Broncos Announce the Signing of Four More Futures Players

The Broncos are taking care of some housekeeping before fully embarking on what's sure to be a busy offseason.

Dec 2, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos general manager George Paton before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Empower Field at Mile High. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

On the heels of a very busy week, the Denver Broncos announced the signing of four additional players to future contracts. The Broncos inked offensive tackle Marques Cox, center Michael Deiter, offensive guard Nash Jones, and defensive tackle Kristian Williams on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Broncos signed six other players to reserve/futures contracts.

• Levelle Bailey | LB
• Caleb Lohner | TE
• Jordan Miller | DT
• Cody Schrader | RB
• Calvin Throckmorton | OL
• Deuce Vaughn | RB

As for the latest four, Cox, Deiter, and Jones spent time on the practice squad this past season, while Williams competed with the Broncos in training camp last summer. Three of the four signings announced on Thursday help bolster the club's offensive line depth moving forward.

Although these futures signings are more of a housekeeping nature, the Broncos plan to be aggressive in free agency this year, according to general manager George Paton. It starts with an evaluation of the roster, which is then compared with the Broncos' rivals in the AFC West.

“We’ll take a week of going through the roster with a fine tooth and go through every position. We evaluate our roster versus the other rosters, our roster versus the AFC West. We’ll stack each position and just determine where we need to get better at," Paton said during his end-of-season presser on Tuesday. "Every team needs to get better, and there is no perfect team."

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Aside from the three coach firings and all the hiring rumors swirling around the Broncos — especially pass game coordinator Davis Webb and defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard — this week marked the beginning of the offseason and the first steps down the pre-draft trail.

The Shrine Bowl is already in the books, and the week of Senior Bowl practices concluded on Thursday, with the game happening on Friday. The Broncos will be scouting the 2026 draft class heavily with an eye of bolstering the roster to get over the hump next season.

However, the draft is more about drafting for the long term, with a priority on selecting the best player available at each spot, regardless of position. Free agency is where the Broncos will specifically target the positions they've identified as weaknesses during these initial offseason meetings to evaluate the roster.

"We’ll spend a week at least doing that and then who is available?" Paton said. "Who is available in free agency? Who’s available in the draft? It’s a puzzle, and you have a plan and you hope to execute that plan.”