With almost all of the major 2025 roster changes in the books for the Broncos, as usual around this time of year I like to take a look at what to watch for during the upcoming season, and how that could implicate decisions to think about for the next season. Note that while this has “2026” in the title, there will still be 2025 transactions to consider as well as the coming months move on.
The very deep cornerback room
Drafting Jahdae Barron in the 1st round was a surprise for the Broncos, but corner is one of those positions that is of high value and where depth is important, and the goal of the draft should always be to get great football players whenever you can. Barron has the makings of a possible great football player at the professional level, so picking him is clearly defensible.
This has put the Broncos six deep on the chart among potentially viable corners to play, which is good since the Broncos are playing in nickel defense about three quarters of the time. I do still think, however, that the Broncos need to address Damarri Mathis’s contract. He is due $3.406 million in 2025 via a Proven Performance Escalator that was earned due to high snaps in his rookie season. That is more than Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, and Kris Abrams-Draine will earn combined. Given that there is a good chance that Mathis could end up as CB6 on this roster, that is not a sustainable salary for that place in the depth chart. There is plenty of room to negotiate a conversion of some of that cash due into incentives, in exchange for fully guaranteeing the rest of the salary. Mathis may indeed wish to find another place to play where he’s likely to see more snaps than he’ll get in Denver, and if so, that is fine, but I would not close the door on the offer by any means.
The longer term future of McMillian is also in question with Barron now on the team. I see no reason for him to be anywhere other than Denver in 2025 unless some other team goes overboard with a trade offer that can’t be refused. This is true even if McMillian sees few snaps in 2025 should Barron take his place as a starter–again, depth is important. It does, however, pose a intriguing question for how the team should handle his restricted free agency in 2026. Before drafting Barron, I could have seen the case for as high as a 2nd round tender. But that could come in around $5.65 million, another sizeable amount for a backup. A Right Of First Refusal tender of around $3.45 million, similar to what Mathis is due now, could be more appropriate, but the Broncos would get no draft capital compensation should he sign an offer sheet in 2026 that’s not matched by Denver. There’s no way for sure to know how to proceed with this until 2025 is in the books and we see how all the corners perform, but as it stands now, this will be a difficult choice for the Broncos to make when it comes.
The deep edge rusher room
Edge rusher is another position that is of high value and is always good to be deep in. The Broncos added to that depth by drafting Que Robinson late in the 4th round. For 2025, I think it’s reasonable to expect that Robinson’s main contributions will be on special teams. But should he be able to add quality snaps on defense, that could also come alongside Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman taking the next steps forward in their second seasons, all behind the starters in Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto–the latter of who is entering the final season of his rookie contract.
I’ll have much more to say about what a possible extension for Bonitto could look like later on in the spring or early summer. But for now, I’ll say that there could be reasons for both Bonitto and the Broncos to have negotiations that could take a long time to go through, given the many permutations that the depth chart at edge rusher could take as training camp, the preseason, and the regular season proceed.
The deep, but unproven, running back room
Drafting RJ Harvey in the late 2nd round is of course an indication that the Broncos’ running back room needed improvement. Harvey will join four other backs that have all shown some flashes of promise in 2024, but none that can yet be trusted to carry a significant number of snaps in 2025.
While I would not rule out some pre-regular season churn at the position, I am inclined to let training camp and the preseason play out first, and see if any of the five running backs emerge as legitimate players to carry high snap count loads. If that materializes, then great; if not, then there is always scouting the waiver wire come the day after the leaguewide cutdowns to 53, as well as possible acquisitions during the regular season, as well.
But as it stands now, I think the Broncos will be likely to be looking at another new running back again in 2026. Whether that comes from the veteran or rookie class then is too early to tell. But if it comes to that, I would not be distressed, given the shorter, less valued tenures that most running backs in the NFL tend to have these days.
The coming defensive line decisions
Interior defensive line is deep right now, and made deeper with the drafting of Sai’vion Jones near the end of the 3rd round. But that depth is applicable only to 2025, as Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach are all slated to be free agents in 2026.
As with Bonitto, I’ll have more to say on possible extensions for them later. But it’s good to keep an eye on Sai’vion Jones, along with Jordan Jackson entering his second accrued season, to see how they progress in 2025. That progression could help determine if or when to extend any of the defensive linemen in their final seasons of their contracts, and for how much.
Whither Alex Singleton?
The Broncos are prudently being patient in seeing how Alex Singleton is recovering from his surprising ACL tear early in 2024. If all goes well, any stay on the Physically Unable To Perform list will be only procedural in nature, and he’ll be good to go once training camp is underway.
However, the team did sign Dre Greenlaw to a $10.5 million APY contract, and this is coming off a season in which two linebackers were used about 83% of the time for 2025, given the 91.2% from Cody Barton and the 58.5% from Justin Strnad, alongside the 16.5% Singleton had before the injury. Barton left for Nashville, with his high snaps presumed to be taken mostly by Greenlaw. But Strnad returns, along with Drew Sanders moving back to linebacker, and Levelle Bailey still looking for a role in 2025.
Singleton is due $6 million in salary for 2025. That is not an onerous salary to take on by any means for someone who is likely to contribute much if healthy. But it is worth it to keep an eye on Sanders in particular, along with Strnad and Bailey, to see if any of them can compete with Singleton, and thus put that salary into question, before it would be subject to termination pay at the start of the regular season.
Whether or not Singleton is with the Broncos in 2025–and as of now I think it would be more likely than not–he’ll be 33 in 2026, when his contract is set to expire, and I think that his tenure in Denver will shift to less likely unless it’s at a reduced salary from his current contract.
Whither Courtland Sutton?
I made it clear in my road map that I did not want to see any change, either contractual or roster wise, to Courtland Sutton’s status for 2025. So far, that has remained true. I think the case for holding to the status quo gets even stronger with the drafting of Pat Bryant in the 3rd round. Bryant is added alongside other young talent in Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, and Devaughn Vele. Again, wide receiver is another high value position to always be deep in, so having all five on the Broncos in 2025 is very prudent.
But with Sutton set to have his contract expire in 2026, a season when he turns 31, keen attention will need to be paid to production among all the wide receivers to determine how best to proceed with his future. Another situation in which many permutations of results could happen should make the Broncos reluctant to immediately commit to a high amount to Sutton beyond this season.
Other assorted roster questions:
- Luke Wattenberg is also entering the final season of his rookie contract. Whether or not he gets an extension from Denver likely comes down to how the team feels about Alex Forsyth as a successor, a question that will likely collect more information during training camp.
- PJ Locke will likely get demoted to a backup role with the arrival of Talanoa Hufanga. With Locke only due $3.5 million in 2025, I think that’s very reasonable for someone who will likely see plenty of snaps in big nickel packages. But I still do remain intrigued by the presence of JL Skinner on the roster, and to see whether he can take another step forward to push Locke for some of those snaps.
- Evan Engram should patch the massive roster hole at tight end that the Broncos had before the season started. But beyond taking a flyer on Caleb Lohner late in the 7th round, the Broncos did very little more to deepen the depth chart. None of the incumbent tight ends should be ruled out, but I could foresee some waiver wire scouting after leaguewide cutdowns to 53 in case there’s questions about any of them backing up Engram.
- There isn’t a question at tackle, with Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey entrenched as starters, Matt Peart and Alex Palczewski as high level reserves, and Frank Crum as an intriguing developmental project. All five of them are under some sort of contractual control by the Broncos through at least 2026. But I mention it here to emphasize how the Broncos have made their own emphasis in keeping those high value positions as deep as practical.