than him.”

Ryan would know. He is McGlinchey’s cousin and has followed his football journey for two decades.

What makes McGlinchey’s renaissance fascinating is how it ties into the group.

When Payton took over in February of 2023, rebuilding upfront was a top priority. He signed left guard Ben Powers and McGlinchey in the first hours of free agency. With camp six weeks out, the Broncos boast two All-Pros — left tackle Garett Bolles and right guard Quinn Meinerz — as well as a steady center in Luke Wattenberg, the powerful Powers and ascending McGlinchey.

They are committed. Invested. Protective.

It’s not just the bodyguard stuff that teammates appreciate. It is the effort, the edge, the mentality created that permeates the building.

“When we first got together that first year, we said to each other: ‘This team won’t change unless this room changes.’ And if this room can be the strength of this organization, then this team is going places. And Zach has put that at the forefront of everything we do,” McGlinchey said. “It is not about being great individually. It’s about being great together.”

The best groups function like five fingers forming a fist. But while expectations in the building center on a Super Bowl, outsiders revel in punching the Broncos in the throat. Their over-under for wins is 9.5 in most shops — a prediction that, if it comes true, would leave the Broncos out of the playoffs after losing in the AFC Championship Game last season.

“I don’t really care that Vegas has us with the third best odds to win the AFC West. Whatever. What we have is self-belief and proof. And our head coach won’t allow us to worry about that. He has a great message every morning in the team meeting,” McGlinchey said. “He knows how to channel our focus.”

While the roster retention raised external concerns, it is clear that the players see it as a strength. They were a failed fourth down, one dreadful turnover and an ill-timed snowstorm from reaching the Super Bowl.

These are not the Broncos of four years ago. This is definitely not the Mike McGlinchey of 2023.

He is driven to help the O-line become the reason the Broncos cross the finish line.

“If you are right in the slot where you want to play with the mindset you want to play with, there is nobody out there can mess with you and nobody out there that can mess with our group. That is the belief that Zach gives us,” McGlinchey said. “We are going to play six teams in the first six weeks who are all going to be among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. You want the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby, they should feel the same way about our line. T.J. Watt has to get past me, Myles Garrett has to get past Garett Bolles, Chris Jones has to get past Quinn Meinerz. I would say, ‘Good luck.’ If you don’t have that mindset, you have no chance to be successful in this league.”

The Broncos offensive lineman showed enough during training camp to make the 53-man roster despite going undrafted in the spring of 2023.

He was placed on injured reserve after the roster cutdown, and remained there for the entire year and didn’t appear in a game.

Palczewski would work out on Denver’s rehab field on a daily basis, wondering what the future might hold.

In November that year, the Broncos announced plans for a new, cutting-edge $175 million training facility and headquarters project. The next summer, they broke ground on it.

Now the building is nearly complete. Team employees are set to be moved over in less than two weeks. Broncos players will be in their new locker room and digs for training camp next month.

Palczewski last week leaned against a bench after wrapping up the first week of OTAs and looked across at the gleaming new building and smiled, recalling “vividly,” he said, when he first heard about the plans.

“I was like, ‘Oh, it����ap going to be open in 2026?,’” he recalled. “That’ll be pretty nice. I hope those guys enjoy it.”

Turns out, ‘Palcho’ is going to enjoy it, too. Perhaps for many years to come.

The versatile offensive lineman got his biggest opportunity yet in 2025, starting 10 games for injured Ben Powers at left guard — a position he’d never played before — and excelled. This spring, the Broncos rewarded him with a two-year, $9.5 million contract. It came with a $2.5 million signing bonus, $5.75 million in guarantees and can be worth up to $11 million based on incentives.

It also came with a clear message from the club: We may not have a starting job for you at the moment, but you’re a big part of the plan going forward.

‘I’m thankful every single day’

Palczewski was an offseason priority for Denver’s coaching staff and front office. His deal was finalized on March 5 and had been in the works for about a week before that. That meant it was done before the club’s retention run of four more signings closer to the start of free agency, plus Palczewski was a restricted free agent, so the team could have taken more time had it wanted to.

To Palczewski, the wait from the crushing end of Denver’s 2025 season to hearing a deal was on the table felt long enough. It started with exit meetings, when he asked head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton what his future looked like in Denver.

“It����ap so weird, you go from thinking you could go to the Super Bowl, we get our hearts ripped out and then you’ve got to do that,” he said.

They told him they’d get to him. There’s a timeline for these things.

“Then it����ap just silence. We’ll get to it when we get to it,” Palczewski said. “But when it happened? I mean, I’m ecstatic. Looking back at the road, especially being an undrafted guy, I’m thankful every single day.”

Even more rewarding for the Mount Prospect, Illinois native: Since he went undrafted, he chose the Broncos in the first place. He saw Denver generally and offensive line coach Zach Strief specifically as a place where he would get good coaching and development.

Three years later, Palcho has started games at two different positions, earned the staff’s trust and landed a quality contract.

He’s done it, he said, by consciously paring down what he puts thought and energy into.

“When I first got here my rookie year, I was just like, ‘How do I stay here the longest?’” Palczewski said. “And I kind of got into a mental, like, I don’t know how to say it without swearing. I just was, like, I just thought about the big picture too much. ‘What about this and this and this?’ A week or a week and a half in, I was just like, ‘screw that.’ I’m just going to focus on what can I get better at today? Today, today, today. I’ve got 24 hours, what can I do? And then, that way, it felt a lot more manageable.

“I didn’t have to worry about the anxiety of, what����ap going to happen at the end of camp with cuts? Well, if I worry about it and I’m too scared to play free, guess what����ap going to happen? I’m getting cut. 100% chance.”

Finding a future fit

Now the next question: Where will Palcho play in 2026 and beyond? He’s shown he can handle left guard, where Powers is back but entering the final year of his contract. Palcho can play right tackle, where Mike McGlinchey has two years remaining and is coming off one of his best pro seasons, though he turns 32 during training camp.

The Broncos brass knows it can’t have five premium-paid starters forever. They’re wary of getting old across the board at the same time. They’ve got enviable depth and versatility behind their high-priced starting quintet.

All of that means Palczewski’s time is coming. It’s a matter of when.

In the meantime, the soon-to-be 27-year-old is willing to acknowledge that starting is a goal, but he also continues to be adamant about the benefits of playing in a group that����ap been largely intact the past three seasons.

He also knows the career arc of his position coach well. Strief, a seventh-round pick in Sean Payton’s first New Orleans draft class, spent five seasons as a reserve. Then he started 85 games over six years as the Saints’ right tackle.

Palcho? Undrafted in Payton’s first Denver class. Now going into Year 4 still perhaps ticketed for reserve duty, but with a future and a contract that suggests he’ll crack the lineup at some point.

“I think Palcho is in position to be a starter for a long time,” defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said recently.

Until then, Palczewski will keep focusing on small things and trusting they’ll lead to big ones. For himself and for his team.

“It����ap simple for anyone to say, ‘I want to be a Super Bowl champion,’’ Palczewski said, using a high-pitched kid’s voice for emphasis. “OK, well can you (freakin’) back-side cutoff? Can you hit your target on a guy when his shoulders are down on a bull rush? How do you just work it and focus on the process each day?

“If you take care of that, it’ll go on further.”

“Everything we’re doing is hard to accomplish,” Payton said in June of last year, “when that group is not what it needs to be.”

It has been, in Denver. Under offensive-line shepherd Zach Strief, the Broncos have spent handsomely to build one of the most stable fronts in the NFL. The franchise has committed over $341 million in total contract value for starters Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz and Mike McGlinchey since 2023. And the front office has had its faith rewarded for choosing to preserve that group, rather than splinter it for cheaper options.

That investment has suddenly never been more important heading into 2026.

On Monday, the NFL world erupted as the Los Angeles Rams tossed in Pro Bowler Jared Verse and several draft picks for Cleveland Browns titan Myles Garrett. If this were any previous season in Payton’s tenure, this would’ve meant little to Denver. But the league’s rotating schedule ensures the Broncos will face the Rams in Week 3, and now have to mark up a protection plan for the man who .

The Garrett trade, now, only adds another layer to a brutal early-season stretch for Denver — and specifically for the Broncos’ offensive front. Strief, in truth, might not be able to take an actual breath until late October. Consider this run of pass-rushers:

• Week 2 vs. Jacksonville and OLB Josh Hines-Allen, who tied with Nik Bonitto for the fourth-most quarterback pressures in the NFL in 2025 (80)
• Week 3 vs. the Rams and Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year
• Week 4: at San Francisco and former Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa, healthy again after missing all but three games in 2025
• Week 5 at Chargers, who recorded the two highest pressure rates on Bo Nix of any game on Denver’s regular-season schedule last year
• Week 6: vs. reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle, who recorded the fourth-highest pressure rate of any team in 2025

Such a gauntlet of a schedule is ultimately a major reason Denver has so much money tied up in its offensive front. In fact, the Broncos have the third-highest percentage of 2026 cap room tied up in their top seven offensive linemen, according to Spotrac cap-space data assembled by The Post.

This has been Denver’s philosophy since Payton arrived in 2023, as the Broncos’ rebuild began with the signing of McGlinchey and Powers to big-money free-agent deals.

“When Strief first came here and we brought in Mike, brought in Ben, the very foundation of our offensive line is being able to be ready for the biggest moment on the biggest stage,” Meinerz said in late January before the AFC Championship game against New England. “And so, as we’re continuing to play in these bigger and bigger games — our entire philosophy since they got here, for years at this point — that����ap how we treat every single two-minute we work on in training camp. That����ap how we work every single third-down period is, we want to be perfect.”

They were not, in that season-ending 10-7 loss to the Patriots. New England shook free to shake up backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham one too many times, and Patriots defensive lineman Christian Barmore made clear postgame that .

“First-team All-Pro,” Barmore said, after Meinerz was tagged by Pro Football Focus with surrendering five pressures in New England’s win. “Our coach tells us all the time that All-Pro don’t mean (expletive), excuse my language. Doesn’t matter. Our coaches tell us every time, ‘They All-Pros, they the targets.’ So that’s the mission. He’s a hell of a player, but this is for us.”

On the whole, though, Denver’s offensive front largely met the moment in pass protection in 2025. According to a film review by The Denver Post, Broncos offensive linemen were only directly responsible for 14 sacks surrendered to players they were blocking in the 17-game regular season. And the Broncos held five of seven winning defenses they faced last year under their overall quarterback pressure rate in the regular season, according to data collected from Next Gen Stats.

They’ll need more in 2026, and their collection of opponents helps explain the Broncos’ offseason approach to their offensive line. As the calendar has now flipped past June 1, Denver could save itself over $30 million in cap space by cutting or trading McGlinchey and Powers. But the organization has long avoided cutting productive players solely to take money off the books, and would likely only consider moving Powers if reserve Alex Palczewski or fourth-round rookie Kage Casey clearly outplays him at left guard come training camp.

The gang is all back, then, for a third straight year with the exact same starting offensive line. And the Broncos will need all five pieces to topple a Thanos-level threat in Garrett.

Every new face who shows up to the Broncos’ rookie minicamp has their own approach to pre-draft conditioning, leaving them in various stages of physical readiness for a three-day intensive weekend of football. Some, as Payton said, are in great shape. Some are so-so. And some, well — some need a Peloton.

Jonah Coleman does not need a Peloton.

The Broncos’ much-bandied fourth-round running back out of Washington, Coleman has looked “really good” at Denver’s rookie camp this weekend, Payton told reporters Saturday. In the locker room later, Coleman revealed the reason why: a combination of boxing, treadmill cardio, and running on the street in a sauna suit to decrease breathability. The 220-pound running back, after all, will have to adjust to the altitude in Denver.

Not terribly hard, as he’s shown before.

“I’ve been through anything and everything,” Coleman told reporters. “The last time I played here in Boulder — 11 carries, 180 (yards).”

It was actually 179, back when Coleman and Arizona came to Boulder in November 2023. The point stuck. That game, a 34-31 Wildcats win in the first year of the Shedeur Sanders era, was the first impression Coleman left on the state of Colorado before the Broncos landed on him two years later. He was a home-run hitter on that Saturday afternoon: runs of 21, 24, 49 and 54 yards.

The Broncos, though, drafted Coleman more for his ability to hit singles and doubles in an NFL offense. And his supplementary and third-down skills have stood out, two days into his time in Denver’s building.

“Most of the time, when you’re drafting or signing a college running back, there’s going to be a learning curve with protections,” Payton said Saturday. “Certainly the complexity, sometimes what they see. But that was his strong suit, when you were looking at his tape. Like, it����ap different than the rest of the class.”

In addition to the pass-protection hype, Coleman’s pass-catching skills were on full display on the second day of rookie minicamp. He dropped just one pass against 88 career collegiate catches, according to Pro Football Focus, and caught several in a variety of team situations Saturday. Coleman turned up the right sideline nicely on one flare screen in a seven-on-seven period, and ran so furiously on a screen in a later 11-on-11 period that he literally ran over one of his own offensive linemen.

Beyond Coleman, a number of drafted and undrafted rookies have made strong first impressions at the Broncos’ rookie minicamp. Here are four more things The Post learned about this incoming Denver class from observing Saturday’s session.

1. The Broncos like their rookies on the offensive front.

One massive takeaway: undrafted tackle Tyler Miller is a ����������������human being. The Iowa State product looks every bit of a near 6-foot-9 measurement, and started at right tackle for rookie units in 11-on-11 team periods. The Broncos and offensive-line coach Zach Strief found a winner in 2024 with 6-foot-7 tackle Frank Crum, who surprisingly cracked Denver’s roster as an undrafted rookie out of Wyoming in 2024; Miller could be next in the mold of large, under-the-radar but high-upside Broncos tackles.

Payton said Saturday that Denver was able to sign some undrafted offensive linemen that they had “draftable grades on.” That likely includes Miller. That could also include Weber State’s Gavin Ortega, a versatile 6-foot-5 piece who sports golden-blonde locks flowing from the back of his helmet. Throw that together with the Broncos’ fourth-round draftee Kage Casey, and there’s potential here.

“It’s an impressive-looking group,” Payton said.

Casey, notably, was playing left guard during team periods Saturday. That’s where he could fit in Denver long-term, as veteran LG Ben Powers is on the final year of his deal.

2. Cam Ross and Dane Key are the early WR favorites to stick past August.��

The two undrafted free agents authored two of the standout plays of minicamp. Ross, a well-traveled collegiate receiver who graduated from Virginia, showed off 4.42-second speed on a blazing deep ball — from veteran Nathan Peterman, no less. Key, the brother of Broncos safety Devon Key, fought off good coverage from UDFA cornerback Brent Austin to make a fantastic back-shoulder grab down the left sideline in a later 11-on-11 period.

It’ll be exceedingly difficult for either to make the initial 53-man roster, with the Broncos’ top five WRs set (Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Troy Franklin Pat Bryant, Marvin Mims Jr.) and veterans Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Michael Bandy hanging around. The 6-foot-2 Key, though, could offer an upside practice-squad body. And Ross, in particular, caught coaches eyeballs’ Saturday. He’s much thicker than his 5-foot-9 frame suggests on paper.

“Speed and IQ,” Ross told The Post, asked what he feels he’s shown coaches. “Most important, I just want to show them I know where to line up and I know what I’m doing. For me, I take pride in that.”

3. Justin Joly is a younger Evan Engram, in style.

The Broncos moved up in the fifth round of the 2026 draft to pick the 6-foot-3 Joly as a classic F-type tight end, a receiver who can thrive with pre-snap movement and winning in open space. That’s the same reason they signed veteran Evan Engram in last year’s free agency. At first glance, Joly profiles quite similarly to the 31-year-old Engram, who faded in and out of offensive plans in a 50-catch 2025 season.

In team periods Saturday, Joly motioned around the slot and outside, similar to how Engram lined up throughout practices last year. And Joly’s ability to stick in Denver and compete with Engram in camp will ultimately come down to Payton’s trust in Joly as a blocker, as Engram was on the field in a blocking role for just 18% of his snaps in 2025.

Another potential differentiator: Joly’s ability as a vertical threat in the red zone. The NC State product had seven touchdowns on 49 catches last year, and authored a quiet highlight early in a receiving drill when he somehow leapt to tip a pass well behind him — and somehow snagged it while falling to the turf.

“If you want to put me in the backfield, if you want to put me anywhere on the field, I’ll do it,” Joly said, asked on his role. “Even if they want me to play defense. Just let me know, and I got you guys.”

4. Kurt Warner’s son may find his way back this summer.

After Bo Nix’s follow-up ankle procedure caused quite the stir in recent weeks, Payton said Nix could still end up throwing in minicamp later in June. He all but ruled Nix out for OTAs at the beginning of the month, though. It’s possible that the Broncos could just roll with the backup tandem of Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger, for however many periods Nix is sidelined.

In the meantime, though, Denver could take a long look back at a notable name at rookie minicamp Saturday: quarterback EJ Warner, the son of Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. The Fresno State product didn’t exactly wow with size — a visible tick shy of a 5-foot-11 pre-draft measurement — but displayed solid timing and kept the rhythm humming on Saturday.

“This Warner looks, reminds me a lot of Chase Daniel,” Payton said, referring to a former New Orleans backup in Daniel. “If you see his height, weight, size and speed, they’re very similar. He’s done a nice job. He’s done a very nice job.”

Yes — the Broncos’ head coach is quick to admit he covets larger receivers.

“It’s not that I don’t like smaller receivers,” Payton said last June, on third-round pick Pat Bryant. “I do. But the bigger receivers that can block and are physical at the line of scrimmage … he showed those traits.”

These Broncos already had so many in their room — Courtland Sutton, Bryant, Troy Franklin — that they traded 6-foot-5 wideout Devaughn Vele to the New Orleans Saints before the start of the 2025 season for draft capital. A year later, though, they’ve brought another batch of undrafted rookies into the fray to compete for a roster spot.

Nebraska’s Dane Key stands 6-foot-2 and a half. TCU’s Joseph Manjack IV is 6-foot-2. Charlotte’s Sean Brown, a complete unknown in the draft process who currently has less than 300 followers on Twitter, measures 6-foot-3. Along with speed receivers Kolbe Katsis and Cam Ross, all will vie for a roster spot in training camp on undrafted free-agent contracts with the Broncos — even as Denver has a wealth of resources in the room following its March trade for Dolphins Pro Bowl receiver Jaylen Waddle.

Regardless of any pre-existing surplus, the Broncos are known among agents across the NFL as a premier destination for undrafted clients. Payton, for a brief time early in his tenure with the New Orleans Saints, would offer scouts cash out of his own pocket for hitting on an undrafted rookie who eventually made the roster. And the organization will take an intriguing crop of 14 undrafted prospects into this weekend’s rookie minicamp, the first time draft picks and tryout players alike will put on pads in Denver.

The Broncos are currently sitting at 93 countable players on the offseason roster, over the offseason limit of 90. They’ll need to cut three names by the start of Friday’s rookie minicamp to meet NFL compliance, and those names could come from this list. For now, here’s a hype meter on each of Denver’s post-draft free-agent rookie class.

The blue-chipper

ILB Taurean York, Texas A&M: The single most productive player Denver signed who didn’t get drafted, York started 39 straight games for the Aggies since his true freshman season and will become the youngest player (at 20 years old) on the Broncos’ current roster. He didn’t get drafted for one key reason: he stands 5-foot-10, and his athleticism — despite running the 40-yard-dash in a solid 4.59 seconds — isn’t explosive enough to overcome size concerns. All that said, though, he has the kind of grit and IQ that Payton and Denver’s entire building loves.

“He doesn’t run a 4.3 … but mentally, that kid plays at a 3.9,” said Scott Stewart, York’s former Temple High coach. “I mean, there is not a scheme out there that he doesn’t understand or won’t understand.”

Two undrafted inside linebackers, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner, became 53-man roster stalwarts by the end of 2025. Don’t be surprised if York’s next.

Athletic upside swings

OT Tyler Miller, Iowa State: The rationale here is pretty simple — tackles with this kind of size don’t just sprout from collegiate fields. Miller stands 6-foot-8-plus, weighs 324, and has above-average arm length at 34.1 inches. Add in a decent 40-yard dash (5.21 seconds) and an explosive broad jump (9 feet, 9 inches) in pre-draft testing, and Miller could easily be the next developmental offensive lineman in the pipeline for coach Zach Strief. He took major strides as a pass-protector in his final season at Iowa State, too

LB/S Dasan McCullough, Nebraska: No clue where he fits on an NFL field, but it could be fun to figure out. In his second season at Oklahoma in 2023, the 6-foot-5 hybrid defender played what the Sooners dubbed the “Cheetah” position — a hybrid linebacker-safety-nickel role tasked with a variety of different assignments against the run and pass. He never quite found a consistent position in college, but showed flashes of potential as both a pass-rusher and dropping back into coverage. Have fun, Vance Joseph.

OL Gavin Ortega, Weber State: Ortega primarily played tackle his last three years at Weber State, and was largely excellent, but will likely shift inside in the NFL due to his height (6-foot-5). His pre-draft testing , and he should have versatility across a variety of different spots on the offensive line, a quality the Broncos love.

WR Cam Ross, Virginia: One of the weirder collegiate careers you’ll see. Ross had 723 yards as a freshman at UConn in 2019, played just five games combined over the next three seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic and injuries, and has played for three schools in the last three years. He caught 53 passes in his final stop at Virginia in 2025, and his speed — a 4.42-second 40-yard dash — made him a return threat on both punts and kicks. The Broncos want another credible returner next to Marvin Mims Jr., so there’s opportunity there.

The Payton-types

WR Dane Key, Nebraska: In what’ll become a notable under-the-radar storyline in training camp, Key is the younger brother of Broncos safety and All-Pro safety Devon Key. He’s got game in his own right, too, with 2,322 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns across four collegiate seasons. Key showcased strong skills as a blocker and decent hands in college, but will need to carve out a role as a trusty possession receiver and special-teamer to have any shot at cracking Denver’s initial 53-man roster.

WR Joseph Manjack IV, TCU: Look at Manjack’s tape back at Houston in 2023, and there’s something here. He racked up 577 yards and six touchdowns in just 10 games as a sophomore, before his production fell off as a junior and he transferred to TCU for a final season. Manjack’s vertical, speed and agility testing are all solid at his 6-foot-2 height, and he’s got the frame and athleticism to earn a long glance in training camp.

WR Sean Brown, Charlotte: Where’d Brown come from? After two quiet seasons at under-the-radar Charlotte, he racked up 35 and 36 catches in each of his last two seasons, respectively. The size is the draw here, but Brown never had much red-zone production in college.

College production is there, but is the upside?

CB Brent Austin, Cal: Finding a roster spot as a cornerback, with the Broncos’ current roster makeup, is probably the toughest task possible for any undrafted newcomer in training camp. Austin, though, surrendered just a 46% catch rate in 2025 at Cal (according to Pro Football Focus) and has at least 10 passes defensed in each of his last two seasons. He’ll likely project as more of an inside corner at 6-foot-11.

CB Ahmari Harvey, Georgia Tech: Harvey actually profiles quite similarly to Austin, allowing a 44% catch rate in his snaps in 2025 and also standing 5-foot-11. His 1.52-second 10-yard split in pre-draft testing, though, suggests better foot speed. Harvey actually also played with Bo Nix at Auburn as a true freshman in 2021, before transferring to Georgia Tech.

The special-team standouts

WR Kolbe Katsis, Northern Arizona: An FCS product, Katsis has top-of-the-line speed, with a 4.43-second 40-yard-dash and 1.52-second 10-yard-split. He was dominant at NAU in 2025, with 1,016 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, and ran back a kickoff for a touchdown. That last point is important, as he’ll likely profile more as a returner. Again, there’s an opportunity to impress special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi there.

S Parker Robertson, Oklahoma State: Robertson worked his way from a reserve role to a starter across five seasons at Oklahoma State, and his program loyalty and steady improvement would likely endear him to Denver’s staff. He had 8.5 tackles for loss and a couple of picks in 2025, and played consistent special-teams snaps the last three seasons. If he shows more upside on kickoff units than secondary depth options like JL Skinner or Reese Taylor, Robertson could grind his way to a roster spot.

CB William Wright, Tennessee: Similar to Robertson, Wright grinded out five seasons at Tennessee — but never actually graduated to a starting role in the secondary. He had more snaps on special teams, in fact, than on defense across his collegiate career. That’s great versatility, but Wright will need to prove he can cover at an NFL level to have any chance at making his mark in training cmap.

LS Luke Basso, Oregon: Yes — a long-snapper deal. The Broncos currently have veteran Mitchell Fraboni under contract, but here’s some competition. Basso played with Nix at Oregon for two years, and was named second-team All-Big Ten by coaches in 2024 and 2025.

There was no glitz to his profile then, though, entering a rebuilding program with exactly one total win in its last two seasons. Coleman was wedged behind two seniors, too, in D.J. Williams and Michael Wiley. So then-Wildcats RBs coach Scottie Graham offered a word of advice stuck.

“Coach Graham told me the only way I’m going to get on the field,” Coleman recalled Saturday, “is if I pick up blitzes.”

It’s become a staple of the 22-year-old running back’s game ever since, through two years growing into all-around stardom at Arizona and two years following head coach Jedd Fisch to Washington. NFL.com gave 28 true running backs a draftable grade in this class. Coleman ranked third, according to data collected by The Denver Post, . In a late-September loss to Ohio State in 2025, Coleman picked up eventual star linebacker Sonny Styles on a blitz — and sent the eventual No. 7 pick falling from heaven to earth.

Jonah Coleman meeting Sonny Styles in pass pro

— Drew Beatty (@IronCityFilm)

That rep, and dozens of others like it, formed the foundation for the Broncos’ interest in the stocky Coleman — their chosen running back among a long list available on Day 3 of the NFL Draft.

“Now I get to go protect Bo Nix, and I take pride in that,” Coleman said on a conference call Saturday afternoon, shortly after the Broncos drafted him at pick No. 108 in the fourth round. “And I may not have, like, all the exciting plays, all that. But I do the dirty work.

“I do the things that not a lot of people pay attention to.”

They’ll be paying attention in Denver, where the Broncos’ backfield fell into utter flux last year after veteran J.K. Dobbins’ season-ending Lisfranc injury in Week 10. Denver was left, after a regular-season stretch run and a berth in the AFC Championship Game, with a mishmash of running backs with noteable holes in their skill sets.

Dynamic 2025 second-round rookie RJ Harvey excelled in the receiving game and was the heaviest back on the roster — but averaged just 2.8 yards a carry on runs outside the tackles in 2025 (according to Pro Football Focus), trying to bounce out one too many carries. RB3 Tyler Badie excelled in pass protection — but had four drops in 31 targets and offered little in the ground game. Change-of-pace vet Jaleel McLaughlin was the Broncos’ most productive per-touch back — but has never been trusted for third-down work in his three seasons in Denver.

Enter Coleman, a grinder who lacks top-of-the-line athleticism but can fill in every possible gap in the Broncos’ current backfield.

“I can ultimately add to that culture that they have, and be that thumper runner that they have,” Coleman told reporters Saturday. “And just being able to come in, and being with guys like RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins and stuff like that, you ultimately have a three-headed monster in the run game.”

A day after Denver’s season ended with 79 total rushing yards and a 10-7 loss in a blizzard to New England, head coach Sean Payton stepped into offensive-line coach Zach Strief’s office with a directive to improve the Broncos’ run-game consistency. For months thereafter, the Broncos stood pat with their backfield. They re-signed the productive but injury-riddled Dobbins. They expressed faith in Harvey as an eventual three-down weapon. They brought back Badie and McLaughlin on one-year, minimum deals.

Payton hinted at league meetings, though, that running back would still be “a focus” in Denver’s draft plans. Quietly, the Broncos evaluated a number of running-back options in free agency — even after re-upping with Dobbins. One name they were interested in, as multiple sources have told The Denver Post: former Commanders RB Chris Rodriguez Jr., a 220-pound back who profiled well in short-yardage work.

Coleman also weighs exactly 220 pounds, . Denver has needed a heavier back who can handle some between-the-tackles and short-yardage work to preserve Dobbins’ body and keep Harvey fresh; Coleman could step into immediate red-zone snaps for the Broncos, running for a combined 25 touchdowns across his last two seasons at Washington.

Denver, though, spent the most time with Coleman pre-draft evaluating his abilities as a third-down back, where he can provide an immediate all-around upgrade from Badie. Two months ago, Coleman told The Post that he’d “really just talked about pass protection” in a pre-draft interview with Broncos staff, and they drilled him in situational work in anticipating his assignments for blitz pickups.

The Washington product played all four of his collegiate seasons for Fisch, a one-time Broncos assistant who’s part of the coaching trees of Mike Shanahan and Sean McVay. Coleman told The Post in February, too, that Washington and Denver “run the same schemes,” and he felt confident, from an initial meeting, that he could catch on to Payton and Davis Webb’s offense quickly.

“We just hit it off right off the bat,” Coleman said Saturday, recalling that initial combine meeting. “As soon as I walked in, I felt the energy, and really the love, from the start. And went in there, and we just talked some ball, and just crushed it.

“And when I went up there on a visit,” Coleman continued, noting a pre-draft top-30 visit in Denver, “all I kept hearing was they were really impressed with my interview at the combine.”

Coleman’s durability, despite his size, is a definite concern: he’s averaged less than 4 yards per carry in the final four games of both his 2024 and 2025 seasons. An ankle injury hampered his production down the stretch in his senior year in particular, as he finished with a middling 758 rushing yards on 4.9 yards per carry last winter.

The running back, for his part, pointed to his declining production in 2025 as an injury-related coaching decision.

“Coach Fisch knew that I was a Sunday player,” Coleman said, “and ultimately, it was about my future. So, just being smart there.”

Coleman, though, has been Washington’s far-and-away bell-cow back in 2024 and 2025. That won’t be his role in Denver, where he’ll likely provide instant third-down work — Badie played 18% of the Broncos’ total snaps last season — and take some occasional early-down bruising off Dobbins and Harvey.

The Washington back won’t gleam as bright as the grills, perhaps, in rookie-year grunt work in Denver. But in due time, too, the Coleman-Harvey duo could shine as the Broncos’ backfield of the future.

“Right after the visit,” Coleman said, “I knew I was going to be a Denver Bronco. And it was always God’s plan.

“It worked out how it was supposed to.”

Behind the scenes, general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton have discussed that this year’s draft will hinge on Day 3.

“These two fourth-round picks,” Paton said in a presser Friday night, “will define this draft.”

Indeed, after filling a John Franklin-Myers-sized hole at defensive line with Texas A&M’s versatile Tyler Onyedim on Friday, Denver has a few more positional needs to fill out at picks No. 108 and No. 111 — and beyond. After just one pick through the first three rounds of this year’s NFL Draft, the Broncos are set up for a whopping seven overall selections across Saturday afternoon. That’s not even to mention a class of undrafted free agents, where Denver has found key contributors like Ja’Quan McMillian and offensive lineman Alex Palczewski in recent years under Paton.

Paton said Denver explicitly avoided trading back up into the third round Friday night because the organization liked the glut of talent available on Day 3.

“We’re looking for young, developmental backups with some traits that we can develop, and you can find those all across Day 3,” Paton said. “We’re not going to reach to go up and get a guy. We feel good about where we are at, and we feel really good about the day … we got (Jaylen) Waddle, and then we got this kid who we really like, and then tomorrow we’re going to have a good day.”

Many impact linebackers and tight ends flew off the board in rounds two and three on Friday night. But if the Broncos still intend to add a new face to their running-back room, they should be able to find a difference-maker in the fourth round and beyond. A slew of defensive backs and offensive linemen, too, still sit on the board.

Here are The Denver Post’s 20 best fits remaining for the Broncos through rounds four, five, six, seven and beyond, if Denver indeed wants to have a good day Saturday.

Offense

RB Jonah Coleman, Washington: One of the cleanest fits to Denver from a skill-set standpoint, Coleman is productive on early downs, had 54 catches in two seasons at UW and is a quality pass protector.

RB Mike Washington, Arkansas: There are still a number of intriguing running backs on the board as Day 3 begins. Washington, a big, fast, physical back who has produced in the SEC, is near the top of the list.

RB Adam Randall, Clemson: If you’re looking for a fascinating roll of the dice, Randall is a converted receiver who goes 6-3 and 235 pounds. The Broncos flew out to work him out shortly before the draft.

TE Justin Joly, NC State: Just one tight end went in the first 53 picks of the draft. Then eight went in the final 47 on Friday night. That cleaned out the upper ranks pretty thoroughly, though Joly is an accomplished pass-catcher. He’d be an interesting ‘F’ who has a chance to be a decent blocker.

TE Jack Endries, Texas: Perhaps not super exciting, but Endries has a chance to be the kind of do-it-all ‘Y’ tight end. He’s had 91 catches for 1,030 over 2023-24 at Cal, then 33 catches last year at Texas.

TE Tanner Koziol, Houston: The opposite, in some ways, to Endries, Koziol is a roll of the dice on traits. He’s 6-7 and 247 pounds. He had 74 catches last year alone at Houston and 94 in 2024 at Ball State. He fits the Payton mold like seventh-rounder Caleb Lohner a year ago.

OL Travis Burke, Memphis: A massive tackle prospect, Burke would be an interesting player to add to Zach Strief’s developmental program. He’s listed at 6-9 and 325 pounds and has played both tackle spots in college.

OL Jude Bowry, Boston College: A versatile, experienced offensive lineman who can provide depth at multiple spots and has the athleticism to be a potential long-term option at a tackle spot. Friday showed that Denver is always looking to add in the trenches.

WR/RB Eli Heidenreich, Navy: Heidenreich is widely listed as a running back, but what will he actually be in the NFL? Carried the ball 169 times and caught 109 passes in college. He had 51 catches for 941 yards in 2025. Could be a multidimensional offensive player and a return man.

WR Elijah Sarratt, Indiana: The Broncos would have to take him at No. 108 or 111 if they want him — if he even makes it that far into Saturday. They don’t have a need at receiver. And yet… he just feels like a Sean Payton kind of pass-catcher.

Defense

ILB Jimmy Rolder, Michigan: A former reserve who seized a starting role in 2025, Rolder is a draft riser who could rise all the way to Denver in the fourth round. The size is good at 6-foot-2 and 238 pounds, and the agility is even better. He had 73 tackles and seven tackles for loss in 2025.

ILB Kaleb Elarms-Orr, TCU: One of The Post’s favorite fits throughout this process. Elarms-Orr would be a great fourth-round value after a season with 130 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and four sacks in 2025.

ILB Kyle Louis, Pitt: A safety-linebacker hybrid who could excel in sideline-to-sideline and coverage situations, but will have natural durability questions because of his frame — 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds. Still, one of the best LBs left on the board.

OLB Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State: The Broncos don’t need another edge rusher. They’re moving Jonah Elliss to ILB in large part to open up snaps for the ascending Que Robinson. But the 6-foot-5 Dennis-Sutton’s potential and sheer agility are off the charts, at his size. It could be the best available situation.

OLB Dasan McCollough, Nebraska: What kind of linebacker is McCollough? Unclear. The potential, however, is quite apparent. He’s 6-foot-5, with good speed and explosiveness. A potentially fun project.

DL Uar Bernard, International Player Pathway Program: Literally the most athletic player in this draft. Literally the most athletic defensive lineman ever. The only issue? He’s never played a snap of football. Sounds like an excellent seventh-round or undrafted project.

CB Latrell McCutchin, Houston: Good size, good experience, and a ton of connections to the Broncos’ current defensive staff. The lack of ball production is a concern, but McCutchin had 10 passes defensed in 2025.

S Keionte Scott, Miami: One of the consensus best defensive backs left on the board. The problem with the 5-foot-10 Scott: Is he a nickel? Is he an undersized safety? The traits — a 44-inch vertical and 4.33-second 40-yard dash — are well worth taking a Day 3 swing.

S Kamari Ramsey, USC: The attributes don’t leap off the page, and might turn Denver away in their search for tool-laden prospects. But Ramsey’s IQ is off the charts, and he has plenty of familiarity with new Broncos defensive-backs coach Doug Belk after two years together at USC.

S Jalon Kilgore, South Carolina: 4.40 40-yard dash and 37-inch vertical screams promise. Had 10 pass deflections in 2025 and five interceptions in 2024, and could be a developmental ball-hawk behind Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones (the latter of which is on an expiring deal).

1,300 miles away, the biggest news of the day inside a quiet Broncos facility in Dove Valley: ?

The Broncos’ brass, of course, all took their seats in the war room for the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. They sat. And continued to sit, for 32 picks, as the rest of the league maneuvered around them. This was the reality all but ensured since March 17, when general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton and the rest of the staff decided that trading for Dolphins star receiver Jaylen Waddle would be well worth the ultimate price of their first-round pick.

NFL draft 2026 first-round winners and losers: The Jets QB of the future is smiling somewhere. Matthew Stafford? Maybe not

"We spent a lot of time looking at that selection, and trying to determine — we could safely say that pick would’ve been one of these 7 or 8 players," Payton said at league meetings in late March. "And we didn’t feel like that would help us as much as Jaylen Waddle.”

In a pre-draft press conference last week, Paton all but promised that Denver's draft festivities wouldn't start until Day 2 on Friday night, with the Broncos' current capital too limited to swing a massive trade to leap back into the first round from their No. 62 selection. And a handful of potential Denver options already leaped off the board in the first round as the Vikings swung on high-upside but injury-concern DT Caleb Banks at No. 18 (a Broncos top-30 visit) and the Seahawks snagged Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price with the last pick of the first round.

There's even more urgency for the Broncos to hit on their Day 2 selection now, though, as other AFC West teams leveled up Thursday night. The Raiders, of course, took their franchise man in quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall. The Chargers added a potentially instant-impact edge rusher, Akheem Mesidor, late in the first round. And the Chiefs to take LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane as a new antidote to the Waddle-Courtland Sutton combination in Denver.

The Broncos, however, will enter Day 2 with a slew of targets still left on the board, as Paton said last week, there's "six players we're kinda focused on" that the Broncos feel could fall to them at No. 62. Most of those six should still be there, come Friday night — whether the Broncos move up or back to get them.

Here's a breakdown of the 10 best remaining fits for Denver at their late-second-round slot Friday.

10 best remaining for Broncos at No. 62

RB Mike Washington Jr., Arkansas: One NFL assistant coach who's heavily evaluated this RB class told The Post that "some team will take (Washington) higher than they should" because of his size and speed. Maybe that's Denver. It'd be incredibly hard to imagine Paton spending back-to-back second-round picks on a running back, but Washington's upside — at 223 pounds with a 4.33-second 40-yard-dash — is as high as any RB in his class not named Jeremiyah Love.

WR Germie Bernard, Alabama: Denver won't — and shouldn't — take a receiver here, after the Jaylen Waddle trade. But Bernard is too good, and too perfect a fit in a Sean Payton offense, not to be listed here. The production (64 catches, 862 yards) is solid, the size (6-foot-1, 206 pounds) is good, and the blocking mentality is even better. Alas, in a different timeline.

TE Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt: The Post's second-round selection in our final mock draft of this cycle, Stowers still lingers, an explosive receiving threat who profiles as a hybrid receiver at the next level. But Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq, the consensus top tight end in this class, went relatively early at No. 16 to New York. That could well mean a team will swing on Stowers early in the second round.

TE Max Klare, Ohio State: This draft, as Payton said in a pre-draft presser last week, is ripe in both in-line "Y"-type tight ends and versatile "F"-type receiving threats. Klare combines the best of both worlds into one tidy Day 2 package, a 6-foot-4 pass-catcher who thrived from both the slot and as a run-blocker last year for the Buckeyes. He's not as athletic as a Stowers, but he'd be an excellent option for Nix.

OL Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon: Similar to Stowers' situation, Pregnon could find himself flying off the board early in Round Two after Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge went higher than consensus (No. 26 to Houston). The Denver native took a top-30 visit in Denver, but the Broncos might have to move up to grab him.

OT Travis Burke, Memphis: No. 62 might be high for Burke, but Denver's done plenty of work here for a reason. Burke has rare size at nearly 6-foot-9, and a nasty disposition to match. With veterans Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey both still locked in as 2026 starters, Burke could be a fascinating investment for offensive-line coach Zach Strief.

LB Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech: One of ����apountry's original favorites at the beginning of the draft process, Rodriguez has risen considerably up boards across the last few months — but not high enough to be off the table before Day 2. That could be good news for Denver, whether he manages to slip into a trade-up situation in the middle of the second round or simply prolongs an inevitable run of linebackers to fall into the Broncos' lap at No. 62.

LB CJ Allen, Georgia: Take your pick of Rodriguez or Allen as the second-best linebacker in this class. Allen revealed to reporter Brett Kollmann late in February that Georgia largely let Allen run calls and checks at the , and he could slot into the heart of Denver's defense for a long time.

LB Anthony Hill Jr., Texas: Everything about Hill, traits-wise, screams star. 4.51 40-yard-dash. 37-inch vertical. Good size at 6-foot-2 and 238 pounds. He led the SEC with 16.5 tackles for loss in 2024, and has some upside as a blitzer in Vance Joseph's scheme. He'd be a perfect fit to push Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad for starting reps while contributing in a third-linebacker role as a rookie.

S A.J. Haulcy, LSU: Not a frequently-discussed option for Denver at No. 62, given the Broncos' positional needs beyond safety. But Haulcy has fantastic ball production across his last two seasons, with eight interceptions total for Houston and LSU. Starting Broncos safety Brandon Jones will be a free agent after next season, and Haulcy played a season for new Broncos defensive backs coach Doug Belk with the Cougars in 2023.