Mile High Mailbag: The Trade That Still Makes Sense

The afterglow of the 2026 NFL draft is beginning to dim. After an oddly quiet offseason, Denver Broncos fans were excited to see the team draft seven players, which was followed by the signing of 14 college free agents.

The Broncos will hold their rookie minicamp May 8-10, which will also include a couple of try-out invitees. The roster will be flooded with new blood, and by the time the Broncos take to the fields at Broncos Park in June, fans will begin to see how the 2026 vision is coming together.

Only five days removed from draft weekend, we're putting a bow on things with this last draft edition of the Mile High Mailbag. As always, we appreciate your questions, and if you want to be considered for future Mailbags, which will drop once per week, hit me on X @ChadNJensen and use the hashtag #MileHighMailbag.

With all that said, let's see what's on Broncos Country's mind.

Riley Moss and Ja'Quan McMillian — Denver Broncos cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian (29) celebrates his turnover with cornerback Riley Moss (21) in the second half against the Carolina Panthers. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Special K: If you could predict the future, what trade would you try to make by the deadline this year?

Depending on how things shape up at cornerback, I'd see what I could get for Riley Moss or Ja'Quan McMillian. Right now, I'd err on the side of trading Moss, simply because McMillian is such a boost to the Broncos' takeaway outlook, and this defense struggled in that department last year.

Both Moss and McMillian are entering a contract year, and with everything the Broncos have in front of them, including Bo Nix's coming mega-extension, odds are, they won't be able to keep both. So instead of watching them walk away after the 2026 season and betting on getting a compensatory draft pick back in 2028, I'd make a concerted effort to trade one of them...

...but it would hinge on how the secondary is shaping up. The Broncos face a murderer's row of quarterbacks on the schedule this season, so they're going to need all the horses they can get in the secondary.

It likely boils down to Jahdae Barron and how much development he shows in Year 2. The Broncos also signed Cal cornerback Brent Austin as a priority free agent, and he had a draftable grade and could very well fight his way onto the roster.

Beyond Barron, though, it will be interesting to see if Moss is able to keep the yellow laundry epidemic mostly in the past. He was penalized 10 times last season, and led the NFL for much of 2025, but he was able to curtail his "grabbiness," and cut down on the flags down the stretch and into the playoffs.

If that version of Moss is the status quo moving forward, the Broncos might be better off just rolling with him and McMillian through 2026, make a decision on which one to keep in the offseason, and play the comp-pick game. Again, take a look at the quarterbacks on the schedule this season.

The Broncos are going to need their defensive backs to bring their lunchpails to work.

Glenn Ashley: Who doesn’t make the 53-man roster at tight end and running back?

National tight end Justin Joly (17) of North Carolina State gets set during National Senior Bowl practice at Hancock Whitney Stadium. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Great question, Glenn. The Broncos drafted two tight ends and a running back, so the pressure is already on for those two depth charts.

Starting with running back, fourth-rounder Jonah Coleman's arrival most likely pushes Tyler Badie off the 53-man roster. Why not Jaleel McLaughlin, you ask? Because Badie's role last season was purely as a third-down back because he could pass block, though he rarely touched the ball.

One of Coleman's strengths is pass protection, and he's a solid receiver out of the backfield, so he immediately brings value to the Broncos on third down. That doesn't portend well for Badie, in particular.

At tight end, it gets a little bit more complex because we have to see exactly how ready for the NFL fifth-rounder Justin Joly and seventh-rounder Dallen Bentley are. Joly is a relatively safe bet to make the 53-man roster, pushing a guy like Lucas Krull out.

That would leave Nate Adkins to square off with Bentley. Adkins has been Denver's best pure blocking tight end, though he hasn't been used as the Y in-line; that's been Adam Trautman's job and will continue to be this season.

Bentley projects as a true Y tight end and the Broncos really like his upside as a down-the-field receiver. However, big-bodied though Bentley is, time will tell how quickly he can hone his technical chops to truly compete with, let alone vanquish, Adkins.

I reserve the right to change my mind once we see these tight ends in training camp, but my early picks for the roster are Evan Engram, Trautman, Joly, and Adkins. Bentley nearly fell out of the draft because of his age (25), and while he's not getting any younger, a year on the practice squad might serve him well.

Chandler W.: How much production do you see Jonah Coleman having his rookie season and will he be a dark horse to take the RB1 job from J.K. Dobbins? What is your stat prediction for Coleman by the end of the year?

Coleman has garnered a surprising level of hype since the draft, and it's easy to see why. What he lacks in speed and explosiveness, he makes up for with... well, everything else. He's got room to grow, sure, but he's already a quite complete running back who will make his bones initially as Denver's between-the-tackles grinder.

Production-wise, I'm going to weigh in with the assumption of health on the depth chart. Yes, Dobbins has an extensive injury history, but I'm going to proceed with a statistical projection as if he remains the RB1, RJ Harvey the RB2, and Coleman the RB3.

Just looks right, @jonahcoleman8!

📷 Jonah's IG Story pic.twitter.com/fq9FUXZ8oG
— Mile High Huddle (@MileHighHuddle) April 30, 2026

Barring injury, no, I don't expect Coleman to leapfrog Harvey or Dobbins for the RB1 mantle as a rookie. But Dobbins averaged 15 carries in the 10 games he played for Denver last season, so let's say the Broncos shave a few off of his touch share and a couple from Harvey's, and give Coleman something like three to five carries per game; that would actually be a lot as the third guy in a committe, but I could see it shaking out.

So here goes nothing for Coleman's rookie year: 68 carries, 330 rushing yards, and four touchdowns.

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