Broncos' Updated Roster Needs Laid Out With Precision by PFF

The Denver Broncos have several roster boxes to check besides running back entering the NFL draft.

Jan 5, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) huddles with tight end Adam Trautman (82) and offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey (69) and teammates in the third quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field at Mile High. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Denver Broncos are in a rather enviable position as the team enters the final stretch ahead of the NFL draft. Looking across Denver's depth chart, the roster that was widely considered one of the worst in all of football just over 365 days ago now is raising eyebrows as a team with a lot of talent across the board and very few pitfalls position-by-position.

After years of failure in Denver and instability at the four pillars of a football franchise — quarterback, head coach, general manager, and ownership — the Broncos now appear to be sturdy with upside across the board there, thanks to Bo Nix, Sean Payton, George Paton, and the Walton-Penner Group.

Pro Football Focus' Bradley Locker agrees that the Broncos, with the draft inching closer and the 2025 season still beyond the horizon, are in a really good position. Listing only the running back position as the franchise’s remaining starter need in a draft where as many as two dozen could go in the first four to five rounds and as many as 30 drafted, if there is any position a team might need to fill in the draft this season, it’s this one.

“The Broncos’ search for offensive weaponry has already yielded Evan Engram at tight end, but the team is sans a starting running back with Javonte Williams exiting. In turn, Denver is anticipated to add a dynamic rusher within its first three picks," Locker wrote.

The Broncos will return second-year back Audric Estime, the former undrafted find Jaleel McLaughlin, the promising former waiver wire pickup Tyler Badie, and the highly paid undrafted free agent from last season in Blake Watson. The Broncos have depth options but no top-of-the-line options that could kick the offense into another gear entirely.

It's also worth noting that while the Broncos may not miss Javonte Williams, as far as a run game output is concerned, following a dreadful season on the ground despite well-graded run blocking, the team is likely still looking to replace his role in the pass game.

While Williams lost his juice as a runner following his catastrophic knee injury in Las Vegas early in the 2022 season, he developed into a proficient checkdown option and a good pass-protecting back. Williams ranked second in the team in targets last season with 68 and was lauded for his pass protection by Paton at the NFL Combine. Denver still has questions in filling these key roles on offense.

After the obvious and immediate need for the Broncos at running back, something they're reportedly likely to address with one of their first few picks and with promising options throughout the entire 2025 class, PFF listed wide receiver, linebacker, and defensive line as remaining depth and future needs for Denver.

“In a similar vein, the Broncos should look to upgrade at wide receiver, given that Courtland Sutton is on a one-year deal and that Devaughn Vele, Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin all carry uncertainty," Locker wrote. "Although the team inked Dre Greenlaw to a three-year contract to improve its inside linebacker corps, he played only 34 snaps last season. His counterpart Alex Singleton appeared in only three games. Interior defender could be a sneaky position to target with Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers set to be 2026 free agents.”

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This is, overall, an excellent summary of the Broncos’ needs and a valid perspective on the current state of the roster entering the draft. Sutton enters a contract year and will turn 30 years old during the season. Given the state of the wide receiver market, he could command a massive dollar-per-year contract.

The options behind Sutton are very likely best-case No. 2 receiver types with a more probable landing spot as depth options. Still valuable, but not ones you can run an entire passing offense through like the team did with Sutton last season, spamming him with 141 targets (Devaughn Vele had 56, Mims Jr. with 54, and Troy Franklin with 52).

The Broncos’ linebackers, on paper, look promising, but Greenlaw and Singleton played a combined 224 total snaps in just five combined games. Depth at the position — Drew Sanders, who has been waffled between edge and off-ball linebacker, and Justin Strnad, a fine depth piece and special teamer but not a viable long-term starting linebacker — could use competition as well.

Dec 28, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Denver Broncos defensive end Zach Allen (99) reacts after a play against the Cincinnati Bengals in the second half at Paycor Stadium. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

Finally, and perhaps most pressing, is the impending turnover along the Broncos’ defensive line. With three of the team’s top four interior players on the final year of their contracts in Allen, Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach and having just paid D.J. Jones, the Broncos will likely be looking to use an early pick on the defensive line to inject cost-controlled youth into the unit in what has been lauded as an excellent and very deep interior defensive line class.

Although it's not listed, in this writer’s opinion, just as as the need at linebacker, but in a slightly different way is the Broncos need at tight end. The Broncos did bring in Evan Engram, but given his age, injury history, and the specifics of his contract, he's an exciting short-term option.

Using an early pick on a tight end to compete for reps and raise the ceiling behind Engram could be a worthwhile direction for Denver. Further, a tight end could wind up becoming a focal point of the offense.

The Takeaway

As things stand, the Broncos will likely run a majority of their 2025 passing attack through Sutton and Engram, with the relative unknowns fighting for larger target shares than useful role players. However, from a future need perspective, a true pass-catching weapon that can grow with Nix and is younger than 30 years old is a building-block need.

Given how flexible Payton has been with who he funnels his pass game through with Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, and Michael Thomas in the past, a tight end is as viable of becoming that guy as a wide receiver, and should therefore still be included as an early-round possibility and remaining depth/future needs option for Denver.

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